It was 2013, and a national specialty pharmacy headquartered in Arizona was looking for a Phoenix healthcare advertising agency that could understand the complexity of its marketing opportunities and challenges. That’s where Activate Health came in. Its leaders have decades of combined experience in healthcare marketing and strategy. The healthcare advertising agency’s members also have deep expertise in content marketing, social media and public relations tactics. The two organizations partnered successfully to launch new products, help the pharmacy enter new markets and maintain longstanding relationships with payers, drug manufacturers and physician practices.
Then in 2016, the specialty pharmacy purchased a Texas-based provider of acute-care compounded preparations. This purchase was made to help position the company as a leading compounding provider to the lucrative hospital outsourcing market. An immediate rebranding was necessary to introduce this product line as part of the brand family, accompanied by new product messaging, public relations strategy and sales support. However, this product suite would need to be differentiated from the specialty pharmacy’s core business—specialty drugs distributed directly to patients via physician prescription. A communication strategy was also necessary to reassure existing clients, employees and those from the acquired organization that it was “business as usual” in terms of maintaining service levels and quality despite this transition.
The team at this Phoenix healthcare advertising agency spearheaded the entire rebranding process, creating a comprehensive 90-day project plan for updating existing materials, adding new content to the company website, leading the development of a product ordering portal and creating new marketing, digital advertising and product materials. The first phase of the rollout included development of value proposition and brand messaging platform for the new product line, which includes all compounded therapies compliant with the FDA’s stringent 503B requirements.
The resulting value proposition content and a new logo were then used as a foundation for development of new collateral materials for the hospital audience, as well as new signage, uniforms, HR materials and other branded documents and items. Other strategies employed to increase awareness of this new product suite included digital advertising, SEO, content marketing and the development of a full virtual reality video, walking viewers through the company’s compounding laboratories.
Simultaneously, Activate Health was also engaged in developing an acquisition support strategy via communications for hospital clients and employees from both organizations. This involved creation of emails authored by key account managers, talking points for these staff members, all-employee announcements, CEO talking points for an all-employee meeting and employee FAQs for distribution on Day 1.
Finally, upon product launch, public relations efforts were initiated to promote the new product suite within the hospital, physician and specialty pharmacy markets. This included development of a targeted press release as well as specific pitches for publications serving these industries.
Delivering proven results
No existing clients from the acquired infusion pharmacy were lost in the transition, thanks in large part to our consistent, ongoing communication about ordering and service continuity during the rebranding phase. This specialty pharmacy was also able to successfully move all of its products under the new brand umbrella within a 90-day period, thanks to the rapid rebranding of all internal and client-facing materials, and was prepared to communicate with all stakeholders about the acquisition and rebranding during “day 1” post-acquisition. In addition, the pharmacy increased its lead generation efforts significantly as a result of email marketing and social media promotion of the virtual reality video, which has also won numerous industry awards. Finally, our media relations and PR efforts helped secure coverage of the acquisition in many top digital and print mediums including leading trade media.
Looking for a Nashville or Phoenix healthcare advertising agency that can deliver similar results for your organization? Contact us today.