Who and Why
Central is a specialist Healthcare strategy consultancy dedicated to creating innovative and sustainable solutions for pharmaceutical marketers.
At the turn of the millennium, the pharmaceutical industry was in flux. The blockbuster model was showing cracks, reps were no longer seen as the panacea; people were looking for new direction. Among the innovators, Central's founding partners, Matt Rowley and Rob Barker, began to ask questions about the way healthcare marketing was being done.
Central was founded in 2004 out of this questioning, and the need to find a new way of doing things – a way that could reflect the way the marketplace had changed, and the way it would work in the future. The building blocks for Central's new approach to pharmaceutical marketing come from years of research. Central's new approach is constructed based on decades of scientific research into communication dynamics, diffusion of innovations, word of mouth and marketing theory, as well as a recognition of new forces (such as regulation and market access) that have changed the way pharmaceutical marketing is conducted in the new millennium.
Central now combines this New Pharma Marketing methodology with the decades of combined experience in marketing, communications, market research and pharmaceutical industries of its employees.
Central's dedication to its principles has seen them move to the forefront in applying healthcare marketing theory and develop partnerships with many of the world's top 20 pharmaceutical companies at global, regional and country levels. It is in these partnerships where New Pharma Marketing comes to life and together with clients, Central builds more effective international brand communication strategies.
Rob and Matt
"central are particularly strong strategically;
they think with us rather than for us."
Ellen S
Global Brand Marketing Manager
Royal Numico