Executive summary for a medical brand plan

Many senior managers do not have time to go through the details of a brand plan, yet they need to know the overall direction. Remember that these senior managers are often in charge of several products, and it would be overwhelming for them to read and retain all the details from every one of their product's brand plan.

That's the beauty of the executive summary of a pharmaceutical brand plan. Short and sweet, and to the point, with respect to the needs of a senior manager.

What do senior managers need to know foremost?

They need to know what will be the sales for the year for the product? How much will it cost to get those sales? And what will be the resulting profit. So basically, they want a quick glimpse of the P&L (profit and loss) statement that you are proposing.

They also need a quick synopsis of the key components of the situational analysis. Include only the major components of the situational analysis that will support the strategies that you will propose, especially if these strategies are a change in direction from previous years. For example, if you are going to propose a massive consumer campaign, then you would need to include some information in the executive summary that will support such a campaign. Similarly, if you are going to propose a massive increase in share-of-voice (SOV) tactics because of an incoming new competitor, then you will need to include information on that new competitor.

Finally, list your proposed strategies. You always want to make senior management's job as easy as possible, so write the page number within the brand plan that the senior manager can refer to if they want more information on that strategy as well as the supporting tactics.

And voila !! Your executive summary is complete. You need to have a completed brand plan before you actually write the executive summary, so although this appears at the beginning of the document, it needs to be written last.