J&J's Perkins: The Revolution Must Continue

Students of the marketing revolution should watch Brian Perkins closely. Innovation often means going against the flow, but the efforts of Mr. Perkins' centralized marketing-services team to modernize Johnson & Johnson's approach have encountered particularly tough headwinds of late.

The writers strike has made J&J's decision to skip last year's TV upfront selling period much more costly this year. A $16.6 billion acquisition has brought with it a Pfizer culture that hasn't embraced change as readily as already-conservative incumbent management.