Marketing Strategy


It is Sildenafil citrate. It was being tested by a group of pharmaceutical chemists working at Pfizer's research facility. It was initially thought to be sold for reducing hypertension (high blood pressure). Had the marketers stuck to this idea ,the product would have been sold for about 3$ max.

But the Marketers found a "need" in the market. Clinical trials had suggested that the "drug could induce marked penile erections ".So, the product was packaged and sold as Viagra for about 30$.It became a great success and annual sales of Viagra in the period 1999–2001 exceeded $1 billion.

Thatz the power of Marketing Strategy. The course is being taught by the guru Ken Wong. His classes are extremely interesting. I learnt about the 4 types of buyers - Compliance, Convenience, Relationship and a Value buyer and got a good idea of how products should be priced. I think I am a convenience buyer.

Value proposition, Product Leadership, Operational Efficiency are some of the terms that I understand much better now. There are two things that really make Prof Wong's classes interesting. Firstly, he makes us understand complex concepts in a simple manner. He draws fantastic analogy between a concept and human activity. He shares personal stories, anecdotes to illustrate a point. Secondly, he has a terrific sense of humor. Be it the Indians, Canadians or Chinese folks in the class, everyone in the class has a good laugh.

There were a couple of MBA prospective students attending the class today and no prizes for guessing which school they would like to join now. ;)