Company: Makovsky, New York, NY
Company Description: Founded in 1979, Makovsky is today one of the nation’s leading independent global integrated communications firms, specializing in business-building ideas that cross the boundaries of traditional, digital, social and experiential media. With offices in New York City and Washington D.C., Makovsky has agency partners in more than 30 countries and in 40 U.S. cities.
Nomination Category: Marketing Campaign Awards Categories - Specialty
Nomination Sub Category: Online Marketing Campaign of the Year

Nomination Title: MediScripts Online Marketing Campaign

Tell the story of this nominated marketing campaign for the judges (up to 525 words). Describe the genesis, planning, execution, and results to date of your campaign. If applicable, remember to describe what's unique or innovative about your campaign:

THE TCHOTCHKE CHALLENGE: REPOSITIONING MEDISCRIPTS FOR SUCCESS IN THE DIGITAL WORLD

THE CLIENT: The Last Promotion Before Prescription

MediScripts had an extraordinarily simple, extraordinarily powerful idea: personalized prescription pads for physicians. It was a way for pharma companies to put their messages right in physicians’ hands at the exact point of prescription. For nearly 20 years, MediScripts enjoyed almost effortlessly increasing sales and profits.

And then everything changed.

THE CHALLENGE

In recent years, pharma marketers have been shifting an increasing percentage of their marketing dollars away from traditional marketing vehicles and into digital channels.

This was incredibly frustrating for MediScripts. Younger brand managers began to dismiss MediScripts as just another tchotchke.

Our challenge was to find a way to move MediScripts out of that tchotchke graveyard and into the world of multichannel marketing.

POSITIONING STRATEGY

Our first step was to reposition MediScripts as an actual advertising medium: MediScripts. The most engaging medium.

We then redesigned MediScripts’ brand identity with a modern proprietary font and an icon specifically designed for use in digital applications.

TARGETING STRATEGY

Over the years, MediScripts had aimed the majority of its marketing efforts toward senior brand marketers at the major pharmaceutical companies.

We suggested broadening their targeting strategy to include those younger brand managers, agency media planners and agency creative directors. Why? Because brand managers control the budget. Media planners control the buy. And creative directors control the campaign idea.

ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY

The new MediScripts launched in September 2011 with a redesigned website, digital advertising campaign and marketing materials; an aggressive media relations program, executive visibility initiative, and a series of industry events.

• The new MediScripts website featured separate user interface pathways for our three targets. The Brand Manager, the Media Planner and the Creative Director.

• A campaign of provocative digital ads confronted the conventional media wisdom. Headlines like "What ad is more effective than any ad on this site?" drove our targets to the new MediScripts website in record numbers.

• Erez Lapsker, the young CEO of MediScripts, became the public face of the brand, authoring bylined articles, white papers and podcasts, and hosting a Marketing Agency Happy Hour with representatives from key organizations.

• Feature articles in major pharma marketing publications such as Med Ad News, PM360, PharmaVOICE repositioned the company and legitimized point-of-prescription advertising.

THE RESULTS: From Antiquated to Innovative

Our work for the new MediScripts produced immediate results. In the first 90 days of the campaign:

• Website traffic shot up by 120%; unique visits increased over 80%.

• Six feature articles and a corporate announcement produced 65 million media impressions.

• The podcast was downloaded 765 times by key targets; the white paper, 104 times.

• The advertising produced historic CTRs, as high as 4800% above industry norms.

The bottom line? The MediScripts launch campaign generated actual sales meetings with 20 major prospects and, to date, three new clients -- a roughly 4:1 return on MediScripts’ investment.

But there was one final, and rather unexpected result. MediScripts, once considered an antiquated company with an irrelevant value proposition, was named PM360’s Most Innovative Company of the Year, for its ability to show value within the digital space and convey measurable engagement.

Upload a collection of supporting files and web addresses to our server to provide more background information to the judges. You may upload any number of attachments and URLs through the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above. (Do NOT list your URLs below.)

Provide a brief biography of the leader of the team that planned and executed this marketing campaign (up to 125 words):

Timothy Kane, Executive Creative Director
 
In his thirty-year career as an award-winning writer, designer and marketing strategist, Tim has developed a unique perspective on the value of branding. "The market always rewards strength," he says. "And strength is revealed through communications." 
 
That has been the consistent strategic thread throughout Tim's work, whether it's positioning a financial retailer for entry into online banking, re-imagining an energy utility's role in a deregulated market, or re-engaging an aging technology brand with its youthful constituency. 
 
Prior to joining Makovsky, Tim served as a top creative executive at McCann Erickson for eight years, J. Walter Thompson, DDB and Ogilvy & Mather, directing integrated communications programs for some of the world's most recognizable brands, including ExxonMobil, Capital One, Gillette, and Motorola.