With the service encounter increasingly front of mind for us, and in the past viewed as out of our remit, we seem to be spending a load of time understanding the many forms that interaction takes. The insight is being derived from mock-up consultations, anthropology style participant observation, even the more traditional scenarios and advisory boards.

With this geography now within the marketeers remit, it seems ever expanding. Interaction mapping within healthcare is loads more complicated especially in chronic disease treatments. Which prove a minefield of sub optimal interactions interrupting the brand experience.

It all proving interesting stuff. Expert/HCP marketing as an extension of consumer strategy – whatever next!

Wargaming can achieve a number of different outcomes. There is a conversion of data and information (e.g. on market or competitors) into actionable intelligence that adds real quality to the strategic planning process. It also delivers a result that could not be arrived at by any individual present alone. It demands collaboration and a fresh perspective. Role playing brings colleagues closer together, juggling insights and skills. It’s a productive day’s work for the whole team.

You can achieve a lot in a planned and well-paced day. Spending the morning getting under the skin of your foe, planning their launch, and agreeing the likely story to the market can not only be fun, but really sharpens the mind in preparation for the afternoon. That’s when you plan your defence and the activities you can do to protect your equity.

And another thing: wargaming provides your agency with an opportunity to show you creativity that’s not restricted to an A4 page.

The key word is ‘seemed’. We are wiser now. We have seen the gap between promise and delivery. We know how it affects users attitude and behaviour.

It’s nice to be sweet talked at times; it’s fun visualising how great things will be. It’s less thrilling to hang around waiting for non-existent goods to turn up. That’s when you feel disappointed and want to kick your bright, flawless, newly painted walls down.

Customer service is something everyone gushes about. “We are competitively priced, but our premium is justified by our outstanding commitment to…” You’ve heard it. Why is it companies and brands still haven’t got it? Buying a service is about the delivery, not the promise.

Things that should have happened naturally were eclipsed by a tortuous string of phone calls and frustration: Transferring phone accounts: O2 say ‘1 day’, our panel say, Att-Ahhhh 2 months of chasing, cajoling and being let down. In the end we gave up and went to Vodafone, finding out that it’s easier to change provider than stay with the same one… hello? Putting landlines in. Our provider says cat 6 will be fine, so that’s what we do. Our panel said Att-Ahhhh, I meant cat 5, not cat 6 cable – 2 days wasted.

I could go on but I’m starting to tremble.

Brands must contain a promise, but more importantly they must fulfil it. One company that would never let that happen is First Direct. Their brand promise (or should I call it brand truth?) rings loud and clear from their call centre upwards, for them it feels that delivering the brand is actually more important than communicating it.

Something always comes good from bad as my Grandmother used to say. It got us thinking. Do we in the pharmaceutical industry focus so much on selling to HCPs that we fail to properly consider the impact on end users? The token patient programme, the leaflet, the poster. Not being able to talk to consumers is no excuse, we can talk to patients. Even if we can’t hear their complaints, the rest of the world will.