Captain Marvel is the twenty-first film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and one of the last movies that will close up phase 3 of the saga. Yes, she is considered as the strongest hero in the Marvel Comic universe, but she is not as popular, and mostly unknown with the general movie-going audience, except maybe, Marvel super fans (like I am).

I just watched the movie literally 30 minutes ago and even though I entered the cinema very optimistic, I left it somewhat... dissatisfied. Considering the history of Marvel Studios of releasing obscure, B-class superheroes that surprised the audience with engaging stories and innovative movie-making magic, Captain Marvel, may have failed in that aspect in comparison. Okay, Think about Guardians of the Galaxy or Ant-Man for a bit. Great visuals, check; engaging storytelling, check; funny as hell, check!

But why did Kevin Feige allow this movie to be released? The veteran marvel actor's contracts are expiring real soon, and characters may die or retire after Avengers: End Game. Also, they needed a new Captain to steer the future of the MCU after Phase 3. The movie may not reach Black Panther box office proportions, Marvel will make sure it can reach or surpass at least Ant-Man's first movie. It will rely heavily on the power of the brand.

Scott Mendelson, a contributor from Forbes best explains it:

"Here’s another MCU movie with a lousy first trailer. Marvel is a trusted brand. The mere pitch of 'Hey, it’s a Marvel movie with a lady in the lead role this time!' should be enough to score pretty huge on International Women’s Day."

I'm very much sure that Captain Marvel's maiden offering will somehow satisfy MCU and comic book fans (just like me!) who are familiar with the character. But for the general movie-going audiences, the consolation is that it is tied-in directly to Avengers: End Game, which will arrive in a couple of months.

In conclusion, this movie really is just fan service. It will give you the early days of Nick Fury and how he lost his left eye; how Phil Coulson, Agent of Shield, gains the trust of Nick Fury; a back story about the Kree and Ronan the Accuser; how Nick Fury got the souped-up beeper we last saw in Avengers: Infinity War post-credit scene; and how everything is connected to the first Avengers movie and Avengers: End Game.

So, if you are not a fan of the franchise and did not follow any of the other twenty movies, then, this is not for you.

Many Filipino companies today have changed the title of Professional Medical Representative to Territory Manager. Is there a difference or is it just a title? Being the manager of your territory is no joke. In the true sense of the word, what happens in your territory is your full accountability. You cannot blame anybody if the results go ill, but you can congratulate yourself if the performance is spectacular.

Territory Management is the utilization of industry factors that directly and indirectly affect your business in your area of assignment where time, effort and resources are maximized to arrive on a result that meets or exceeds the qualitative and quantitative standards of the company.

On your first day in the territory, you will be given with a list of customers that you will visit. The list may contain a structure already that you may choose to follow. But the question remains: Is the process involved in that hand-me-down territory plan accurate?

Territory Management starts with a thorough understanding of the territory. There is a progressive pattern to follow in order to arrive at a workable area plan. First, you start with the Scanning Phase. Prepare a list of all the doctors in the territory regardless of any parameters. Once you have the list, you can proceed with the Assessment Phase. You will assess the physician’s potential using various parameters which includes but not limited to:

1. Area of specialization
2. Patient profiling
3. Practice volume
4. Influence
5. Current relations to your company

You would first group the list on the first parameter. This will satisfy a key marketing question: Are the cases encountered relevant to your promoted product? Then, after keeping this list and eliminating the non-relevant specialties, you will have to rank them by means of their patient economic class. You would then have to answer the next question: Are the patients encountered able to comply with the dosage regimen? Practice volume denotes the number of consultations per day. You will then have to rank them according to patient volume.

Influence is another key factor. Influential doctors maybe an established Key Opinion Leader or any person of authority that can influence the prescribing decisions of his or her peers. Last but not least are doctors who have an established relationship with your company. If they enjoy a continuous beneficial relationship, they will reject your competitors. These are the customers you may not want to upset.

The third part is the Recording Phase. In here the data were to be sorted out and analyzed, leaving relevant customers to be targeted. You will then have to assign frequency of visits, the primary, secondary or tertiary product to promote, as well as the type of promotional message per specialty. You will also design your daily, weekly and monthly itinerary or routing plan. The routing plan allows your manager to immediately ascertain your whereabouts.

The fourth the series of steps is the Planning Phase. This pertains to the utilization of marketing strategy or directions brought down by the company, via its author, the Product Manager, to the field force. In here you will identify which specialty deserves the promotional mileage based on the guidelines.

In the Implementation Phase, you will adopt the plans that you have laid down. You will follow the routing plan and sampling schedule that you have set, as well as the frequency of visits to physicians. The process does not end in this phase. The plan has to be evaluated for flaws so that corrective measures can be put into place. The whole process is an unending cycle and plans are to be revised regularly to be viable.

Presentations are an opportunity for a Professional Medical Representative to communicate the features and benefits of the product they are promoting. An effective presentation should elicit attention and should leave a mark on the audience psyche. At the end of the presentation, doctors usually ask the speaker, in this case, you, for additional information that they may have missed, or clarifications in some part of your presentation. As the one promoting the product, you are expected to know more about it than the doctors. The presentation is your opportunity to educate your doctor about your product.

Speaking in public ranks as the number one fear-inducing activity, and the answer to overcome this is to practice a lot. To help yourself conquer this fear, you can start practicing in front of the mirror, or in front of your colleagues. Usually, companies do initiate training sessions to enhance their people’s presentation skills. The Training Manager, Product Manager or District Manager role plays the presentation and the Professional Medical Representatives take note of how they deliver the presentation. Then each of the Professional Medical Representatives will present and are rated by the managers accordingly. After each presentation, the managers give constructive feedback to better help you to develop that skill.

Presentations should be planned and the structure should be well organized in such a way that you can provide very effective yet concise communication. In organizing your presentation, it is better to start with an outline. Outlines are the structure of the presentation. The objective here is to create a structured presentation with a unifying thought.

A typical presentation structure is composed of three parts: the Opening, the Body and the Close. Although just a couple of minutes will be spent for Opening and Closing, it should be planned because you can win or lose the audience with your Opening and can make a good or bad impression with your Closing. Don’t worry about the Body of the presentation, it is usually provided by the company, but you have to study and master its entirety.

George W. Merck once said: “We never try to forget that medicine is for the people. It is not for the profits. The profits follow, and if we have remembered that, they have never failed to appear.” The statement was made more than 60 years ago and it should still be applicable today. But the market is changing, and it challenges the dynamics of ethical marketing.

A large number of pharmaceutical companies, mostly those who emerged from the public’s clamor for “cheaper” medicines, have engaged in the trading of essential drugs. They have implemented a pushing campaign wherein they have bypassed the physicians in terms of decision making on what a patient should or shouldn’t take for their illness. This has led to self-medication and eventually substance abuse or overdose. No wonder most bacteria are immune to present-day antibiotics.

Ethical marketing is a factual and truthful representation of a drug, delivered exclusively to healthcare decision makers: the physicians. The pharmaceutical industry faces challenges with respect to ethical marketing and other promotional practices. The conflict of commercial interests with adherence to ethical practices has been a subject of much deliberation. The degree of concerns and issues varies depending on the laws of various markets. Responsible promotional communication informs healthcare professionals and their patients about the benefits and risks of new treatments for diseases.

In the Philippines, there are laws that govern how companies market their products to physicians and one such provision coming from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) discourages misrepresentation or over claiming and such violation (yes, even done by Med Reps) carry stiff penalties. There is also an organization that monitors industry practices and that is PHAP.

The Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines or PHAP is an organization of select local and multinational companies that engage in active promotion of medicines. Monitoring of members or non-member’s marketing practices is rigorously monitored by PHAP. Unethical practices in marketing are reported by the member’s themselves to PHAP as well as the Philippine FDA. PHAP had also provided specific marketing guidelines that are embraced by its members.

PHAP also launched the Medical Representative Accreditation Program (MRAP) to enable Medical Representatives to be accredited professionally and to establish the acceptable standard for professional competencies, including training on ethical marketing practices. The MRAP accreditation allows the Medical Representative to be a competent individual who has a deeper understanding of the disease and the products and bringing it to the needs of the physicians and their patients.

The pharmaceutical industry has always been the first in terms of adopting new technology to help the sales efforts of its personnel. During my time as a Medrep, we were the first to be given with a palm computer for our call reporting system. How did we submit our reports? By physically connecting our device to a modem and the telephone line. Although not encouraged, we were able to hack our way in and used it to surf the internet and play games with it.

Not long after, acetates and overhead projectors was replaced by LCD projectors. The office wanted all reports in powerpoint, saved digitally and presented to them. Thus, the demand for laptops arises. Of course, not all companies are willing to issue each of their Medreps their own buky laptops, so Medreps had to buy it on their own thru loans extended by the company or charge it with their credit cards.

Then, there's the Apple iPad. The iPad was so versatile and the available application technology was so useful that multinational and Filipino pharmaceutical companies adopted it for their call reporting system as well as field evaluation system. With the speed of mobile internet kept on improving, information can be made available in real time by just a tap of a button. So, almost every Medreps you see now has that gadget with them.

As the title says, I believe that the next gadget obsession for the industry is the foldable phone. Why you ask? You'll have two devices on your hand, that's why! The company no longer have to provide you with two gadgets and two mobile plans, but instead, you'll only need one sim card for it. You have your regular Android phone, and when you fold it up, you'll get your tablet!

Now, at the beginning of this year, companies such as Samsung and Huawei have unveiled their version of the foldable phone. Samsung Galaxy Fold has a 7.3-inch screen that folds over itself when you're ready to put it in your pocket. It has a high-end processor, 12GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage. There's going to be a triple-lens rear camera (16MP+12MP+12MP), and a 4,380mAh battery split up between the two sections of the phone.

These devices, the first versions of this class, will still be pricey, with the Samsung Galaxy Fold and the Huawei Mate X reportedly priced between $1,500 to $2,000 US Dollars. But give it a year or so, once the technology gets cheaper and the demand shoots up, pharmaceutical companies will surely consider this to automate the salesforce.

A Medrep's day is pretty jam-packed, and if overwhelmed, life can be pretty toxic. But of course, proper planning and discipline can always help you manage your day-to-day activities. And also, each of us wanted to have that much coveted work-life balance.

A typical morning starts with the following:

1. Checking emails and messages - The office regularly sends emails containing sales updates and sales cut-off reminders. With that information, you'll be able to re-align your daily plans with your company's goals. And if there are important communication that you forgot to send the previous day, this is the best time to send it because the office can act on it earlier.
2. Accomplishing reports - Reports are part of the job. There are Medreps that prepare and submit their reports before the deadline. But there are Medreps who update their reports daily and avoid getting "toxic" during the monthly business reviews.
3. Reviewing itineraries - It is important to regularly check, verify and update your itineraries. Yes, most of the time, itinerary changes are minimal, but if you were able to maximize your time and be able to get your daily coverage target on time, you'll be able to have that "work-life" balance you wish for.

Now, you are allowed to have your breakfast. Just kidding! You can do all these things while eating breakfast and wearing your pajamas. At least by 9:00 am, you are good to go!

Now, you say that it is too early to go to the field by 9:00 am and most of the Medreps you know go on field work late, what will you do if there are no doctors to cover? Now, that is our next topic. Until then, see you!

I finally got my hands on Zumma, the newest brand of supplement for men, that, as they promised, will make my sex life better. I'm no stranger with these kinds of supplements as I used them for "special occasions" but there are supplements for men out there that are giving me a migraine.

Upon closer inspection of the packaging, you can see that the manufacturers did a very good job in ensuring that the product will catch the eye of the potential customers. The logos were embossed for a 3D-like effect, and the box is almost the same size of a condom box.

At the back, you can see the list of primary ingredients, which are mostly plant-based that can supposedly help achieve an erection without side effects.  It contains L-Arginine, Wild Yam Extract, Lycium barbarum Extract, Cistanche Deserticola Extract, and Epimedium Extract. Zumma is categorized as a food supplement, it means that it is not a drug and quite safe for human consumption. Their website provides the reference for scientific evidence for each of the component's benefits: http://zummaformen.com/scientific-evidence/

So, how did I take Zumma? According to the instructions as indicated in the packaging, "take one capsule two hours before the performance, preferably with an empty stomach". I waited for two to three hours, lo and behold! It did work! It also helped that my wife just got out of the shower and was wearing her new set of cheeky undergarments. I was stiff alright. And I can still feel its effects after a day or two. I mean, whenever I think about sex, I can still feel its effects. I know the difference between my regular erection and the "Zumma" erection, so there you go.

And so, based on my personal experience with this product, here are my suggestions:

1. Take Zumma 2-3 hours before your intended sexcapade, with an empty stomach.
2. Take your date out for a fancy dinner and let Zumma work its magic.
3. After dinner, you'll feel it and maybe, your date is expecting it too.
4. Give your best performance, because trust me, you'll get an encore.

How to buy Zumma? 

1. Shopee - http://www.shopee.ph/westfieldpharma
2. Lazada - http://www.lazada.com.ph/westfield-pharmaceuticals-inc
3. Zumma Facebook Page - http://www.facebook.com/ZummaForMen