Earlier this month, The Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases announced the launch of its END7 campaign, which focuses on eliminating seven Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) by 2020. Working in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The World Health Organisation (WHO) and 13 pharmaceutical companies from the United States, United Kingdom and United Arab Emirates, the campaign aims to eliminate lymphatic filariasis, trachoma, and infections caused by three soil-transmitted helminths, schistosomiasis and onchocerciasis.

To aid the initiative, pharma companies have donated pills to treat these NTDs. Novartis in particular has made headlines in the news by extending its commitment to help achieve the elimination of leprosy in partnership with the WHO.

The campaign has been promoted primarily through Facebook and the Global Network website.  The Facebook page has gained an impressive 800 fans in less than two months and features success stories, photographs and campaign videos as well as a real-time donation counter.



The welcome page also features an animated video entitles ‘Our Mission in a Minute’, which you can view below.

Are you looking to launch a condition awareness campaign? Nitro Digital can help you! Call us on 0844 450 5545 or email us at info@nitro-digital.co.uk. To find out more about our work, check out our pharma marketing services.

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List of PM Society Advertising Awards Winners

Target Audience Judged Awards

Primary Care Advertisement Award – Balneum Plus Cream (Bear) by Swordfish Advertisement

Secondary Care Advertisement Award – nitrogen for their Genotropin ad for Pfizer

Primary Care Direct Mail Award - Euro RSCG Life Medicom for Imigan Subject for GSK

Healthcare Industry Award – OPENHealth

Craft Judged Awards

Primary Care Advertisement Award – Langland for Kentera (Orion Pharma)

Secondary Care Advertisement Award – Saatchi & Saatchi Health for Prialt (Eisai)

Journal Advertisement Campaign Award – PAN Advertising for their Prostap campaign for Takeda

HCP Direct Mail Award – nitrogen for the Coseal mailing for Baxter Healthcare

Detailing Aid Award - Langland for Kentera (Orion Pharma)

Primary Care Campaign Award – Langland for Exposed (LEO Pharma)

Secondary Care Campaign Award – Torre Lazur McCann and Creative Lynx for Xeplion (Janssen)

Patient Information Campaign Award – Langland for Cake a Difference (Bliss)

International Core Campaign Award – Woolley Pau Gyro for Qvar (Teva Europe Ltd)

Digital Interactive Award - Creative Lynx/Torre Lazure McCann for Xeplion (Janssen)

Digital Campaign Award – TBWA Paling Walters for GS Junior 454 (Roche)

Geoff Brook Award – Creative Lynx Maintaining Adherence Programme for Janssen

Digital Pioneer Award – John Pugh and Dr Simon Clough

About Nitro Digital:

We are a digital marketing agency with over a decade of experience in delivering award-winning digital campaigns for global pharmaceutical companies. If you would like to find out more about our work, have a look at our pharma marketing services pageor get in touch by calling 0844 450 5545 or email us at info@nitro-digital.co.uk.

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I chose Abbott Laboratories as the subject of my first review for two reasons: 1) the company has been demonstrating impressive financial growth in the past year with strong profit margins and 13.4 percent share price increase since last year, and 2) it is one of the biggest drug-maker in developing countries like India where social media is booming right now. With the range of products and therapy areas they are involved in, Abbott has endless amount of online marketing opportunities.  However, at present, the brand’s online presence is rather weak compared to digital heavyweights like Johnson and Johnson, Pfizer and Boehringer Ingelheim.

For this review, I’m focusing on Abbott’s website, the hub of the brand’s digital marketing activity. The website will be assessed according to its usability based on ‘accessibility’, ‘branding’, ‘navigation’, and ‘content’.



1) Accessibility – Factors that might keep the visitor from accessing the site.

Accessibility is arguably the most crucial factor when it comes to site usability. You may have the best looking site in the industry but if it is not compatible with your visitors’ browsers or loads slowly, you are at risk of losing a significant amount of traffic.

Abbott’s site performs well in terms of accessibility. There are no flash elements on the site and the ‘text size button’ feature is a particularly nice touch. The site however could benefit from a mobile site. According to Google, mobile health queries represent 18 percent of total search traffic, compared to 10 percent a year ago (Search Engine Watch 2011). With mobile search on the rise, having a well-designed and functional mobile site is a real must!

2) Identity – The clarity of your brand’s identity and offering.

As soon as visitors land on your site, within seconds it should be clear to them what your brand is all about and what products/services you offer to them. This is usually done through a home page feature, or intro text.

On Abbott’s site, while the logo is prominent on all pages, the tagline, which is hidden in the top right-hand corner, needs to be further emphasised. There appears to be two different styles of logos, which indicate a bit of an ‘identity crisis’, not to mention that they both click through to the home page. There is no clear indication on the home page that Abbott is a global healthcare company.

3) Navigation – Having a clear path to the information they are looking for

Organising your website’s structure and content to effectively target different types of users is crucial. Abbott’s website does this particularly well. The home page features a ‘Resources for…’ section, which breaks content down according to types of users i.e.: HCPs, investors, journalists, patients and caregivers, students, and job seekers. This way, when a visitor lands on the home page they can find what they are looking for in a matter of seconds.

The golden rule for achieving top quality website usability is that information must be available in no more than three clicks. Abbott’s website is a prime example of this. Moreover, there is also a good deal of interlinking between pages, which is not only good for SEO but also helps users find relevant information on the site.

My only suggestion would be to emphasise the main navigation bar further. There are quite a few links on the home page so it can be difficult to determine where to go next. You always need to think about the user-journey. When a visitor lands on your homepage, what do you want them to see and where do you want to lead them? What about people who land on pages other than the home page, will they be able to find information quickly?

4) Content – Clear, consistent and well-organised

Generally speaking, Abbott’s website content is clear and well organised. The content is broken up into short paragraphs and there is extensive use of headings throughout the site, which is perfect for allowing the reader to skim through the page.

However, there is some room for improvement. Firstly, the text could be broken down into columns further rather than being stretched across the whole width of the page. Secondly, the news on the home page should include teasers to entice the reader to find out more as it has been done for the ‘Features’ section.

Based on my analysis, I would give the Abbott site 7 out of 10 for usability, navigation and content.

A good example of usability in pharma is Novartis. Their home page has a clickable banner that clearly identifies what they do and gives options on how to access the content (downloads, videos, photos). Abbott’s website could also benefit from these elements to emphasise its brand identity.

How is your brand’s digital health? If you would like us to review how you could transform your digital presence, get in touch by calling 0844 450 5545 or email info@nitro-digital.co.uk.

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After reading an article by Pete Davis titled Is brand marketing damaging our society, I started thinking about Pete’s comment on “ALL successful brands that profit from consumers should be giving something back”. I believe that CSR isn’t just another buzzword poorly executed, it is integral to brand marketing, and more brands should be highlighting the ways they give back. It definitely influences brand perception, both internally (stakeholders and investors) and externally. BUT, it has to be done right, it has to fit with the brand and it has to be sincere and believable, or it may do more harm than good.

So let’s look at a couple of brands, shall we?

A few months ago, in an articled titled CSR is dead, the Guardian championed Johnson & Johnson as a brand that “delivered profound positive social impacts, raising people’s quality of life, improving healthcare and helping to develop basic hygiene standards”. We’ve long been fans of J&J, from their recent Campaign for Nursing Future to their YouTube health channel, this brand ‘gets’ marketing and social responsibility. They show they care all across the corporate site, from large banner images on the home page to a section called Our Caring. Their vision is evident from the moment you land on the site.

Another consumer brand that is actively using responsibility in its marketing campaign is the SCA Group, makers of Velvet toilet tissue. In their current above-the-line ads, they are highlighting the fact that they plant 3 trees for every one they use in the production of their tissue. It’s a campaign with massive reach, supported by their digital presence as well.

For those critics who would say it’s a marketing gimmick to sell more tissue, I would argue that they could more easily (and probably more cheaply) offer lower price points and offers to consumers if they just wanted to sell more. This is about brand perception, not just sales. And it’s a trend that we are seeing more and more.

The key to evolving your social responsibility include:

• Keep responsibility close to the brand vision, steer clear of publicising any projects that don’t reflect your brand values
• Create brand experiences that include the community (for instance, Velvet encourage community tree planting and have tree planting days)
• Encourage your employees to help develop grass roots community projects
• Be authentic! Insincerity will backfire and motives that just involve profitability will result in negative mentions across the social realm
• Integration, integration, integration; ensure that all off-line, above the line, and digital activities are joined up. You can showcase responsibility in emails, on your site, on a Facebook tab, in a game (yes, gaming can be a clever way to highlight how you give back), and brand awareness activities off-line.

Would you like to learn more about how you can make the most out of your brand’s CSR campaign? Get in touch by calling 0844 450 5545 or email us at info@nitro-digital.co.uk.

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It all started the day when our Managing Director, Jules, made a shout out in the office handing out a small number of Seth Godin’s new book – Poke the Box. We all went rushing up, but only a limited number of copies were handed out – and there’s a reason for that. This now brings me to explain what Poke the Box really is: it’s the first thing to kick off from The Domino Project. I believe The Domino Project is a sign of things to come in publishing: short and snappy, digital-first, direct-to-reader books at a fraction of the typical purchase price of traditionally-produced books. The aim is to take the message from this book and push it person to person. Even this idea uses methodology taken from Poke the Box, as it’s starting to spread the message in an innovative fashion.

If someone hands you a copy, they’re saying ‘GO!’
‘What would the world look like if more people started projects, made a ruckus and took more risks?’
Seth Godin

Start something

This book is like no other – firstly, not only is it called Poke the Box, it has a front cover of a drawing of a man in a rush – if that doesn’t spark some curiosity I don’t quite know what will. It is based on starting something new, taking the risks involved whilst understanding that you may crash, burn and fail miserably – but DOING it anyway. Godin explains how we shouldn’t sit around waiting for our boss to provide us with instructions during our 9-6 Monday – Friday in the office, or writing out that long to-do list and working through it, but we should be actively thinking of that idea and starting it.

Godin goes on to tell us about how his uncle, a PhD from MIT, (Massachusetts Institute  of Technology) had created and given to his baby cousin a buzzer box, which resembled something which could be found on a nuclear power plant. The box itself consisted of a few lights, switches and buzzers. The child then begins to poke this box, flicking one button which resulted in a light being turned on, and poking another button resulting in a different response. Moral of this story is that the child wasn’t afraid of poking, what Godin explains to be an ugly, petrifying looking box. The child managed it, now why can’t we? Poke it and see what happens.

Become an initiator

The main point of Godin’s book is not bad. We should all become initiators. We should aim to put all fears aside, and take that dive and start something unheard of, totally new and see what happens. It may succeed, which is well and good, but if it fails, at least you know the next steps required to get closer to winning. Everything has a risk; even walking out of your door has a risk if you think about it, but regardless of this we do it anyway.

So why not take those risks and poke your ideas?

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Production of infographics began to rocket during late 2009, and have continued to escalate in the two years since. While the volume of static infographics has blossomed, so too has the volume of animated infographics, from 454 in 2009 to 9,570 in 2010, and so far this year, 25,700 animated infographics.

Animated infographics tell a story in a way that flat infographics can’t. They present statistics, geographical information, and conceptual ideas in an engaging way that helps us understand more quickly. Take this recent example from CNET that shows the animated history of the iPhone.  If this information had been presented in written content, or static graphics, you might miss the juxtapositions and correlations (or you may not take the time to read it at all).

Infographic style videos are also on the rise, and these can evoke emotions as well or better than film style video clip. Take The Girl Effect for example, a charity to help young girls break the cycle of intergenerational poverty. Their videos have been watched more than 3 million times on You Tube, they have over 260,000 Facebook fans, and their website uses an infographic style to get across some hard hitting facts about young girls living in poverty.

As we churn out more and more visual data, it is important to think of new creative and innovative ways to present it. Most of us would prefer not to produce another PowerPoint deck or Excel graph in our lifetimes, but we don’t want every piece of data to look like an infographic or a pictogram either. Take this example from Hans Rosling, which presents complex data from 200 countries over 200 years by combining visual data, augmented reality, and video.

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Infographics have become the norm and visual data an expectation rather than an exception. There is still much that we can do in the evolution of “viz data” that is new and interesting.

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As sponsors, we’re offering free digital strategy audits at the event to all delegates from the healthcare and charity sectors to help you breathe life into your brand’s digital health. We can help you develop and execute creative ideas that effectively target and engage your online audience, distinguish you from your competitors and most importantly, increase sales!

But this is not all…

We are also offering visitors the chance to be the first to play ‘Syrum’, a first-of-its-kind social game developed for Boehringer Ingelheim, where players are set the task of saving the world by finding cures to common diseases.

Come and see us at stand G56 opposite the VIP lounge. We look forward to you dropping by!

For a sneak peak, check out the trailer here.

Register now to attend MediaPro free of charge!

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Welcome to this week’s social media news.

LinkedIn now allows company status updates

Since Thursday, the professional networking service LinkedIn is finally allowing businesses with company pages to post status updates to their followers. Company Status Updates will enable assigned administrators to post updates, up to 500 characters in length, to the “Overview” tab of their pages. The new feature is designed to allow companies to build engagement with customers and potential employees.

Company status updates will also appear in a page follower’s LinkedIn homepage news feed and any LinkedIn member can see, like and comment on status updates or share an update with friends, from the company page.

Remembering Steve Jobs

Last week, the world was shocked by the death of one of the most prominent figures in the technology world. Through his inventions, Steve Jobs has truly changed the way we live and interactive with each other. Because of his influence, many of us paid our respects a day after his death by changing our Twitter avatar to a rainbow Apple, writing a personal eulogy on our blog, or tweeting one of his many inspiring quotes.

How did you pay tribute to the founding father of Apple? Let us know by commenting below.

Facebook’s new “People are talking about this metric”

In the past couple of weeks, Facebook has rolled out a series of new features. One of the newest metrics released is the “people are talking about this” metrics for pages, which is a number pulled from a variety of interactions that can occur on Facebook over the past 7 days. The number is refreshed daily and it is designed to indicate how much conversation is being generated by someone’s Page within Facebook.

New SEO Rules: Panda update

In the past, getting your website to rank well in Google search results meant focusing on keyword placement, descriptive “title tags”, unique content and backlinking. After last week’s Panda update, these techniques are no longer enough.

Panda introduces some totally new elements to Google’s ranking methodology to help people find higher quality sites in their searches. This means that focus must shift from keywords and links to the user experience, trustworthiness and likeliness your web pages will be shared.

FamVille: The Movie?

The writers of Toy Story are reportedly in talks to pen a movie based on FarmVille, the popular Facebook game.

Alec Sokolow and Joel Cohen said in an interview with IGN that they are working with Zynga on a movie based on one of the company’s most popular games, adding “Can’t really say too much on that front yet, but ‘Old MacDonald’ didn’t have a factory, if you get our drift.”

Would the movie be a nice addition to the popular game or is it just a step too far? Let us know what you think by commenting below.

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There are the obvious indicators such as the number of fans or followers, frequency of posts/comments etc. however, there are also more complicated factors to take into account. When investing time and funds into social media marketing you have to determine how much a fan/follower is worth. How many conversions are you hoping to attain over a given time frame? And how are you planning on tracking conversions?

Of course there is an element of added value that is difficult to accurately measure. Launching an innovative high-profile Facebook competition may increase brand awareness amongst your target audience who may not actually convert into leads or sales, but they can potentially tell their friends about you or buy your products or services in the future.

One final point to bear in mind is to make sure to integrate your social media strategy you’re your existing marketing activities. The different channels you use must complement one another and have a consistent look and feel to them.

At Nitro, we make our campaigns measurable and we work hard to meet and exceed our clients’ aims and objectives. If you want to know more about how we can help you develop an integrated multi-channel marketing strategy get in touch by calling 0844 450 5545.

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One of the most fundamental questions raised was; ‘Why should pharma use social media at all?’. Given that pharmaceutical companies are often hesitant when it comes to embracing social media, it is crucial to highlight some of the key benefits these online marketing channels hold for pharmaceutical companies.

1. The healthcare Social Media landscape is changing:

The results of a 2010 study published by EPG Media noted that HCPs patients seek further engagement in the social space for health. Indeed, statistics from well-known online medical sites show that medical professionals and patients constitute a particularly active online community. Doctors.net, the UK’s leading independent health website, has over 160,000 doctors, which is more than 95% of all UK doctors, while there are also a growing number of nursing forums, condition-awareness sites and GP Twitter accounts with hundreds of followers. Patients and HCPs want to engage online, and therefore, it is common sense that pharma companies should monitor these channels and participate with their target audience.

2. Show that you care through Social Media:

I recently came across an excellent quote in the PME magazine; “Patients are people first and in order to communicate effectively with them, the person behind the disease must be properly understood”. The most common method of digital pharma marketing is through condition awareness campaigns, where the primary aim is to improve understanding and health outcomes. These campaigns provide an excellent opportunity for your brand to establish itself as a reliable source of information on a particular condition area.

Of course we often hear that some pharma products are not suitable for social media because they are not ‘sexy’ brands. That however does not mean that there is no audience and you cannot engage them. It may be the case that you just have to go about it in a more creative way. You may think that a taboo subject will not engage consumers, yet Embarrassing Bodies’ has over 175,000 fans on Facebook and Lilly’s 40over40 campaign has generated over a million visits since its launch.

3. It is a source of product innovation:

The core concept behind any successful product is ‘knowing your consumers’; find out what they want, how they interact, what appeals to them, and what turns them off. If you want to develop a successful product, you need to listen to what your consumers are saying and engage with them. With over 72% of HCPs using social media for both personal and professional purposes and given the growing number of e-patients, monitoring social media channels or conducting online surveys provide a relatively easy and cost-effective way to get to know your consumers. It can also be a pristine research environment to develop and test new ideas being widely accessible and cost-effective. Launching a new product and need a catchy name? Why not get customers to have a vote or hold a competition? Get your consumers involved to create a real buzz about your product.

4. Make your business transparent:

Pharmaceutical companies are often perceived negatively in the public eye. This can be effectively avoided and managed as a process of compliance with regulations, whereby social media creates a sense of transparency where companies can show that they are not only ethical but place patients in the heart of their campaigns. Building a brand on trust can be a powerful tool. Social media has opened up the opportunity for pharmaceutical companies and patients to talk directly to each other, instead of having third-party people involved.

While it is true that by doing this pharma companies do open themselves up to criticism from consumers, it must be remembered that it is often the way you deal with criticism that can really turn things around. If patients are bad mouthing you, the sad reality is that it is going to happen no matter what, they can set up private Facebook groups and talk about you on blogs and forums. By not monitoring and engaging with these groups, you are turning a blind eye to these patient concerns, which is the worst possible thing to do. It also has to be noted that it is very rarely the case that groups launch high-profile trashing campaigns. Most of the time, those who choose to engage with pharma companies online are those who are going to be more open to the concept.

5. Social media is here to stay:

In a report by Econsultancy and Exact Budget, social media was cited as the marketing activity companies are most likely to increase, with 65% reporting an increase. Social media is here to stay and it is only going to get bigger, so get ahead of your competitors and embrace it!

Want to learn more about how pharma brands can succeed in social media?

We are currently offering a free 2-hour seminar session for pharma marketers. The seminar is based on case studies, do’s and don’t’s, how to comply with regulations; tactics to engage your online audience, and useful links and resources. For more information, get in touch by email: zsofia@nitro-digital.co.uk or call: 0207 148 6820!

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