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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In 2011, under John’s leadership, Boehringer Ingelheim has continued to push industry boundaries by investing in new channels and platforms and driving innovation forward.

By formulating a coherent communication and branding strategy across all of its social media channels, Boehringer Ingelheim has managed to create a truly engaging multi-channel user experience for audiences worldwide. With over 15,000 Facebook fans and 9,000 Twitter followers, Boehringer Ingelheim is a real social media heavyweight that has been placing strong emphasis on target audience engagement, despite it being a notoriously well-known challenge in the industry. In June, Boehringer’s Facebook photography competition received over 800 entries gaining over 4,000 new fans.

2011 also saw the unveiling of Boehringer Ingelheim’s social game, Syrum – the pharma industry’s first Facebook-based game due to be launched in the coming months. The game sees players research and test compounds in order to develop novel medicines to cure epidemics and diseases threatening world health. The game is designed to bring a much needed fun-factor to healthcare communications.

Nitro Digital would like to congratulate John and the whole Boehringer Ingelheim team on this outstanding achievement!

For an overview on each category winner, see our latest PM Society Advertising Awards 2011 Winners post. 

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 page or get in touch by calling 0844 450 5545 or by email info@nitro-digital.co.uk .

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In partnership with the US National Kidney Foundation, Pfizer, a real social media heavyweight in the industry, launched Manage CVD Risk in Reduced GFR app, designed for healthcare professionals to reduce the risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD).

In 2011, IBGStar by Sanofi has become the first monitoring system for blood glucose that has been cleared by the FDA which directly connects to Apple’s iPod touch and iPhone available in Germany, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Italy. For a quick overview of the app’s features, watch the video below.

Also released last year was MyAsthmaLog the NHS’s Android app designed to assist young people and children with asthma self-management by allowing them to construct an individual asthma plan and keep track of appointments and asthma attacks. For more detail, watch the video below.

Are you looking to develop a health app? 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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Pfizer has the most Twitter followers and takes 3rd place in having the most number of Facebook likes. However, the study also showed that in many cases pharma brands’ social media presence outperformed their promotional spending. Roche for instance ranked fifteenth in overall spending for promotions while it came second only to Pfizer in Twitter followers. This may effectively show that succeeding in the world of social media is often determined by the strategy you adopt, which allows you maximise its impact of your online campaigns.

Another point to bear in mind is that it is not just about volumes. Social media performance also has to be judged based on the quality of engagement. You can have thousands of followers but if you fail to effectively influence and educate them about your brand, than what is the point?

Clearly, pharma companies are increasingly establishing their social media presence. What may cause marketers to wonder however is what role social media should play in their promotional efforts and what impact this will have on the bottom line?

Mobile health apps are becoming an increasingly popular digital tool for improving health outcomes, condition awareness and brand awareness and loyalty that comes with it. Have a look at our latest post on pharma Android and iPhone apps here.

Do you want to effectively engage with patients, HCPs and journalists? Nitro Digital are experts in digital pharmaceutical marketing. To build a successful engagement strategy, get in touch by calling 0844 450 5545 or email 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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Roche and Pfizer’s swift response to developments in social media is truly admirable considering that the pharmaceutical industry is notorious for being rather ‘sluggish’ when it comes to adopting new digital marketing methods. However, while having a Google+ page is at present considered to be ‘novel’, without a long-term strategy brands will fail to maximise the real potential the channel holds. So, following on from my previous post on ‘Why Pharma Brands Should Use Google+’, this article looks at how Roche and Pfizer (and other pharma brands) could work Google+ to their advantage.

1. Set clear goals and targets

The first step is to establish the reasons why you want a Google+ page in the first place. Is it to connect to consumers, engage with healthcare professionals (HCPs), nurture relationships with key opinion leaders (KOLs) in the industry, or maybe all of the above? Then, think about what constitutes ‘success’ on the channel and how best to go about achieving it.

Given that Google+ is still a relatively ‘underused’ social network, compared to the likes of Facebook and Twitter, it is a good starting point to consider what it is that you can do on Google+ that you can’t do on other social networks. For instance, Google+ is mainly used by social media enthusiasts at present, which creates huge opportunities to engage KOLs within your industry who generally speaking tend to be particularly active within the social sphere.

For this reason, Roche and Pfizer could aim to reach out to KOLs through Google+ and build up a relationship with them by creating a separate circle for advocates for a specific condition area and organise regular hangouts -group video chat- that allows them to connect to brand representatives. The same could be done for journalists, where media professionals could get unique insight on topical issues from brand representatives. In this case ‘success’ could be measured by the level of engagement between the brand and its circles i.e.: the number of people participating in the hangout.

2. Make the most of Google+’s unique features

One unique feature to Google+ is its famous ‘circles’, which allows pharma brands to exercise a certain degree of control over what information is being shared with whom. For instance, you can create different circles for ‘patients’, ‘HCPs’, ‘journalists’, ‘researchers’, ‘students’ etc.

Another element that makes Google+ special is it’s ‘hangouts’ feature, which has been mentioned earlier. To learn more about Google+ hangouts, watch the video below.

3. Integration with other social media channels

It cannot be emphasised enough that all social media activities must be coordinated effectively in order to maximise the outcome of your marketing efforts. First of all, do not forget to link your website – or whatever platform you use as the hub of your marketing activity – to your Google+ brand page. Secondly, if you are planning on holding hangouts for instance, make sure you are advertising it on other social media channels like Twitter and Facebook.

Google+ also allows you to design a funky profile image (see Coca Cola for example), so make sure that yours stands out from the crowd and effectively reflects your brand’s image.

Using Google+? Add Nitro Digital to your circles! Or, if you want to learn more about Nitro Digital and the services we offer, visit our pharmaceutical marketing page or call us on 0845 450 5545.

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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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Let’s start with an old style disclaimer from NovoMedLink. It’s over a transparent background, and gives you 5 options to choose from. In our experience, sites that use this type of disclaimer tend to have high bounce rates and low engagement levels. If you were new to the site, would you take the time to fill this out? It does have clear direction for patients and non-US healthcare professionals, but doesn’t state that the site is for US healthcare professionals.

Now, let’s look at Amgen Oncology, which requires a region choice to progress onto their site. Great idea, but the language is a bit confusing for some. The international site says “this website is intended for healthcare professionals practicing outside the United States”, which is clear and well worded, but the US option just states it is for residents, not patients or professionals. That’s not so clear, and when you click it becomes obvious that the US site is for HCPs as well. So, a good idea, but the language needs cleaning up a bit, and also there needs to be an option of some kind for patients who’ve landed here.

Novartis Oncology comes much closer to hitting the mark. Next to the “Welcome” message, it clearly states it is a Global Site not intended for US residents. It should ideally have a link to the site for US residents in this area as well. In the primary navigation, you have clear options for patients and caregivers, and for healthcare professionals. There are no barriers to the site, so theoretically patients can see things like the pipeline and obviously prescription drug news which is on the home page. To some people, this may be a grey area, but it is intent that matters in the ABPI code of conduct, and if a patient really wants to see your pipeline and HCP information, a few disclaimer clicks is unlikely to stop them.

The Pipeline page does have additional disclaimers at the bottom. These are necessary for legal reasons, but we doubt they are widely read. The product pages also have disclaimers under each product description, and these are much more visible.

Disclaimers on websites are moving towards providing clarity, and addressing the needs of patients and professionals. This is good user experience for everyone, and also best practice for the industry. No matter what page you land or whether you came from an email, a search result, a social network, forum or community, you should be able to easily determine if the information is meant for you, and if not, then there should be clear direction for you to find the site or information you need.

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As of Tuesday, Google+ has launched branded pages. Given that they appear to be very similar to the ones on Facebook, numerous bloggers have criticised the new feature for being unoriginal. Nevertheless, a number of companies (including Nitro!) have decided to see for themselves how they could utilise this new social media channel. After using the page for a couple of days, we have spotted a number of advantages that Google+ has over Facebook that pharma brands can really embrace.

While it is unlikely that Google+ will eventually become a serious rival of Facebook, for pharma, Google+ can be of real value for a number of reasons:

1)      Privacy: A key difference between Facebook and Google+ is Google’s so called ‘Circles’. This feature addresses some key privacy concerns that Facebook has so far failed to tackle. These Circles allow brands to exercise control over what content is being shared with whom. What this means for pharma brands is that they can now reach out to specific interest groups by having separate patient/HCP circles for instance and thereby, they can easily block people from seeing certain pieces of content.

2)      ‘No Promotion – No Problem’: At present, Google+ does not allow promotions on pages. The content policy for Google+ Pages states that “you may not run contests, sweepstakers, offers, coupons or other such promotions directly on your Google+ page”. For many industries, this is devastating news, but for obvious reasons, pharma is not affected by this policy and does not have to worry about having their pages labelled as ‘uninteresting’ compared to other brands.

3)      Hangouts: A ‘Hangout’ is essentially a group video chat, which is a truly unique feature to Google+. A company could host a ‘Hangout’ with their customers where they get to ask questions about products and services. Pharma could utilise this feature to keep key opinion leaders up to date on industry developments or use it as Q&A sessions for healthcare professionals.

4)    SEO benefits: While this benefit is not unique to pharma brands, it is nevertheless worth mentioning. Google+ pages are factored into Google search results and there is also a recently launched ‘direct connect’ search feature where by typing “+” ahead of a search, visitors can go directly to your page.

5)      A potentially more reliable alternative to Facebook?: In August, Facebook’s new ‘no comment’ regulation has caused quite a stir in the pharma industry. By banning pages that do not allow comments from visitors, a number of pharma brands decided to quit Facebook altogether. Facebook has thereby proved to be a rather unpredictable platform and many pharma marketing professionals have come to hope that Google+ will offer a reliable alternative.

Will Google+ become the social platform of choice for pharma brands or is it going to become just another unexplored territory? Let us know what you think by commenting below.

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