Pharmaceutical Manufacturer Uses Vanity Phone Number to Recruit Patients for Clinical Trials

Client:

Biopharmaceutical company focuses on the development of oral small molecule drugs for major unmet medical needs in male and female health. Their marketing agency has specialized in strategic message delivery for over 22 years, and develops media strategies that mirror consumer media behavior.

Background / Challenge:

Before releasing a new drug to the market, clinical trials must be conducted, and patients need to be recruited to participate in the trials. The client was executing their first mass-market media campaign in four major metro markets to recruit men for a new clinical trial.

Solution:

Use a memorable direct-response tool in television advertising to generate inbound leads and recruit patients for a new clinical trial.

Results:

According to the Account Executive at the marketing agency, “The vanity number we got through 800response is an absolute, perfect fit for the campaign we executed on behalf of Repros.”

The clinical trial was a male testosterone level study. The agency’s advertising strategy included 1-855-TEST-MY-T as an unforgettable direct-response tool. “We ran the television campaign for one
month, in four markets with the vanity 855 number as the only response tool. Our client received 1,200 phone calls from people inquiring about the trial,” says the AE.

The only way to screen and enroll patients is over the phone, and the answering agents must follow a precise script to take the caller through the screening process.

The client and advertising agency use Call Recording to monitor the call center agents to make sure they are staying on script during the recruitment and enrollment call. They also access the Call Tracking detail reports to confi rm caller contact details so they can keep a clean database of prospective and confirmed patients.

The AE goes on to say that “The vanity number and call data provides the checks and balances we need to measure if all parties and elements – from the contact center to the advertising campaign – are doing their job to recruit patients and allow our client to run a successful clinical study.”