Editor's Note: Pharma A to Z April 07, 2008 April 2008
By Jennifer Juergens
A few years ago I wrote a story on incentives in the pharmaceutical industry for a pharmaceutical trade magazine. For the most part, the companies didn't mind me writing about their incentive programs—as long as I didn't mention the company name.
Things haven't changed much.
So when Senior Editor Leo Jakobson told me he got AstraZeneca to talk about their myriad programs, I knew it was a coup.
Jakobson talked to David Snow, the vice president of commercial operations, who oversees about 600 employees in various sales and marketing support functions. Pharmaceutical firms are notoriously averse to publicizing their incentive spending, but it's interesting to me how AstraZeneca is motivating its employees on all levels—and is willing to talk about it. The story begins on pg. 16.
Another company we report on, in our case study section, is U.S. Cellular, the sixth largest wireless carrier in the nation. For its 21st anniversary, it pulled out all the stops to say thank you to the community—and its employees. Anne Marie Lee's story starts on pg. 24.
And read our latest survey on merchandise incentives, pg. 32. We found corporate incentive planners are spending on average about 4 percent more than they did last year, and the number of respondents who reported a budget of more than $50,000 increased by about one-third. With everyone talking about recession, this is positive news.
Congratulations to John Gardener of Gardener Promotion Marketing in Philadelphia. He is the first winner of our Where Are We? contest. He wins a $100 travel certificate from Marriott. Check out our next contest online at www.incentivemag.com/wherearewe. Enjoy the issue.
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