Total Football is a tactical theory in football. This tactical theory differs from other football systems where defensive and offensive roles are clearly divided. In the Total Football system, all players on the field must simultaneously take on both offensive and defensive tasks, thus requiring high standards for both technical skills and physical fitness. Similarly, pharmaceutical marketing shares the same or similar theoretical framework as football. Total Football can also be applied to the pharmaceutical marketing system, representing a marketing model that simultaneously engages in promotional marketing and competitive interception.
The author compares Total Football with pharmaceutical marketing, learning from football tactics to apply to pharmaceutical marketing.
1. **Formation and Organizational Structure**: The tactical formation of Total Football usually evolves from the 4-4-2 formation (see diagram below). All 10 players except the goalkeeper can perform both offensive and defensive duties. The positions of these 10 players on the field are fluid, focusing on space rather than fixed positions. Forwards can play as defenders, and defenders can remain in forward positions, achieving the effect of Total Football. In the organizational structure of pharmaceutical marketing, sales departments act as forwards and midfielders, taking charge of frontline battles and completing final goals. The market department organizes and plans strategies while coordinating between the front and back lines, acting as a bridge. Financial and human resources departments support frontline operations while intercepting competitors (see diagram above). Thus, all personnel in the marketing system also take on both offensive and defensive roles.
2. **Tactics and Marketing Strategies**: Total Football does not simply mean everyone attacks during offense and defends during defense. It emphasizes teamwork but also allows players to freely play according to their current position on the field. Players do not need to always stick to their original roles. For example, when a defender has space and opportunity to attack, they can handle the ball as an attacker or midfielder, even leaving their defensive position to enter the opponent's core area for an attack. After this action, depending on the situation, they may not immediately return to their original defensive position but continue playing locally. Meanwhile, other players must fill the exposed gaps or share the defensive responsibilities of the absent defender. Clearly, "Total Football" requires every player on the field to possess the ability to perform other positional duties, allowing player versatility and on-field judgment to replace fixed roles. To fully unleash the power and advantages of "Total Football", the primary condition is that each player on the field must have high individual capabilities, especially in ball control and creating space.
In pharmaceutical marketing strategies, Total Football emphasizes full participation marketing (see diagram below), collaborating in combat, capable of launching active offensives while also effectively intercepting competitors' attacks and doing well defensively. Similar to Total Football, pharmaceutical marketing needs the organizing and attacking abilities of the midfield, not only requiring the market department to fully leverage its own strengths, mobilizing all resources to plan successful campaigns that result in goals. It also requires all staff to prepare for both offense and defense, ready to respond to changes in the new healthcare reform environment, fully understanding competitors' marketing strategies, and mobilizing all resources to strive for marketing success.
3. **Advantages and Benefits of Total Football**: Under the Total Football tactic, any player on the field can move to any position based on the needs of the game at that moment and perform the role of that position’s player. This tactic breaks the constraints of traditional formations, fully motivating players and showcasing their talents. However, Total Football has very high requirements for players' physical fitness, technical skills, and awareness. Since players don't need to deliberately return to their original positions, it saves energy and time. Unlike other football tactics, Total Football involves all personnel participating in both offense and defense, contributing ideas and efforts to the entire organizational structure, rather than just performing their specific roles. In the pharmaceutical marketing system, all levels of personnel participate in marketing, working collaboratively. It's not just the salespeople fighting on the frontlines; market department personnel also play an organizational planning role within the overall organizational structure, providing weapons and ammunition to frontline sales. Financial, HR, and other logistics departments provide support from the rear, making it a full participation marketing model. Department personnel must comprehensively improve their qualities to meet the requirements of Total Football marketing, which requires the ability to both attack and defend.
4. **Application of Total Football in Pharmaceutical Marketing**: As the pioneer and earliest practitioner of Total Football tactics, Michels created countless glories and impressive records throughout his coaching career. The 2010 World Cup-winning Spanish team utilized Total Football tactics to win their first-ever World Cup title. For pharmaceutical marketing, by 2009, the top 100 pharmaceutical companies had developed their own distinctive marketing models, with most successful enterprises applying the Total Football marketing model and achieving remarkable results. They all have business units set up as marketing fortresses, each unit dedicated to marketing a specific product line or advantageous single product. These units play the roles of forwards and midfielders in Total Football tactics. The market department oversees and plans the company's marketing direction and provides resources to business units. Financial, HR, and other logistics departments also play crucial roles in supporting frontline marketing. Notably, they have various types of talent who understand both offensive and defensive capabilities, enabling them to fully assume the responsibilities and missions of simultaneous offense and defense. Thus, the legends of the rise of one enterprise after another continue to tell us...
There are many examples in football tactics worth studying and exploring, finding suitable marketing methods through analysis and comparison. We should pay more attention, observe more, summarize more, and analyze and compare in our daily lives and everything around us, making it easier to find our own marketing solutions.