Social Media Case Study: EMD Serono MS

[image error]Situation:

EMD Serono, a division of Merck and a leading manufacturer in the bio-pharmaceutical arena, had a new drug to bring to market and they wanted to begin establishing a brand presence.  The drug was to help fight muscular dystrophy (MS) and their objective was to increase registrations prior to the future release date.  EMD Serono hired Greater Than One to help spread their brand and messaging in an effort to own the MS community.  They were able to secure legal and regulatory buy-in on the front end.  Since this was not an approved drug at this point, they could have faced regulatory fines.

Action:

Greater Than One decided that the content and reach of bloggers would be a very effective and efficient way to get massive reach and their message to the MS community. They started by doing a social media scan for bloggers that focused on MS.  They found and video interviewed 20 active bloggers they felt had good, positive content.  And furthermore, were dealing with MS in their everyday lives.

From those 20 initially interviewed, they found 5 of them that would help with their endeavor.  But Greater Than One was not just interested in them blogging about the new EMD Serono drug, they were interested in them video blogging about it (vlogging for short).  Words can be powerful, but not nearly as powerful as video.  So Greater Than One armed each of their 5 vloggers with a video camera to post videos on their blog and in the social space.

Sufferers of MS just want to lead a normal life.  So the strategy behind the vlogging was not that MS is something you conquer, but something you learn to live with in order to lead a normal life.  The vloggers started spreading their message across YouTube, Blogs, Twitter and Facebook, driving those interested in additional information to HowIfightMS.com.  Greater Than One also helped to provide content topics that were top of mind in the MS community.

They were also successful in having cross agency integration of the digital and offline agencies.  Working in tandem, there was sharing of all creative and brand assets to ensure consistent messaging.  They also were diligent in working with their data base and vendor team, to ensure proper back-end data capture.  They had quarterly reviews to provide readouts on the data to further react and evolve their strategy based on what was working and what was not.

Result:

As a result, they were able to tap into 70% of the MS population.  They met their objectives of building brand presence and were successful in receiving thousands of pre-registrations for the new drug.  They've had thousands upon thousands of YouTube views and have received 14 awards to date for the campaign.

Key Learnings:

For regulated industries, ensure you have the proper front end approvals to avoid fines
Vlogging can be a more powerful medium for messaging than blogging
Do a social media scan and focus on those that have a natural passion or are invested in your product or service, the results will be much more impactful than someone just working for a paycheck
Ensure you are properly capturing the data on the back end.  Have regular readouts to adjust focus to what is working and what is not to maximize the efficiencies and effectiveness of your campaign

*As presented at the iStrategy Atlanta Conference, 9/14/11, Elizabeth Apelles, Greater Than One CEO and Co-Founder. 

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