Category: Pharma events

A look from inside eyeforpharma 9th Annual Marketing and Customer Innovation Europe, 2019

Posted on by Andrii Nikulin

LONDON, October 2019 – Of enough weight in pharma and life sciences world to deserve the status of Reuters event, eyeforpharma is huge. In reality, to get the full value of the gigantic exchange of insights from leading enterprises, one can only be advised to travel and attend the event in person. As part of the pharma digital innovation community, we at Viseven team have taken it as our tradition to cover at least the most breathtaking presentations here – and this year’s event is not an exception. However difficult it has been to decide what to select to fit into this brief overview.

The driving force behind it all was expressed in one powerful slide, in a presentation delivered by Maria Raad, VP Customer and Digital Strategy at Janssen (and we’ll return to her excellent speech in a few moments):

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Oh yes, there is change in the way pharma is expected to interact with the stakeholders. Much change. The entire event was, in a way, centered around how to cope with it, and what successful cases can already be shown.

Ensuring customer experience that is really valuable

Gone are the times when CX was measured in terms of how digitally advanced it was. Now, with other industries providing exceptional customer centricity, healthcare and pharma are seriously challenged with expectations. Just spectacular digital tech is no longer sufficient – patients and HCPs alike want to see the real value tech can provide.

This is where the notion of added value gains important – and Anders Dyhr Toft of Novo Nordisk talked exactly about that. Amid the global diabetes pandemic, the company introduced added value in the form of digital health solutions.

These allow to expand focus beyond the prescription decision-making process by taking into account the real customer journey. The app-centric thinking has shifted to customer-centric. The importance of thinking in these terms was also highlighted by Philippe Barrilon, Takeda, in his presentation on CX measurement. In a stunning real-world insights collection, he presented the fact that once the HCP’s satisfaction with the journey becomes definitive, there’s a 2.7x increase in the likelihood to prescribe. The smart manager needs to consider the actual touchpoints along that journey and think of personalization – something that Christian Scheuer of LEO Pharma also stressed.

“Align the existing touchpoints before innovating” was one of the ideas in the presentation. In practice, this was achieved by providing reps with BI dashboards that show every touchpoint for any specific HCP – thus providing the flexibility and personalization to adapt to the real, non-linear journey.

The power of collaborations, once again

Collaborations in wide, cross-functional teams – as well as pharma-stakeholder collaborations – are a recognized necessity if only we want to bring the industry to true customer centricity. One notable aspect of this approach was solution co-creation with the customers. For example, the strategy devised by Novo Nordisk (which we have already mentioned) also involved services co-creation, and Louise Lauridsen, Digital Channel Manager, Europe at Bristol-Myers Squibb also presented a collaborative approach. Starting from the dismal figure of 11 minutes that is the average rep call duration in Spain, she emphasized the need to tailor the materials to the audience. As one of the stages in the cycle, they include workshop with the customers.

This same presentation also featured the practice of a large cross-functional team focused on providing the truly patient-centric solutions. The topic was touched in a panel talk on cross-department collaboration (marketing, digital, sales, medical and IT), with Paul Simms, Bharat Tewarie, Anders Dyhr Toft and Dana Viger participating.

It’s already here: AI bearing fruit

We promised at the beginning we’ll go back to what Maria Raad had to say. There were 4 trends distinguished in the presentation (Big data, empowered patients, better disease interception and more personal engagement). Behind all four, AI featured prominently:

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Among all the applications of artificial intelligence that are already the working reality today, there’s one on which Roger Domecq, Head of CRM and Sales Transformation at Novartis Spain, delivered a practical case: AI in CRM. The solution works by analyzing previously assembled data and generating suggestions for reps to arrange for their next activities facing the customer.

Another success case of using AI was presented by Darren Frey, Senior Data Scientist at Sanofi in the context of predictive analytics. The method demonstrated involved precise short-term forecasting based on social media and sales data and processed by AI. The approach allows at least a 30% increase in accuracy (i.e. from 30 to 60%).

How not to get lost in data and processes?

An important part of digital transformation is making sure the organization does not get overwhelmed by the expanded horizons. A panel talk with experts from Pfizer, Novartis, Lundbeck and Sanofi was dedicated to customer insights and selecting the right customer insights for analysis.

The Janssen presentation, mentioned above, included a call to link data to value provided to the customer.

The splendid speech by Sarah Rickwood, Vice President, European Thought Leadership, IQVIA, was dedicated to launching excellence. Analyzing the evolution of launches starting from as early as 1995, they defined 6 stages on the way to the present-day complicated environment. This was combined with an overview of the past, present and future landscape and what implications it has for a successful launch.

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As an efficient approach to efficient launch excellence, Sarah Rickwood suggested the FAAR model, with the formula “Be Focused, Actionable, Aligned and Realistic”.

Francois Motyl, Global Digital Governance Lead at Novartis, presented an approach to end-to-end governance of customer experience.

Omnichannel transformed

The need to provide a truly omnichannel customer experience is clear when you consider that no one channel can substitute or supersede the others. In HCP engagement, even with the plethora of channels that pharma is now trying out, HCPs still use a vast array of other information sources. We have mentioned how Louise Lauridsen of BMS referred to the shrinking rep call times, but her presentation also included an assessment of sources of information, where reps are in Tier 2, at 39% rates. This is indicative of their role as just one channel in the large landscape.

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This landscape is expanding. Cyril Mandry, Senior Marketing Director, MSD spoke of social media as a powerful means of communication. 60 to 80% of the audience are on SM, and 93% buying decisions are influenced by it, so pharma has at least 4 opportunities here: marketing, social selling, employment activities, and developing reputation. A memorable quote inspired by the SM setting was simply this:

Engagement is earned, not bought.

This, according to the presenter, implies the need for a long-term content plan. Another channel introduced with customer journey in mind was chatbots (discussed by Hannah Thompson and Kym Jacks-Bryant of Norgine).

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Naturally, this huge landscape is to be consistent and the channels should be aligned with one another – this is why “multichannel” is now becoming “omnichannel”, the difference being that integrated experience provided by the latter. This requires a smart content strategy powered by good command of tech.

Stacey Berold-Kutscher of Ferring presented an original approach to engaging HCPs via popular digital networks. Reducing the team on the company side to just 3 members – Pharma Brand Lead, Digital Brand Lead and Medical Advisor – leading a blog and involving patients and KOLs, as well as providing downloadable content, they achieved considerable results.

Managing the omnichannel strategy that comprises multiple touchpoints, all of them personalized and providing added value also requires a fair share of proficiency working with content. The conventional way of creating content with an agency here and there is becoming dangerous. Where is the guarantee that the content created in silos will stay not just compliant, but also relevant to its place in the funnel?

Rethinking the way content is created and managed across channels is imminent. We at Viseven Group are aware of this fact and present the modular COPE – Create Once, Publish Everywhere approach. Here, content exists in the form of flexible modules that represent a core idea with supporting information – the value item, as well as metadata. Importantly, modules exist without channel-specific limitations, so that one module can be theoretically used in a website, email, app, eDetailing presentation, landing page, etc.

With the help of business rules, modules can be assembled into channel-specific templates, and thus provide the necessary level of personalization. The possible combinations yield a spectacular number of available content items to be constructed – and used at lighting speed whenever and wherever required by the audience needs.

To know more about what modular omnichannel content practices Viseven can recommend and implement, don’t hesitate to contact our expert in the field.

P.S. If you are interested in what’s going on in omnichannel life sciences communications, you can subscribe to our blog to receive fresh updates on the state of the industry.

17th eyeforpharma Philadelphia 2019: twitter digest

Posted on by Andrii Nikulin

PHILADELPHIA, April 19 – the most comprehensive patient-oriented pharma event of the year has passed, and didn’t fail to bring a breath of fresh air into the industry.

The motto of this year’s #efpphilly:

has explored the ways in which pharma can redirect its efforts in innovation and progress towards those who really stand at the engine of the industry. After all, aren’t we all patients at some point in our lives?

Let’s explore a 360 view that the many exhibitors and speakers have brought to this event, with inspirations that have been generated for the year to come.

  • Business talk – look around, pharma

Continuing on the themes of the eyeforpharma Barcelona 2019, an apt takeaway of which we’ve already published, it’s been emphasized (by Paul Simms initially) that pharma should be on the lookout for new business partners.

  • Amazoniation of healthcare keeps on amazing the industry

Audience at #efpphilly says the most likely bold prediction to be true is that Amazon will be the fastest growing healthcare company.

Patricia Brown from Merck advises this approach to implementing agile marketing: “take inspiration from outside industry brands – it’s possible to deliver a patient experience that matches any non-pharma customer experience”.

  • Cross-disciplinary cooperation will benefit the end stakeholders – patients

Northwell Health expressed a statement that creating a more patient-centric care requires strong collaboration across health systems, advocacy groups, pharma and patients.

  • Put care back to healthcare through partnering with patients

Marc Boutin (National Health Council) and President Percival Barretto-ko (Astellas) talked about why diversity and inclusion is a strategic imperative – and key to realizing patients as partners.

  • Patient-focused, -centric, -oriented? What about… Driven

Peter Anastasiou representing Lundback – on pharma’s evolution from patient-centric to patient-driven, incorporating patient insights into R&D is crucial.

Results of patient-driven strategies may one day look just like this:

  • Make innovations accessible

Any future partnership of pharma should be centered and driven by desire to bring care to the patients. Questions like ‘what’s the point of innovation if patients can’t access it?’ – are a recognition that the focus should be on the patient needs at point of access.

  • Technology to enhance patient journeys and empathy to build meaningful patient experience

Christine Farmer from Novonordisk showed the way how technology helps us to visualize one and Cognizant showcased the patient journey through the lens of empathy.

No larger-than-life event of today is considered full without a serious take on the digital, including the ever-lagging pharma.

  • HCPs and pharma: lack of time, attention span and preference to one channel

“Where do physicians spend their time online?” – a question which has been researched by Amy Turnquinst (Healthcare Solutions) and Paul Kudlow (Trend MD). Here are some of the results they’ve got:

  • Digital brings patient adherence — a case study

  • Patient-centric rep is not making a sale

He helps patients, as told during the panel on the role of the rep. And it is pharma’s duty to reshape this relationship, perception as well as expectations, not in the least – with the help of Digital.

  • Technology is fast – but adoption is slow

Important is also the attitude that software needs to be developing all the time to stay relevant. And the biggest change in going omnichannel is the mindset. Not technology.

  • Rep of today is a channel orchestrator

  • Digital means omnichannel for pharma

During the panel talk on Omnichannel Market Engagement, Viseven’s Business Development Officer – Alexander Dudinets – has noted that in the era of multichannel communication the nature of the marketing cycles has changed: they are overlapping, changing and constantly mutating into one another. If content production for marketing cycles will not become affordable and accurate, there’s little hope for pharma to catch the speed of content lifecycle.

This is where Viseven’s solution, the eWizard platform, is specifically designed to accelerate content creation, localization, rounds of approval and publication to the speed of light. Pharma can split content in smallest meaningful parts and reuse it for many channels and messages, so bringing value to the end stakeholders would become as affordable as it gets.

As for Viseven team, we have enjoyed the event capacities to their full extent: run, exhibition tour, exhibition and panel. Our Chief Officer (US/Canada), Kenneth Sanchez, participated in the early morning run and delivered an excellent pitch during the patient engagement exhibition tour. And our Team A – Oksana Matviienko (CMO) and Ruslana Magdych (Global Account Director) – had an excellent networking time at the exhibition booth, expanding on the intricacies of multichannel content creation that brings value to all stakeholders.

If you would like to know more about forward-thinking technology, which enables implementation of modular content approach into omnichannel communication strategies and speeds up content creation process — drop our experts a line. Decoupling the content from channels is the first step towards value-based engagement with HCPs and patients alike!

Digital Pharma Advances 2019 in London – key points & discoveries

Posted on by Andrii Nikulin

LONDON, January 31, 2019 – As the opening notes by Bharat Tewarie, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at UCB, drew the curtain and unwrapped a whole set of all-too-familiar terms…

…among others, blockchain, AI, digital therapeutics, Brexit, multichannel and disruption…

… it became clear once again why the Digital Pharma Advances conference name starts with that word. Those who have followed along over the past several years know that this event is most fruitful for those seeking to innovate the tech part of pharma.

However, life sciences have their own, inherent, age-old – and still largely unresolved – issues like patient centricity, branding, compliance, adherence, to name a few. One could think of these new realities (introduced in the opening, as well as in the spectacular buzzword cloud) as of something that will help solve pharmas’ traditional questions – or as of dangerous intruders that the industry will have to adapt to in order to survive.

The truth is, they are both. Who can be truly ready for the advent of AI as long as digital transformation is only some 15% complete? Who can be serious about multichannel while materials are being produced in silos by local agencies? Pharma has to face some of its greatest challenges before being able to unzip the whole pack of novelties and benefit from them.

However, who said you can’t use some of these innovations already to transform your organization, making it more efficient and ready to take the digital dive?

The event’s presentations, panel talks and other activities essentially revolved around 4 grand topics:

Digital permeated the discussions on all four. Here is a brief overview of the most memorable moments, along with the possible takeaways.

Patient centricity & adherence: the reality

Patient apps. Patient centricity. Patient engagement. Apps again, and why they sometimes fail to yield the results – all of that has been researched and discussed. However, a stunning presentation by Søren Smed Østergaard, Vice President & Head of Digital Health at Novo Nordisk, redefined everything in an explosion of truth.

In general we need to design solutions that allow the patients to disengage from their disease, not engage further.

 

No one wants their disease, and simply pushing more information or constantly engaging the patient (i.e. reminding the patient) is an impasse when it comes to truly maintain adherence or achieving patient centricity. A smarter approach is gradually coming on the stage, one based on careful UX considerations, allowing the patients to be what they are, without focusing too much on their conditions.

The topic was further developed from a different angle in a patient engagement case study by Zara Patel, Digital Patient Engagement Manager at LEO Pharma, as well as in a panel with executives from Roche, Novo Nordisk and Merck.

HCP engagement, the smarter way

Another important focus topic was, of course, engaging the HCPs. Since the onset of the “reps-plus-multichannel” struggle, the main point has been content personalization and informational value. As practitioners are demanding more RWE and clinical research, but rep admissions are shrinking, the multichannel content game is becoming increasingly sophisticated.

Mate Balazs of Novartis delivered a presentation focused on these issues, citing a “magical secret to succeed” in the title. In reality, the secret is a fortunate combination of channels and content types – from VR to webinars, all thoroughly personalized and oriented towards long-term relationships.

Obviously, “mapping digital literacy” is one of the key factors of success – and organizations should find their own means towards that end.

Another round of discussion on HCP engagement strategies was the panel talk on the first day, where, notably, Anand Das of Pfizer mentioned co-creation as a means of tailoring the materials to audience needs.

A presentation delivered by Viseven Group’s CMO Oksana Matviienko (discussed here below) showed the practical way to craft the content needed for that purpose.

Arranging funnels and defining KPIs: case study

The rise of “smart” CRM dashboards turned out to be the beginning of a new era in KPI use – one where metrics are analyzed much more consciously. An interesting measurement case study was presented by Simeon Simov, Digital Insights Manager at GSK.

Based on the various stages of the awareness-to-advocacy funnel, he showed what KPIs were specifically identified as the most actionable ones (you could think of them as “anti-vanity metrics”):

  1. Content visibility (awareness stage)
  2. Interactions
  3. CTA efficiency
  4. % of the audience becoming brand ambassadors (advocacy stage)

Digital transformation and culture: it’s all about the mindset

Although initially given by Bharat Tewarie in the context of harnessing AI capacities, this has much broader implications. As the event progressed, it became clear that most of the initiatives and best practices described requiring a shift in digital culture and organization to be implemented to their full extent.

A very indicative (and profound) presentation given by Samuel Driessen, Senior Director External Digital Channels at Teva, demonstrated successful steps towards digital transformation from both the organization/culture and value/trust perspective. He highlighted a “hybrid” approach to content production throughout the global-to-local ladder:

The new multichannel

Further down on the practical, immediately actionable level is the contribution that led Viseven team to the event. Having worked in the multichannel life sciences milieu over these transformative years, Viseven is now heralding “Multichannel 2.0” – the new, demonstrably more efficient approach to content production.

The presentation by Oksana Matviienko showed the distinctive idea behind it: having content created once, and without link to a particular channel (eDetailing, email, etc.) – and then using automation to publish it to any system or platform (DAM, CMS, CRM) in use across the entire organization. Further, the content itself can now exist in the form of fragments (“building blocks”) that undergo MLR and approval and can then be combined to form the end product – flexible at multiple levels, and bringing the ultimately personalized value to the stakeholder.

Want to learn more about the workflow already adopted by several industry leaders? You can download the free ebook which reveals the principal points, and turn the new page in your multichannel excellence.