The Senior eMarketing Manager explains how data will help grow her company’s online budget and how rich media is increasing in importance.

AstraZeneca is a major international research-based pharmaceutical company engaged in the development, manufacture and marketing of prescription pharmaceutical products. The company has a full range of products in six therapeutic areas, which treat conditions and diseases ranging from asthma to heart disease. Jean Pundiak is the company’s senior e-marketing manager and works on direct-to-consumer campaigns that support “the purple pill,” a drug that treats acid reflex (www.purplepill.com). “Our online is completely integrated with our offline campaigns,” she says. “We integrated all the messages, images, creative, and the emotional aspects of our offline campaigns.” We talked with Pundiak recently to get her views on the industry.

Meet Jean at the iMedia Brand Summit in Coconut Point Bonita Springs, Florida, February 2 – 5.

iMedia Connection: What’s one of the most successful campaigns your company has executed recently, and what made it successful?

Pundiak: We’re online year-round, so there isn’t any one particular campaign. We have optimized our search engines, in terms of position and key words. But we have such a large offline presence that people can easily find Purplepill.com. We have a presence on various health sites (WebMd., HealthScout, MedicineNet), where consumers are going to look for information. Many of these sites provide content to other sites, and through them we make sure we have a presence through a combination of banners and rich media. We also try to make sure we have a strong presence on those sites that appeal to our target audience (35-60), and mostly toward women. Lastly, we use cost-per-click and cost-per action buys.

iMedia Connection: What are the obstacles preventing your company from allocating a larger percent of your marketing/advertising budget online?

Pundiak: Data -- the research that shows this really works. We are a participant in the second-round of the IAB study. Results are just coming in now. I’m hopeful the IAB information will provide the decision-makers in this company the comfort level that online does work. I’m hoping that’s going to make a difference.

iMedia Connection: How much will your online media budget increase based on reports that the Internet has pulled a large percentage of user media consumption from TV, print and radio?

Pundiak: It’s really based on the IAB results. By the end of January we’re going to have that information, and hopefully our online budget will increase.

iMedia Connection: Can you describe a new or important tactical approach in the way you’re using the Internet?

Pundiak: Because we’re finding more and more people have broadband, we’ve really tried to use a lot more rich media in our advertising. In the past, we were concerned about load time, but that’s less of a problem these days. We intend to use more rich media in the future. We’ve also done several roadblocks, which were successful. And larger-size creative has really made a difference.

iMedia Connection: Do you see online media (vs. site-building, CRM, etc.) growing in importance as part of your own company’s marketing initiatives?

Pundiak: Definitely, mainly because we’ve been extremely successful in terms of what we’ve done. We’re building research that’s the foundation of our offline media. This is another media and it works. It’s also much less costly doing marketing online versus TV and/or print. Not only for our brands, but for the smaller brands that have to be frugal.

iMedia Connection: What are the vexing issues facing your company and online advertising/marketing?

Pundiak: It doesn’t have the standards that the offline people are using. It’s difficult to work in a team environment and try to share information when we don’t have the common tools and metrics. Also, the whole online planning process (negotiations) is so tedious and difficult to implement. The whole variety of ad unit sizes -- each site you have to do something custom. It’s time-consuming and expensive to get all those details right, which is not the case in offline.

iMedia Connection: Does your company plan on increasing its spend on interactive media, and when do you expect interactive to take a larger share of the total marketing budget?

Pundiak: Definitely and not only in my brand, but across all the other brands. This is an important part of the media mix, not just for consumers but for professionals, as well.