Introduction

Today, Novartis aspires to stand apart as a healthcare leader and trusted brand in a competitive digital media environment where we battle hourly for attention.  In order to cut through the noise of this complex and crowded media landscape, in February 2021 we launched the Novartis Newsroom& Channel Management team (Novartis Newsroom) with an ambitious approach to reimagine how we engage and get to know audiences in a meaningful way.  

Why reimagine audience engagement?

1. Decline and consolidation of traditional media outlets
2. Increase of personalized and on-demand media
3. Ability to cut through the noise of the digital media landscape

Foundation and capabilities for an audience first approach

The Newsroom team has adopted an audience first mindset that starts with deep and detailed insights to guide content creation, creative development, channel allocation and usage, and budget prioritization. It is comprised of subject matter experts including storytellers and in-house creative teams; campaign strategists; digital media and platform strategists; data and analytics experts; advertising and media partnership leaders; and channel and community managers) with key capabilities to future proof our audience engagement initiatives.

Novartis Newsroom audience first mindset creates greater impact through:

Audience centricity:

• Focus on digital mindset to develop clear audience sets
• Clarity in why they matter and the expected impact
• Develop an outside-in blueprint of each audience
• Develop relevant content – language, style, messaging, inspiration
• Understand channel usage
• Evolve conversations
• Build, then cultivate critical audiences

Effective Content Strategy:

• Build a relationship with audience – familiarity, consistency, like ability
• Optimize audiences’ experience in building trust and increasing brand affinity
• Develop a strategic and platform deliberate framework that informs and enables
• right message, to the
• right audience, in the  
• right place, at the
• right time, with
• right tone
• Clarity in message focus and intended pull through

and Data at the Core:

• Focused audiences
• Focus on critical audiences
• Eliminate one-off audience engagements
• Assess spend efficacy with critical audiences
• Understand audience first - before proposing content
• Culture of measurement
• Benchmarks, efficacy over time, platform norms
• Every execution is planned to be measured and optimized
• KPIs are reflective of the impact
• Integrity in results

Increasing value to our audiences

This audience first approach, grounded in clear outcomes and insights, allows us to increase trust and brand affinity and have proven impact. Key insights have shown that audience first cuts through the noise. When communicating on complex topics succinctly and authentically, an opportunity to over-index on engagements, click through rates, and other key measurements is possible.

Quotes

Having an audience first mindset means that every communication campaign starts with getting molecular clarity on who the audience is, the type of content they like to consume and where they spend their time online. Having this clarity informs content creation, channel mix, targeting strategy and everything in between. It enables us to cut through the noise with impactful campaigns that engage the people we want to reach with content that differentiates our company story.
‍– Jeff Lockwood, Head of Newsroom and Channel Management, Novartis

‍