The service gives each brand a ‘brand equity assessment’ based on ‘brand cognition’ (rational and logical elements) together with ‘brand heart’ (emotional elements). GfK said that this score is a reliable predictor of physicians’ future prescribing intentions and behaviour.

Other factors measured by the service include how aware physicians are of a brand, how a brand is viewed in a competitive context and what is driving a brand’s market share.

Jeff Cartwright-Smith (pictured), senior vice president of marketing science at the firm, said: “With all the flexible options that Brand Beat offers, a brand’s strength can be assessed at any given stage throughout the product life cycle and within any scope of a particular market’s competitive dynamics. More traditional approaches to brand equity assessment and tracking are limited in that they commonly offer a single comprehensive approach that is not adaptable or amenable to meeting a client’s specific challenge at a given moment.”