Viagra 20Case 20Study
VIAGRA*
In October 2003, Alexander DeGermay,
Global head of marketing at Pfizer’s was driving to office where in an hour he was to meet with the marketing team of Viagra, one of Pfizer’s blockbuster drugs. They were to determine the marketing strategy of Viagra in the US, given the entry of two key players, Bayer/Glaxo SmithKline and Eli
Lilly. Both these companies were slated to launch competing products for the treatment of erectile dysfunction (ED) in the US market. When Viagra, a non-prescription drug to treat male impotence, was launched just five years ago, the little blue pill spawned the market for ‘erectile dysfunction’ drugs with the biggest launch ever in the industry1.
Pfizer’s sales and marketing prowess, coupled with media frenzy and endless Jay
Leno punch lines made Viagra so popular that, a mere year after its introduction, the name was added to the Oxford English
Dictionary.
Approximately 31 percent of men over older than 18 years have some degree of erectile dysfunction (ED), Sildenafil (Viagra), was the first oral drug marketed for the treatment of erectile dysfunction. By the end of 2000
Viagra had more than 30 million prescriptions written for more than 10 million men. Infact in 2000, Viagra was
Pfizer’s 5th largest and the industry’s 27th largest selling drug. By 2001 Viagra had reached a sales figure of $1.518 billion and in 2002 Viagra had its biggest year ever, garnering $1.7 billion in sales2.
*The material included here is based on public sources and designed for class discussion on competitive strategy at Wharton’s
Marketingy Strategy Courses of Professors, J. Wind and D.
Reibstein
1
Fortune June 2003
2
Fortune June 2003
But Alexander knew that the big numbers obscured a little known fact: Viagra was an underachiever. Just before its introduction, the marketing team had predicted that
Viagra would reach $4.5 billion in annual sales by 2002. Even that ambitious target seemed conservative, given a landmark study in 1999, which deduced
In October 2003, Alexander DeGermay,
Global head of marketing at Pfizer’s was driving to office where in an hour he was to meet with the marketing team of Viagra, one of Pfizer’s blockbuster drugs. They were to determine the marketing strategy of Viagra in the US, given the entry of two key players, Bayer/Glaxo SmithKline and Eli
Lilly. Both these companies were slated to launch competing products for the treatment of erectile dysfunction (ED) in the US market. When Viagra, a non-prescription drug to treat male impotence, was launched just five years ago, the little blue pill spawned the market for ‘erectile dysfunction’ drugs with the biggest launch ever in the industry1.
Pfizer’s sales and marketing prowess, coupled with media frenzy and endless Jay
Leno punch lines made Viagra so popular that, a mere year after its introduction, the name was added to the Oxford English
Dictionary.
Approximately 31 percent of men over older than 18 years have some degree of erectile dysfunction (ED), Sildenafil (Viagra), was the first oral drug marketed for the treatment of erectile dysfunction. By the end of 2000
Viagra had more than 30 million prescriptions written for more than 10 million men. Infact in 2000, Viagra was
Pfizer’s 5th largest and the industry’s 27th largest selling drug. By 2001 Viagra had reached a sales figure of $1.518 billion and in 2002 Viagra had its biggest year ever, garnering $1.7 billion in sales2.
*The material included here is based on public sources and designed for class discussion on competitive strategy at Wharton’s
Marketingy Strategy Courses of Professors, J. Wind and D.
Reibstein
1
Fortune June 2003
2
Fortune June 2003
But Alexander knew that the big numbers obscured a little known fact: Viagra was an underachiever. Just before its introduction, the marketing team had predicted that
Viagra would reach $4.5 billion in annual sales by 2002. Even that ambitious target seemed conservative, given a landmark study in 1999, which deduced