Otsuka’s Launch: 90 Days to Personalize Customer Content Using Modular

You get one chance to make a first impression, the adage goes. From brand introductions to HCP-rep meetings, tailor-made content makes customer touchpoints more impactful. Modular content modules can adapt to various audiences and platforms, providing flexibility to personalize content for better engagement.

With that in mind, Otsuka Pharmaceutical Europe Ltd. (OPEL) used modular content to support a brand launch, taking a true customer-first approach. To succeed, the team had to overcome challenges including:

• The core team had no digital asset management in place so they lacked the foundations to create content in a modular way
• The plan, execution, and launch in multiple markets occurred in about three months using a limited budget
• The team used a modular-first approach for a launch brand, currently a rarity
• They challenged a myth that modular is best suited to large-scale content projects

Here’s how Otsuka joined the modular content revolution.

Why launch is ideal for modular content

Debbie Young, multichannel strategy and customer insights director for Otsuka Europe, admits that launching a brand and starting from scratch with modular content wasn’t the original plan. Her colleague, Gülru Yigit, Otsuka’s EU marketing manager, was familiar with the model and brought up the idea. “We thought, ‘When is the most appropriate time to introduce technology and become more customer-centric?’ Building modular content would allow us to rethink engagement with our customers from the start,” says Debbie Young.

Although they hadn’t budgeted for the project, the team pushed on, ultimately securing approval from senior leaders. As with many Veeva customers, they had to overcome challenges such as limited adoption of claims and DAM as a foundation for modular content. These issues required immediate attention. All the while, the clock had started ticking down from the brand launch just three months away. The team would need to:

• Introduce modular content to MLR teams, commercial leaders, and others
• Conduct one or two weekly workshops for six weeks to create content
• Shepherd content and claims through good practice guidelines (GxP) validation
• Coach, teach, and keep participants on deadline while doing their tasks

A modular approach to content isn’t new, but fallacies about it persist. One is that it must be a large-scale project to reap benefits; thus, it’s only for large life sciences companies with massive content volume. Another myth is that it’s better suited to an established brand.

However, modular content prioritizes customer content needs and channel preferences over the traditional approach of creating one-off assets for a particular channel. While the team didn’t encounter resistance from stakeholders, they needed to educate colleagues and build confidence that the high-stakes brand launch was the right time to innovate.

Upskilling an agency brought on to develop content also brought an element of risk. Its team was relatively new to the brand and modular content. Ryan Muirhead, Veeva’s team manager of content strategy for commercial content business consulting, led the project for Veeva and helped to prepare the agency. “We had to be certain they were fundamentally aware of the mission to create not just materials — but modules based on the brand strategy,” he says.

The first content modules were created in time for launch

Otsuka had no authoring tool in place on purpose to decrease complexity, but the team opted to use Veeva Vault PromoMats for their modular content. The technology enabled the fast, collaborative creation of modules, streamlined MLR reviews, and served as a single source of truth for claims. Also fundamental to the process: the Otsuka and Veeva teams maintained a close partnership with the agency of record (AOR). Debbie Young emphasizes that preparation — the thorough care and attention given to securing buy-in and delineating clear responsibilities — was critical to success.

“The key to deploying any technology enhancement, especially one that changes your approach to creating and approving content, is to have the right structure and people involved in all key decisions. Ensure stakeholders are ready to embrace the change. And, of course, set clear processes to support quick decision-making using the right technology,” Debbie Young says.

She advises getting medical signatories on board early, as they can pose roadblocks if uncomfortable and not bought into the process. To meet the aggressive timelines, the team created modules and content directly in PromoMats in near real-time. Another tactic they used with signatories was to capture feedback quickly and then conduct sidebar conversations that helped avoid delays and potential conflicts. Gülru Yigit adds, “We identified where we thought the pain points were to address them in the right way to build confidence and advocacy.”

Another helpful suggestion from the Otsuka team is to truly consider piloting modular content in one single market and/or brand to get the basics right before extending to additional markets.

How to get genuinely customer-centric content

By using a modular content model, Otsuka can now collect valuable, insightful information from day one of a launch, quickly answering questions such as:

• What content is localized?
• Where have we capitalized on content reuse, and in what material types?
• How is the reused content performing?

The team strongly believes they developed the right content to make a lasting and powerful impression that will benefit external stakeholders, including HCPs and patients. They also impressed colleagues, resulting in other Otsuka brands requesting to use the approach.

Gülru Yigit’s lesson learned is that creating tailor-made communication for customers requires reconfiguring your very approach to content. “The usual approach is to prepare a campaign, send it to affiliates who break it into pieces, translate it, update it, and pull it back into materials,” she says, “Why not reverse the order? Why choose modular content? It enables the right mindset from the beginning. It allows us to think more about personalization, and content strategy, thus really impacting content effectiveness or reuse.”

Debbie Young says, “Partnering with Veeva to take a principle of content identification, creation, and distribution across both technology and processes enabled us to exceed the expectations of our local markets and end users. It was really helpful to take learnings from Veeva’s previous experience of deploying modular content.”

Learn how other biopharmas use modular content to help achieve true customer-centricity.