Merck Consumer Healthcare is the OTC division of the oldest pharmaceutical group in the world.

We entered the project to help out the marketing team for an interim assignment. We call it consult'erim, as we tend to question things a lot. So inevitably our cross-industry marketing experience enables our eyes to identify suboptimal strategies and tactics.

We managed a series of brands for Merck and remained in the marketing team as an outsourced expert for a little less than 3 years. A big project was to introduce a digital eco-system for one of their top 5 OTC brands oriented at women for a “taboo” type of urinary problem (high sensitivity and purchase privacy appreciated). Seen the frequency and mass market reach needed, and to remain within budgets, digital media were added to the mix.

As for our work on Omnibionta Pronatal, HCP marketing was adjusted to create “stopping power” in medical reps’ visits, and trigger attention. As for many of our pioneer clients, we also emphasized the higher purpose of the brand, with the ambition to play a unique and disruptive role in the category : reducing unnecessary prescriptions for antibiotics. Being able to contribute to make a positive societal impact brings us a lot of joy. 

« The Markitects has a non-negligible added value: when they came in for a short interim mission, they quickly confronted the team with their senior marketing expertise from other sectors. This allows them to reveal potential improvements in our way of working. They question a lot, which is not always comfortable but I prefer that to executing interims that just do what they’re being told”. 

Miklos Konkoly, Head of Marketing, Merck Belgium