Here is the fourth and final in our series of the Four Key Principles of Agility brought to life. As reference, check out our original article, which provides an overview of these principles, as well as the in-depth articles on Principle #1 (Be very specific about the business problem you need to solve), Principle #2 (Making the most of what you already have) and Principle #3 (Leveraging the right technology stack).
The fourth most important principle in Agility is Point insights toward actions and outcomes.
The biggest single point of failure we see is the inability of marketers to activate insights. This is mostly because of the way insights are currently framed and presented. Shapiro+Raj brand strategists work closely with researchers to clearly articulate the “now what’s” so that our clients get market-ready insights.
Especially as it relates to testing ideas, it is challenging due to the multiple iterative steps needed to get to an answer that delivers both breakthrough and persuasion. What we have discovered is by proactively prepping the ideas with deep insight into the human decision-making process, we can reduce the number of steps and boost impact. Here is an example of this in action for a new oncology asset.
A new drug had the ability to significantly improve outcomes for later-line patients. However, it faced two critical challenges. First, they had to convince community oncologists, their strategic value target (SVT) that the complex logistics and brand-new MOA were worth the time and resources they would need to commit. Second, they also wanted to persuade two other important HCP segments to consider a role for this drug in their practices.
Instead of using the typical approach – a phase or two of qualitative research – to get insights that would inform ideas, the client team at Shapiro+Raj decided to focus on identifying heuristics and applying these to help the marketing and agency teams persuasively frame messages and creative concepts. We took into consideration the disease/category, treatment landscape and target’s behavioral characteristics to identify the top heuristics, then testing, learning, and optimizing in real time.
The process uncovered three core heuristics. When applied to the original messages these new framings drove significantly higher persuasion levels. Plus, we discovered important ties and distinctions that helped the agency derive a common powerful positioning platform. One, we believe will disrupt the category.
Hope these examples help define how we, at Shapiro+Raj, think about agility and – more importantly – truly act on it, in service of our clients. It is about speed and efficiency. But it is also about scientific rigor and strategic acumen. The new normal requires this holistic approach.
We would be happy to talk through any of these examples, and others, if you need. Just let us know.