My Proposal

So I decided to go ahead with the idea of creating a marketing plan for Gardasil targeting boys/young men.

I met with the lone member of my "peer team," which was very helpful, and we brainstormed the first step.

Notes from the brainstorm:

-find out merke

-core competency of being the only competitor in the US, research the other global vaccine

-research what the age range for men will be (same as women, 9-26?)

-only advantageous directly for warts in men, so market for greater good since they make sure not to say warts in the female campaign

-deconstruct female campaign & who it targets & how

-relate to men & if it will target their parents or them, and what angle to take: protecting children? protecting our future?

-the brand was "one less," create a new brand for men, or expand on the woman's campaign?

There is certainly a lot to think about now, assuming that it gets approved. It is in the gray I think, because getting boys/men vaccinated would certainly be for the public good from a public health perspective, by decreasing the incidence of hpv. Specifically, it would still contribute to a lower incidence of cervical cancer, which might be an angle I could use to target the parents of young boys, and wanting to protect the future of all children, but also it is a good harm reduction technique in terms of contracting other STIs. Having other STIs puts persons at higher risk of getting HIV, so reducing incidence of hpv would be beneficial in many ways.

Organizational Objective:

First I have to decide if I am going to be marketing for Gardasil and thus Merck & Co., Inc. or if I want to be a health department. Gardasil already does the "one less" campaign, which is already branded and known, so it might be better to stick with it. It might make for some brand confusion though, since "one less" really refers to one less woman with cervical cancer, and I wonder if that should still be the slogan for men.

If I am Merck, I have R&D, and money, and incentive to get people vaccinated for profits, but luckily it is also a public good. I need to do more research about Merck to establish what their fundamental entity is, though for Gardasil it is being the only hpv vaccine available in the US, and is already branded under "one less."

Core Competence: being the only provider of the hpv vaccine in the US, so skill at resource distribution, awareness building with "one less"

Strategic Asset: the hpv vaccine, patent

Benefit: reduction in incidence of cervical cancer, genital warts, more generally 4 strains of hpv

I have to decide if the campaign will be promotion or prevention focused, but it is the promotion of a vaccine that is a part of prevention. I think promotion. It is a call to action to get vaccinated, specifically for boys/young men to get the hpv vaccine.

Goal: behavior change, get vaccinated, but also awareness of when it becomes available to men & what it does so that it is a call to action

Time frame: more short than long, so there can be measurable goals, like in the 1st 5 years of availability to men to have at least some comparable portion of new vaccinations with the female vaccine for comparison, but I still need more clearly defined measures of success.

Social Marketing 4Bs:

Bodies: boys ages 9-26 (?), their parents/doctors?

Beliefs: for them to know it is available to men, attitude change to want to be vaccinated

Behaviors: getting vaccinated (at least the initial of three shots)

Benefits: Lower incidence of hpv (genital warts & cervical cancer), but this will have to me measured much later in life, so the measurable might just be # of new persons vaccinated

And that's where I'm at.