Episode 2: Market Drivers for the OTC Industry With Nicholas Hall
"The market is in a state of great change at the moment and it’s an exciting place to do business.”
The Platform Ep. 2 features Nicholas Hall, Executive Chairman, Founder, and Creative Solutions Director at Nicholas Hall Group of Companies. Hall discusses important market drivers including increasing interest in the North American and European markets, therapeutics as a potential target for Rx to OTC switch, and the re-emerging trend of the pharmacist as one of the most important drivers of OTCs in the future.
[0:28] What is your background and what has your career path looked like?
I was the typical Proctor & Gamble intern after university. I didn’t think my degree in politics would take me into business, but it did.
I started my company not because I had any great vision, but because I’d been in big companies for eleven years and wanted to go into a small one.
We specialize in consumer healthcare, mainly in sales and marketing.
I spend most of my time travelling the world and working with companies who want to improve what they do.
[2:09] What does creative solutions mean to you?
True innovation involves products, but we go beyond that. We look for innovation in everything from positioning, pricing, formulation, channel distribution, and more.
It’s telling companies that there might be a better way to do what they’re doing.
[5:09] What are the differences between global OTC markets?
The US is growing at about 2% because of things such as lack of consumer confidence.
Europe is also growing about 2%, but there are lots of subsidizations which takes way some growth potential.
Asia is doing okay. However, the strongest markets are Mexico, Turkey, etc.
[8:32] Some countries seem to have a very large interest in North American and European products. Why is that?
Because of a high degree of local contamination, China has a lot of interest in these products.
Chinese students abroad often take suitcases home full of OTC products.
There’s a huge cross-border trade out of Hong Kong now.
[12:17] What seem to be the highest sellers right now?
Allergies have been a fantastic market in the past few years because the number of them has increased.
There’s a very high growth in topical pain relief as consumers are concerned about popping tablets.
The most exciting part is brands that have come into the market and found a totally different way to communicate.
[16:31] Is social media a big factor in some of the marketing success?
The jury’s out on that one. All the big companies have appointed digital marketing officers and are moving money into social media.
I’m still not convinced. This rush into digital marketing might be a bit fast.
[19:47] Do you see other therapeutic areas being a target for Rx to OTC switches?
The obvious switches have already been done, and there aren’t many left.
Some pharmaceutical products, although they make sense for a doctor, won’t bring additional benefits into the consumer market.
Switching is very much a US phenomenon, but they’ve had a lack of these in the past two years.
[25:13] Is there anything we haven’t touched on today that you’d like listeners to know?
The importance of the pharmacist is a re-emerging trend.
We’re finding that in most parts of the world, the pharmacist is becoming much more involved in giving advice.
I think this is going to be one of the most important drivers of the future.
There are also companies growing quickly and acquiring each other. The market is in a state of great change at the moment and it’s an exciting place to do business.
