Medical advertising agencies will face client threats to comply with fee and price reductions or lose the business. Client indifference toward the contributions of medical advertising agencies will continue to grow. As if things were not bad enough, the agency holding companies will become more demanding. They will continue to squeeze their members for profit, regardless of how their demands might hurt the business. All of this places the traditional medical advertising agency in a "Catch-22" situation. Conclusion: As a part of the medical advertising agency reengineering process, agencies will begin to look for new clients outside the traditional pharmaceutical industry but within the healthcare arena. Most notable will be insurance companies, hospitals, and other third- party payers. Maybe even the government! What's going to happen to the traditional medical advertising agency communication product? Fewer funds will be targeted at CME, with an accompanying increase in support for promotional medical education. DTC advertising will face even more regulations, reducing its usefulness as a major demand-generating tactic. At the same time, one foresees an increase in direct- to-patient promotion, given the continued importance of digital marketing. Connection with consumers/patients online will continue to have explosive growth. Sales forces will decrease, as physicians are increasingly unwilling to open their doors to pharmaceutical representatives. Still, the medical advertising industry must continue to generate communication innovations to make the pharmaceutical sales representative a valuable resource for physicians. The agency that arms the sales force with innovative tools will thrive.
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