KOL

Friday, August 12

For those of you not in the Biz, KOL stands for “Key Opinion Leader” which is a fancy name for a physician who has a lot of influence in a certain category, like cardiology or oncology. In advertising we interview KOLs regularly to see what they think about certain drugs or treatment strategies so that we can keep up to date. I took a field trip out of the office on Friday with the Pres and two Planners to interview an oncologist in Chiba Prefecture. (I’m not exactly sure what “prefectures” are. I’ve looked it up, but it’s still confusing. My guess is that it’s kind of like the boroughs in NYC. But, maybe not).

Chiba is about an hour and a half from Tokyo. We took the JR line which is one of the many regional rail lines in Japan. Because the subways and other train lines are so efficient, people rarely drive or take taxis to meetings. The downside is that because it’s so hot and humid, everyone arrives for meetings looking like forty miles of bad road. Even “wrinkle-free” fabrics can’t withstand the effects of the Japanese summer.

We met the KOL at the hospital where he works. It was a little run-down and low-tech looking. Despite the surroundings, this was the most formal meeting I've seen so far. We got into the room before the KOL and the Pres had us move furniture around and assigned us our seats for the meeting. He coached me on the pronunciation of the KOL’s name and made me repeat it about 10 times. When the KOL came in, there was a lot of bowing and gesturing. The interview was in Japanese so I used my best “I’m listening” expression while pinching the area between my thumb and first finger to stay awake. I knew that the KOL spoke English, so I prepared a few questions that I could throw in at the end, just so he’d know I wasn’t just eye candy.

On the way home, I had a long talk with the Pres. Turns out, he loves jazz and Broadway musicals. He also suggested I go to a Zen temple to meditate and “take away my stress.” Stress? What stress?

Price check: a bunch of grapes: $21.00