
Podcast: Pharmacohesion: Execution
About Podcast: Pharmacohesion: Execution
Why do our clients keep coming back? It’s all about the quality of our execution. Join Matthew Dickinson, Rob Wilson, and Julie Hardy in our latest episode as they discuss how we can turn your strategy into impactful execution.
Transcript
00:00:00:00 – 00:02:22:23
Matthew: Hi, I’m Matthew Dickinson, Managing Director of Dice Medical Communications. Today, we’re discussing execution as part of our Pharmacohesion pillars. I’m here with Rob and Julie.
Rob: Hi, I’m Rob Wilson, Creative Director at Dice.
Julie: And I’m Julie Hardy, Account Director.
Matthew: Execution is a key step in our process: insights drive strategy, strategy drives execution, and results inform new insights. Rob, when Julie and I brief you with the strategy, how do you prefer to approach execution—through specific tactical direction or by focusing on the problem we’re solving?
00:02:23:00 – 00:03:50:12
Rob: For me, it’s about nailing down exactly what we need, which is why briefs are so important. They’re driven by the insights and strategy we’ve already developed. A creative brief or task brief provides the key points my team needs to start working.
Matthew: When working with a director like Julie or me, what helps your team execute effectively?
Rob: Timeframes are crucial, along with insights, the end goal, the problems we’re solving, and single-minded propositions. These help ensure we’re starting on the right track.
Matthew: Julie, clients often come with a list of things they want to do. Half of our job is sometimes assessing and guiding those requests, isn’t it?
00:03:50:12 – 00:05:00:08
Matthew: What if a client says, “I want to do a suite of podcasts,” but that’s not the best approach? How would you handle it?
Julie: That’s a great question. One of the biggest challenges in my role, which also impacts Rob’s team, is getting a solid brief from the client. Some clients provide clear, written briefs, but I’d say 80% don’t have the time. Instead, they’ll hop on a call, list three or four ideas, and expect us to execute.
Julie: There are often gaps in those initial briefs, so I document everything, collect questions, and go back to the client. Through follow-up conversations, we fill in the gaps to gather the insights we need for the creative team to create something impactful.
00:05:00:08 – 00:06:02:02
Julie: It’s not just me deciding, “A podcast might not work.” It’s a team effort involving our copywriters and creatives. We analyse the problem and propose alternatives, like making it a filmed podcast or a conversational format between two people instead of a talking head. We then discuss these options with the client to find the best fit.
Matthew: That’s a great point. Pharmacohesion is iterative, and sometimes it works in reverse. We may start with a chosen execution and then ask, “Why are we doing this?” If the goal is a belief shift or behaviour change, the solution might not be more content in an already oversaturated world.
00:06:02:08 – 00:07:19:04
Matthew: Sometimes, the best approach is streamlining something simple, like a medical education program. The back-and-forth challenge between client and agency is what makes the relationship healthy and effective. Internally, we rarely dictate a specific solution to Rob or the creative team. Instead, we present the challenge and potential execution but remain open to other ideas. Often, we go back to the client and say, “We can’t do exactly what you asked, but here’s something even better.”
Rob: Exactly. My team and I always aim to answer the brief but also ask, “Is this really what they need? Can we take it further?” We strive to look at the bigger picture and propose more creative solutions.
Julie: For example, we recently had a client planning a product launch webinar, but we reimagined it with a fresh perspective.
00:07:19:04 – 00:08:21:20
Julie: Through discussions, we decided to shift from a webinar to on-site, face-to-face meetings. This approach felt more engaging for HCPs and proved effective as the project evolved.
Matthew: We’re currently mid-project, and measurement is already underway. We’re gathering feedback on communications, registrations, and clinician viewpoints on the therapy. Strong engagement indicates their interest, which suggests the meetings will be successful and could become ongoing. This highlights two critical aspects: what we’re executing and the quality of execution. It ties back to our process—insight generation leading to strategy and quality execution.
00:08:21:20 – 00:09:36:21
Matthew: We should discuss the quality of our execution. Rob, what makes Dice’s creative output stand out in our industry?
Rob: For us, the unique selling point is focusing on the idea. Execution must be built on a strong idea; otherwise, the foundation is weak. The idea is king. While art direction and accuracy are essential, everything stems from the strength of the idea.
Matthew: Agreed. When executing as a business, we provide the insight, strategy, and brief to guide our efforts effectively.
00:09:36:23 – 00:10:51:20
Matthew: Julie, after the idea is developed, how does your account management style support the quality of execution? What do we as account management do to enhance the creative output? I believe the agency as a whole, including creative and account management, is responsible for the work we deliver. What are some ways we continuously improve our work for clients?
Julie: One thing we excel at is the “wisdom of crowds” approach. We share the brief with the entire company—accounts, copy, creative—and gather diverse perspectives. Everyone contributes ideas, even in their own time, like during a drive. Then, we collectively sift through these ideas and refine them into a few strong concepts. I really value how this approach fosters collaboration and fresh thinking without being time-consuming.
00:10:51:20 – 00:12:14:21
Julie: We don’t work in silos. The creative team isn’t the only one shaping the idea—our copy team, for example, brings incredible insights into the content. They often come up with amazing ideas.
Matthew: Absolutely, and in pharma communications, the scientific insight often comes from deeply understanding clinical data and what clinicians are saying. To build on your point, the quality of our execution is what keeps clients coming back. We focus on high production values, ensuring everything is beautifully crafted, on-brand, and aligns perfectly with the strategy. For example, we’ve moved beyond simple online recordings with talking heads, a trend that emerged during the COVID era.
00:12:14:23 – 00:13:25:16
Matthew: We’re seeing a shift towards better content—shorter, more engaging, and applicable to people’s schedules. Our full-time content developers in-house help us produce beautiful video content, often featured on visually stunning websites and across omni-channel platforms.
Rob: To create truly world-class work, it’s all about the idea first. But there’s so much more to it, like art direction. Our team of talented art directors takes good ideas and brings them to life. Accuracy is also crucial. We have a strong process in place to ensure every piece of work is spot on, down to the last detail.
00:13:25:20 – 00:14:44:23
Matthew: Every job is equally important, whether it’s a one-page leaflet at a Congress or a full brand campaign. Both require the same level of quality, accuracy, and brand alignment. After all, a clinician, payer, or patient might only interact with us through that material for months, so making sure it’s perfect is vital.
Julie: Absolutely. Our team at Dice always keeps the end user in mind. Whether it’s a line of text or a graphic, we’re thinking about how busy healthcare professionals will engage with it—what will catch their attention in five seconds and leave a lasting impact.
00:14:45:02 – 00:15:56:03
Julie: It’s about whether it’s cutting through and delivering the right message. I’m constantly thinking, “Is this too much or too little information?” or “Are the graphics on point?” It’s always a balancing act.
Matthew: To wrap up, execution has two sides: first, understanding what we’re executing, what deliverables make sense based on strategy and insights. And second, ensuring high-quality execution, making sure everything is accurate, unified, and aligns with our goals. We take pride in delivering world-class work, whether it’s a brand launch or any other project.
00:15:56:04 – 00:16:54:19
Matthew: We’ve handled shoots for markets across the globe, from Korea to Europe and the U.S. It’s a massive execution challenge, but we do it all—everything from full-page leaflets to animations, websites, and even virtual reality. There’s no job we haven’t seen.
Julie: We continue to push into new fields like virtual reality and mode-of-action videos.
00:16:54:19 – 00:17:58:24
Matthew: When we talk about execution, we’ve, as an account management team, brought the agency together and briefed everyone on the challenge at hand. But Julie, I’d love to hear your perspective. How do we get the most out of our creative department? How do we tap into the talent at our disposal? You think about the quality of our team, from the PhD-level medical writers to the direction and video content developers we have in-house. How do we bring all that talent to life? Rob, I’ll hear from you after Julie.
Julie: I like to think of us as one team, each bringing different angles to the table, but always aligned. There’s rarely anything I do that doesn’t involve our medical writing team and art team. Even though I’m writing the briefs, I always go to Rob and his team for feedback before finalising them. This collaboration really helps streamline the process.
00:17:58:24 – 00:19:36:00
Matthew: Yeah, I totally agree. And Rob, from a department standpoint, you’re in charge of ensuring everything that leaves the building has your creative stamp on it. How do we work as an agency, especially when it comes to what sets us apart from many other agencies? For example, we don’t have a creative department. We don’t have a creative department with separate writers and layout specialists. Instead, we bring everything together. How would you describe our department in that regard?
Rob: I think it’s crucial that everyone has a chance to contribute ideas. Every voice should be heard, and no idea is a bad idea. We hold brainstorming sessions where it’s not just the creative team who gets briefed; everyone gets to pitch in. There are great insights coming from all areas of the agency, and that collaborative approach really helps.
Matthew: Yeah, I agree. And when it comes to the bigger picture, execution is definitely the heart of Pharmacohesion. It’s the tangible part of what we do—it’s literally what we execute.
00:19:13:10 – 00:20:11:20
Matthew: From my standpoint, execution evolves because the success of those executions drives further insights, which shapes our strategy for the upcoming years—2025, 2026, 2027, and beyond. For us, it’s all part of a continuous cycle.
Rob: When we write the briefs and my team receives them, we always ask, What insights have been gathered before? What were the measurements from previous campaigns, especially if this wasn’t part of another agency? That’s crucial information before starting a new project.
Matthew: A key part of our execution is working within CRM platforms. Most, if not all, of our clients use these platforms, and often that’s Veeva. We are a full partner agency with Veeva, which means we understand both the business and developer sides of the platform. So, from our perspective, the work we execute is embedded within the Veeva platform.
00:20:11:22 – 00:21:46:12
Rob: To stay at the cutting edge of best practices in Veeva, we prioritise team qualifications. We spend significant time making sure the team is up to date on what’s happening in CLM and approved emails. This continuous learning ensures we’re always aware of new developments and can incorporate them into our work. We are always looking for the latest innovations to ensure that our executions are using the most current tools and practices available.
Matthew: Julie, how important is it to ensure that the materials we create work in sync with the account specialists and their work in the field?
Julie: It’s becoming more common for companies to use Veeva as their central repository. They store most of their key documents there, so it’s crucial for us to keep that in mind when working through Veeva. The materials we create need to be designed with the understanding that Veeva will serve as the final storage location for these documents.
00:21:26:22 – 00:22:33:17
Julie: Clients really value our knowledge of Veeva. We’re familiar with the ins and outs of referencing and pushing documents through the system. Veeva is constantly releasing new features, and we’re often ahead of our clients in understanding these changes. We end up teaching them how to use the platform and stay up-to-date.
Julie: Another challenge we face is when team members at the client’s side change. Often, the new staff don’t have all the knowledge of Veeva, so we find ourselves consistently training them and helping them stay updated on new features. They really appreciate this ongoing support.
Matthew: From an execution perspective, we’re always working within the Veeva platform. We frequently execute omnichannel campaigns, which naturally integrate with our Pharmacohesion process. By measuring the success of these materials, we gather insights that drive future strategy and executions, creating an ongoing iterative process.
00:22:33:17 – 00:22:51:06
Matthew: So thank you very much. Both. Very enjoyable conversation. Now we’re sort of at the final pillar of Pharmacohesion, which is to move on to measurement. So in the next episode, we will be talking about measuring and what that means for, for insight generation moving forward.
Resources
- Veeva Systems
- PhRMA – Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America
- ABPI – Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry
- Global Genes (Patient Organisation)
- NORD (Patient Organisation)