Next-level publication extenders
Healthcare Professionals (HCPs) are busy. As scientific literature grows rapidly, HCPs cannot possibly read the ever-increasing number of publications. Novo Nordisk wanted to find a way to enable HCPs to access up-to-date information on the latest treatment practices quickly and easily.
The right partner
To increase the reach of publications, Novo Nordisk needed to package scientific messages for quick, easy consumption. They had experimented with basic publication extenders in the past. Now they wanted to create something more innovative, professional and visually appealing to engage HCPs and facilitate quick knowledge transfer.
Novo Nordisk needed a multidisciplinary team of medical communications experts that could deliver innovative solutions using scientific expertise to distil complex information and present it with creative flair. That’s why they chose MedComms Experts.
"MedComms Experts has extensive scientific expertise, staying up to date with the latest trends and developments. This enables them to suggest the best medical communications solution for a project. What really sets MedComms Experts apart is their creative capabilities - they look at things in a new way, present new options and work as a collaborative partner.”
Up to speed. In two-minutes.
The scientific experts and creative talent at MedComms Experts collaborated to create a suite of omnichannel solutions to be used on multiple platforms, such as on journal or educational webpages.
These included Animated Publication Summaries (APSs) – short, impactful animations that make it easier for HCPs to get up to speed than ever before. Just two-minutes long, they summarize a publication and enhance the probability of HCPs viewing the entire animation and understanding the topic.
Author Videos were also created, combining storytelling techniques with visuals to enhance information retention, using high-impact voiceovers directly from the author.
The initial range of publication extenders were developed for the Novo Nordisk Science Hub website to provide HCPs with additional, appealing scientific materials and disseminate manuscript data quickly.
“Our starting point was to develop formats that HCPs could understand quickly. We liked the concept of extenders and worked with MedComms Experts to explore how we could build on the idea. We wanted to take them to the next level with a more professional look and a consistent feel and color palette, communicating complex science through a visual summary."
A long-term strategy
The success of the publication extenders implementation even saw the Animated Publication Summaries published on journal webpages. In fact, MedComms Experts created the first animation to ever be published by the Haemophilia journal. As Novo Nordisk intended to incorporate regular publication extenders into their long-term strategy, MedComms Experts created a smooth process to facilitate easy, ongoing publication extender creation.
“It became very clear that we wanted to use extenders for all key publications. This prompted us to look more strategically at how publication extenders should be part of our overall planning and tactical strategy. Now we always plan our extenders for upcoming publications.
“MedComms Experts worked with us to establish a procedure that is well integrated with our publication planning process. Now we can sign off on the project and all the relevant stakeholders are involved at defined intervals and know exactly when to provide inputs and review the material.”
Extenders that are integral to publication planning
With publication extenders becoming central to Novo Nordisk’s strategy for communicating with HCPs, they wanted to take them even further. They worked with MedComms Experts to create a whole suite of omnichannel solutions – including interactive visual abstracts, infographics, and podcasts – to increase the reach of publications and achieve audience amplification.
“Now our product extenders look so much nicer. They’re a different level of quality. We achieved what we set out to do. Now we are only working with these formats for our publication extenders.
If all publication directors aren’t using them now, then they certainly should. For me, it’s no longer a question of if you should use them – it’s a question of for which publications you should add them to. I couldn’t imagine having a publication plan now without extenders. They’re an integral part of publication planning.
Our extenders not only make it easier for HCPs to stay up to date with the latest publications, the external authors we work with also love them. They appreciate the importance we place on their content, and the time, effort and care we take to deliver them in a professional format. In fact, they even share the material with their peers and patients, so they can easily understand the trial they took part in and what came out of it.”
