GILENYA

NOVARTIS GILENYA case study

Developing and implementing GILENYA’s brand and marketing campaign to reach and engage with the Australian consumers and healthcare professionals

Overview

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is one of the most common diseases of the central nervous system with over 23,000 people living with the disease in Australia and more than two million diagnosed worldwide. There is currently no known cure for the disease. 

GILENYA is an oral once-daily prescription-only disease modifying drug for relapsing remitting MS, reducing the number of relapses by about one half (50%) in clinical trials. Patients are initiated via a specialist. The first dose of GILENYA is given in a doctors’ office or clinic, where the person is observed for six hours to monitor heart rate and any adverse side effects.

Team and duration

I was the Lead Designer/Account Manager working directly with a Medical Writer, the Novartis Product Manager and Medical Compliance team to develop and design content. Initial designs and testing would be conducted within an eight week windows before final sign off and delivery to the development team.

The problem

How to differentiate GILENYA in an intensely competitive therapeutic area

MS is an intensely competitive therapeutic area with more and more therapies launching into the marketplace, specifically other orals. GILENYA would need to demonstrate its competitive differentiation over other disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) with a simple, powerful value proposition that would remind stakeholders of its key benefits.

The solution

Create an emotional and engaging story to resonate with patients and HCPs that demonstrated clinically-proved benefits helping the continuance of a normal life  

The new campaign was focused on four key messages:

• High efficacy
• Simplicity of a once-daily oral
• High treatment satisfaction
• Long-term experience and treatment data

The approach

Localising GILENYA for an Australian audience and medical compliance

A 'new normal' state

GILENYA’s brand experience, identity, voice and collateral was redefined to suit the local audience while adhering to the Global brand guidelines. We incorporated the “GILENYA Passport” creative approach – your passport to a ‘new normal’ state with regards to control of disease activity.

Interwoven with the new campaign were valuable insights from patients, doctors and the GILENYA team: Patients love GILENYA and want to continue to live their life; and so do Doctors, who also want to see the benefits behind the GILENYA data. 

Key deliverables

Prototype development and stakeholder feedback

One of the key deliverables was the eDetailer, the front line tool used by sales staff to interact with customers. It featured key messaging and the ability to drill deeper into the clinical data if necessary. The tool was written and designed in conjunction with the Novartis Product Manager and Medical Compliance team. An initial prototype was created for the Annual Training & Sales Meeting (ATSM) to allow the sales team to have the opportunity to get hands-on time and provide feedback. After some minor iterations the artwork was sent to the overseas development team.

RESULTS

Taking time to craft the launch collateral with the sales and marketing team helped to deliver a more effective and successful campaign rollout

Front-of-mind differentiation and key advantages

Armed with a comprehensive range of collateral, including the in-depth iDetailer for the iPad, allowed the sales team to introduce and discuss the new campaign, access patient profiles, jump straight into data and much more. This allowed GILENYA’s differentiation and key advantages compared to rivals would always be front-of-mind in meetings. 

For patients, we helped demonstrate how the GILENYA treatment plan fitted within their busy lifestyle – not negatively impacting it, and created a greater understanding of the support services