Formulas
for Success

Company Description: VC-backed, pre-commercial

Funding Stage: Seeking strategic partner

Product: The company was developing a novel intraocular implantable device for vision improvement for an underserved sub-segment in a crowded market.

Needs:

• Educate market on the sub-segment, prevalence rate and defining characteristics
• Build demand for surgeons to seek a solution
• Announce FDA approval for device
• Drive company awareness and keep market apprised of progress
• Establish leadership position in understanding the market

Solution:
Initiated a targeted PR campaign inclusive of:

• Press release development and deployment,
• Article concepting/pitching
• KOL engagement & speaker training
• Media monitoring
• Extended podium exposure through pitches and coordinated media interviews
• Onsite media engagement support at conferences
• Signal boost trade media through company social media

Results:
Achieved strong share of voice across all ophthalmic and optometric trade media annually:

• Issued FDA approval press releases
• Inclusion in 75+ trade articles
• Featured in 11 online media videos
• 178% growth in media coverage versus prior year

Company Description:  Start-up, pre-commercial

Funding Stage: Raising seed round

Product: Novel surgical device designed to streamline and simplify a commonly performed surgical aesthetic procedure and deliver patients an improved healing process and result with less downtime.

Needs:

• Create target customer profile
• Understand current approach & practice
• Validate market size by target customer group
• Assess price sensitivity
• Test value proposition and messaging
• Baseline for physician willingness to adoption
• Uncover barriers to adoption

Solution:

• Designed, deployed, and aggregated result from a 150-surgeon custom survey.
• Conducted a series of one-on-one physician interviews to capture additional details around the aggregate responses.

Results:

• The data captured in the report supported development of a real market model based on actual physician responses, develop a target physician profile to support commercialization planning and refine messaging in preparation for sales material development.
• Custom market data used to augment company pitch deck contributing to successful seed round raise.

Company Description: Established association

Funding Stage: Privately owned

Situation: Company provides engaging network opportunities and the exchange of topical information and education for a diverse membership of professionals in the employee benefits field. Outdated branding was not aligned with their premier membership offerings.

Needs: Rebrand the company to reflect a more professional and polished look in all marketing materials to generate renewed interest from existing base and further expand reach and membership.

Solution:

• Conducted brand research and competitor analysis to define a unique brand positioning
• Created a new logo and visual identity system to represent the core brand identity
• Developed comprehensive brand guidelines for consistent implementation across all channels
• Rebranded the company’s look and feel across all marketing collateral
• Launched a strategic social media program aligned with the new branding to engage/re-engage untapped and existing audiences
• Optimized website for search engines and redesigned it to carry through the updated branding
• Updated all marketing materials to reflect new branding including presentations, flyers, videos, event materials, and email campaigns

Executed an integrated marketing campaign to communicate the rebrand to their client base, generating excitement and highlighting the company’s commitment to the benefits industry

Results:

• Increased membership 
• 10% increase in sponsorship investment compared to the previous year
• 25% growth in main fundraising event compared to the previous year

Company Description: Start-up, pre-commercial

Funding Stage: Venture backed

Situation: The company was preparing to initiate a large, pivotal FDA Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) study for their novel medical device across 21 clinical trial sites in the United States. Rapid patient enrollment was critical to keep the study on track.

Challenge:

• Recruiting the targeted 450+ patients for this study presented significant hurdles
• New device concept for clinic staff and patients

Solution: A comprehensive patient recruitment strategy tailored to this study’s unique requirements was developed and executed. This included:

• Creating a dedicated patient website and digital marketing assets to raise awareness
• Producing customized patient recruitment materials for each trial site
• Conducting individual training sessions with research coordinators on recruitment best practices
• Implementing targeted digital marketing including geo fenced social media advertising
• Deploying a multi channel PR campaign with localized news releases per trial site

Results:

• Successfully enrolled 453 patients across all sites in just 6 months by deploying multi-faceted marketing initiatives and training programs
• Rapid patient recruitment ensured the critical trial remained on an accelerated timeline
• Keeping the regulatory approval process on schedule

Company Description: Start-up, pre-commercial

Funding Stage: Venture backed

Project: Breakthrough, in-office laser treatment for presbyopia offering natural vision rejuvenation.

Situation: Messaging had become diluted and divergent as multiple, independently crafted communications were in flight across business units, including podium presentations, executive summaries, clinical study reports, and investor decks.

Needs:

• Unify internal and external product messaging as they moved into second stage trials and looked to increase investor funding 
• Align key stakeholders on the value proposition, differentiators, brand identity, and positioning
• Simplify complex scientific messages into marketable and accessible language that resonates with the target customer
• Provide brand team and key stakeholders with a single, comprehensive, and referenceable messaging document developed for ease of use and high utilization

Solution: A comprehensive patient recruitment strategy tailored to this study’s unique requirements was developed and executed. This included:

• Conducting interview of brand leads and key stakeholders to understand and appreciate the spectrum of viewpoints surrounding brand identity, key differentiators, value proposition, target audience, current treatment landscape, and barriers to adoption
• Performing a messaging audit of all existing communications, internal and external
• Reviewing publications to explore opportunity to create additional and/or revised messaging substantiated by the available data
• Meticulously crafting product description, mechanism of action, target audience, value proposition, key messages, differentiation points, and value-based statements that would effectively convey the promise of their first-and-only technology

Results:

• Robust messaging handbook served as a functional guidepost to the product team and key stakeholders, ensuring a single voice in all communications, strengthening their brand presence and building momentum as they propelled forward along their path to commercialization.