We receive a lot of enquiries and questions asking what we do at Icarus Consultants, so it seemed a good idea to put a brief overview of our consulting services for those who are interested.
We are a marketing strategy company in the business of ‘actionable insights’. Our approach is to offer value, not volume. We take data and provide analysis and insight. As you can see from my blog posts, that takes time and requires experience. The two principals of the company have over 30 years of industry experience & 10 academic degrees!
We group the concept of actionable insights into 5 main areas where we offer services:
1) Strategic counsel
2) New product development strategy
3) Life cycle management
4) Competitive and business intelligence
5) Market entry and licensing strategy
The goal is to gather, process and analyse huge amounts of information that enables a brand or new products team to understand new insights and make appropriate strategic or tactical changes for their brand based on the analysis.
In new product development, most companies do not have the resources to pursue every opportunity that might present. We help companies priortise their portfolio and identify which opportunities might offer the best chance of success given the dynamics of the market and therapeutic area. The complex world of oncology pathways and targeted therapies is an area of particular expertise. Life cycle management is also an area we work in. We answer questions such as where are you going with your brand beyond your initial registration indication? What opportunities might exist for your compound that others aren’t considering in the class? Are you pursuing a first or best in class approach?
The good thing about this rigorous process is that it:
a) Is highly flexible because you can mix ‘n match in a modular fashion to achieve your brand or company goals
b) May involve primary or secondary data collection
c) Can include patients, HCPs, KOLs or involve market opinions and research on sentiments about a topic, a brand or a disease, for example.
d) Can be adapted by different clients and different stakeholders eg senior management, market research, competitive intelligence, marketing, strategic planning, PR or social media people.
What can it be used for?
i) New products in development
ii) Marketed or mature products
iii) Partnership deals (new market entry)
iv) Licensing evaluations
v) Corporate/brand reputation
How do we gather data?
1) Primary research
2) Secondary research
3) Web 2.0 tools
4) Sentiment monitoring
5) Conference coverage
In short, we tend to work with senior management, project teams, marketing or new product teams with focused customer goals to find real insights to enable brand strategies to be driven. Once clients see the possibilities, they love the flexibility of the approach, the quality of the strategic reports and come back for more or refer us to their friends. That’s a rather nice endorsement and certainly keeps us very busy!
A typical question we often get is, “We’d like to gather some information on X, but we don’t want a massive data dump and wondered if you could help us with insights?” If you’re one of those people stuck in paralysis by analysis and need help, pick up the phone and give us a call (201 204 9210).
Our simple mantra is:
“Value not volume!”
We’re more than happy to schedule a capabilities presentation by phone or over the web using ‘Go to Meeting’, if interested in learning more about how we can help.
You can read more about us and what we do on the Icarus Consultants web site