Return to Blog
5
min read

The Dilemma in Pharma Marketing

Written by
Published on
September 15, 2021

The Dilemma in Pharma Marketing

By Mike Cloutier

Every year, the pharmaceutical industry is spending more and more on traditional sales and marketing tactics. And it’s not because those tactics are showing great success -- it’s because they’re not.

The industry has been ripe for a digital transformation for years. But in the meantime, it’s continued to function in an old-school manner of relationships: face-to-face meetings, endless amounts of spreadsheets, and manually maintained datasets.


Now more than ever, industry is being pushed toward a digital transformation -- like it or not. But without the power of data science, the inefficiencies of manual data analysis continue to stand as a severe time-suck for reps just trying to do their jobs as best they can.

Enter ODAIA’s Maptual -- the first and only AI-powered platform helping pharma better engage physicians.

ODAIA’s Answer: Maptual

Our world is not static -- so our marketing tactics certainly shouldn’t be. Plans need to adapt in real-time, not a few times a year. When commercial teams need to adapt quickly and constantly to new trends in the market and the changing behaviour of their customers in the post-pandemic era, the old ways of doing things aren’t going to cut it.


Maptual integrates all sales and marketing touchpoints, customer behavior and prescription transactions to identify the value of each channel for each physician and suggests personalized actions to drive engagement -- think which physicians are most important to contact, when to contact them, and what contact method is most effective, at the individual level.


Making Pharma Smarter

May 2021 marks my 40th year in pharma.  I’ve held significant commercial roles in Canada and internationally. Over the past 25 years, my roles have included GM, President, and CEO of a number of small, medium, and large companies including AstraZeneca Canada. I’ve served on the board of numerous companies and organizations that partner with pharma to enhance the lives of patients and caregivers. Throughout all of this experience, I’ve seen first-hand the need for this kind of platform.

Maptual comes from the team at ODAIA, an experienced group of serial entrepreneurs, data scientists, AI engineers, and pharma veterans. CEO and Co-Founder Philip Poulidis has over 25 years of leadership and entrepreneurial experience in the tech industry at companies like Marvell and BlackBerry, while Orchid Jahanshahi, VP Commercial, Life Sciences, brings deep marketing and sales management experience from biopharmaceutical companies like Novartis, Merck, Janssen, Sanofi, Bayer, and Biogen.

These are folks that know the industry, and they know how to drive its success.


COVID has created the need to evolve and grow in every aspect of our lives. The pandemic has created an unprecedented opportunity for change, in fact, it has demanded the change. Maptual is one of the most critical tools to ensure the change is delivered. Greater efficiency and effectiveness is within our reach.


ODAIA is offering an incredibly valuable solution to support pharma’s digital transformation, backed by an amazing team and a robust IP portfolio. The industry has an opportunity to move beyond outdated methods toward something more dynamic and responsive. -- Maptual delivers on that opportunity.

I can’t wait to see what the future holds.

Are you a thought leader in the industry?

Share this blog with your network!

odaiaAI