Abstract
In a crowded life science market, lists of advantages and product features are
no longer sufficient to differentiate one company' s offerings from another' s.
How does a supplier capture potential customers' attention and ensure that
scientists develop a positive impression of its brand? A strong corporate
brand can have a halo effect on a company' s products across market segments,
generating excitement and a premium on that company' s goods and services.
Brands that can establish an emotional connection with customers benefit from
the luxury of “earning” time with scientists to make a rational,
persuasive case for buying their products. Without this close bond, however, a
corporation' s product brands can get lost in the multitude of companies vying
for scientists' attention.
BioInformatics' latest report, Maximizing Market Share Through Brand
Differentiation, provides suppliers with a frank and unbiased assessment of
how their customers perceive their corporate brands compared to competing
corporate brands. These insights will help suppliers better differentiate
themselves from their closest competitors because they detail what elements
are most critical in building customer loyalty and what brand characteristics
customers most prefer.
Based upon the opinions of over 1,000 life scientists globally, this report
provides an overall brand “scorecard” based upon key performance
metrics. This scorecard can be used to determine broad areas in which specific
suppliers require attention (e.g, promotion strategies, product strategies,
price strategies, place strategies, or service strategies) in order to improve
a supplier' s brand image. The report also includes a special focus on
“differentiation mapping,” which depicts brand relationships based
upon similarities and differences between corporate brands. This information
will provide suppliers with insight into understanding their competitive
position and that of their key rivals in the market. It will enable suppliers
to strengthen both their offensive strategy (i.e., From which companies can
market share be taken?) and defensive strategy (i.e., From which companies
should market share be protected?). Also unique to this report is measurement
of each brand' s equity in relation to other brands.
From the perspective of life scientists, this report analyzes the performance
and perceptions of 17 corporate brands in the life science market.
This report delivers the following:
- Estimates market share for different market segments and geographic
regions using a set of hierarchical customer-based factors
- Assesses brand personality as a critical determinant of value creation and
brand differentiation
- Examines market factors that influence a customer' s decision to purchase
one brand over another
- Reveals customer perceptions of inter-brand differentiation
- Analyzes customer-based brand equity to determine the appeal of a brand by
specific market segments
- Evaluates customer retention rate and average customer life on a per brand
basis
- Calculates a brand' s customer value score globally and for segmented
customer profiles
Methodology
1054 scientists completed a 29-question survey conducted by BioInformatics,
LLC (Arlington, Virginia, USA) between March 30 and April 6, 2006.
The electronic questionnaire was fielded to registered members of The
Science Advisory Board. BioInformatics sponsors The Science Advisory
Board, an online community of more than 29,000 scientists, physicians and
healthcare professionals from around the world. The Science Advisory
Board is divided into two panels (Research and Clinical) and
“convenes” regularly via the World Wide Web to voice their
opinions on a wide variety of issues relating to biomedical research and
clinical technologies. These experts- representing all aspects of the life
sciences and medicine- have agreed to make themselves available to participate
in our online research activities. The Science Advisory Board members
who participated in this study were drawn from the Board' s Research Panel.
Utilizing six key analyses to explore brand differentiation and evaluate the
market share of the top 17 life science corporate brands, this report
- Develops in-depth customer profiles based upon detailed segmentation for
each brand
- Estimates market share for each brand using a set of hierarchical
customer-based factors
- Assesses brand personality as a critical determinant of value creation and
brand differentiation
- Examines market factor(s) that influence a customer' s decision to purchase
one brand over another
- Reveals customer perceptions of inter-brand differentiation
- Analyzes customer-based brand equity to determine the appeal of a brand
- Measures each brand' s customer value
Table of Contents
Section 1. Analysis and Interpretation of Survey Results
- Executive Overview
- Study Objectives
- Life Science Brand Usage
- 5 Elements of Brand Health
- Standing
- Status
- Perception
- Profitability
- Strength
- Conclusion
Section 2. Study Methodology and Demographics
- Executive Overview
- Study Objectives
- Life Science Brand Usage
Section 3. Presentation of Survey Data
[Note: Data is from respondents who have used each brand.]
- Brand Usage
- Brand Experience (by brand)
- Percentage of life science laboratory budget spend per brand
- Number of years products from each brand have been used by customers
- Perceived usefulness of products to customers' research
- Familiarity with products
- Satisfaction with the benefits of products
- Purchasing Behavior (by brand)
- Acceptability of prices of products
- Convenience of obtaining products
- Helpfulness of customer service
- Helpfulness of technical support
- Recency of last order placed by customers' labs
- Brand Comparisons (by brand)
- Degree of similarity/difference in customers' comparisions of each of 17
brands
- Brand Personality (by brand)
- Evaluation of brand 15 personality traits of brands
- Descriptiveness of each trait in portraying each brand
- Brand Satisfaction (by brand)
- Satisfaction with 9 attributes of products from each brand
- Overall satisfaction with products from each brand
- Frequency that each brand offers critical advantages that other brands
do not
- Likelihood of recommending brand used to colleagues
- Demographics
- Years conducting research
- Role in selection of consumables used in lab
- Role in selection of instrumentation
- Annual operational lab research budget in 2006
- Percentage of research budget devoted to capital equipment
- Total researchers in respondents' lab or group
- Total researcher in respondents' organization
- Gender, Age, Market Segment, Job Position, Geographic Region
- Areas of research
Section 4. Appendices
- Insights and Perspectives
- Cross-Tabulations of Survey Data
- Differentiation Charts by Brand
- Share Index Tables by Brand
- Satisfaction Quadrants by Brand
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