Restoring Public Trust with a Brand Reset
[ LONG READ ]
Client / Elvium Life Sciences (Purdue Pharma Canada)
Industry Sector / Pharmaceuticals
Services / Brand Research, Strategy, Naming, Creative Development
“A culture survives when it has enough confidence in its past and enough to say about its future to maintain its spirit and essence through all the changes it will inevitably undergo.”
– Wade Davis, Anthropologist –
Saving the Purdue Pharma (Canada) brand from the legal fallout of the opioid crisis became a matter of existential urgency for Purdue’s Canadian subsidiary. Through the worst of this regrettable episode, Purdue Pharma (Canada) remained entirely ethical and continued operating within the guidelines for the marketing and promotion of opioid-based products, closely adhering to Canada’s strict set of marketing practices and regulations. As a result, Purdue Pharma (Canada) continued to enjoy a solid reputation with regulators and with a vast majority of prescribing physicians working in the “pain space” in this country.
The Public Health Context
Few brands in corporate history have had more challenging reputational issues and sustained greater damage than Purdue Pharmaceutical. The maker of Oxycontin has borne the brunt of the blame as one of the main contributor to the global opioid crisis, one of the greatest health crisis in the last 50 years, due to its aggressive business practices in the United States.
Why help rehabilitate the Purdue brand in Canada?
Through the crisis and the well-documented misdeeds of the US company, its independently-operating Canadian subsidiary continued to act ethically by adhering to the much more regulated and stricter set of marketing guidelines and practices in Canada.
The US situation proved nonetheless a real threat to the operations of Purdue Pharma (Canada) as it was tarred with the same extremely negative public opinion brush. Understandably, the Canadian subsidiary was interested in taking a pulse of the health of the Purdue brand in Canada and assess its options moving forward. It also needed our assistance in exploring options to transition the brand and help mitigate the negative perceptions to which it was subjected.
It bears repeating that opioid-based products such as Oxycontin, as with those of other pharmaceutical companies, are not themselves to be blamed for the crisis. These medications continue to play an important, even life-saving role at times, in the treatment of patients suffering from pain and central nervous system disorders. Only the US company’s aggressive marketing tactics and unethical prescription incentives contributed to these drugs’ vilification.
It is also worth noting that the vast majority of the deaths occurred through the use of illegally obtained drugs (street drugs) after people who had succumbed to the addictive properties of opiates became overly dependent on them, but could no longer obtain legal prescriptions for them.
THE PROGRAM
Research
We led an exhaustive research program, and produced a 58-page research and branding recommendations report.
Primary Research
We conducted a series of one-on-one interviews with members of the company’s leadership team as well as department heads, and conducted group discussions with various functional leaders within the company. In addition to this we reviewed a number of reports produced by the company and consulted with a number of healthcare professionals.
Market and Brand Research
Since a brand can be said to be the combination of one’s visibility and reputation, it was clear to see that the Purdue brand had been hurt in a very consequential manner. Our brand audit however discovered that in Canada, the brand had relatively low awareness among consumers, with most of the brand equities residing with some its more respected product brands. The company realized that in light of the bad publicity and of the numerous legal class actions being filed and the negative media coverage, the situation could quickly begin to affect its products brand. It was imperative for Purdue Pharma (Canada) to understand the true nature of the threat in order to develop strategies to move the company forward, past the crisis.
Historical and Secondary/Academic Research
The key objectives of this research was to acquire a solid base of knowledge about various branding strategies employed by organizations in related, and unrelated, sectors when faced with a crisis of some magnitude. Throughout our research we have endeavoured to help Purdue:
Determine a set of options that would be appropriate responses regarding the potential rebranding of Purdue Pharma (Canada).
Assess the potential upside and downside of a planned rebranding in relation to the scope of the program.
Attempt to anticipate how, and to what extent, primary and secondary audiences, direct and internal stakeholders, the general public, and regulators might respond.
Through our research, we looked for, among other factors, the following information:
Rebranding initiatives in response to significant public relations issues, and the various approaches and strategies organizations have employed;
Assess the successes and failures - and key contributing factors for such;
Assess the results of these strategies, 5, 10 and 15 years hence, and assessed the success with which companies had managed to overcome the initial damage to their reputations;
Looked at the corporate valuation of companies, their market share gains or losses and other revenue/profitability figure, immediately before the crisis, during and some time after;
Considered brand perceptions studies before, during and after the crisis;
Examples of successful rebranding – the circumstances, market context, strategies and implementation/communications;
Examples of rebranding failures in the same context and the causes for such;
The relative importance and the role that transparency (or lack thereof) played in success/ failure;
The relative importance and the role that history or corporate legacy played in success or failure;
The strategies employed by companies that chose NOT to rebrand.
We studied over 50 real brand crisis cases and performed various levels of analysis for each, depending on the relevance and depth of the information available. We tried to ensure that in each case, the examples we selected had the most significance and relevance vis-à-vis Purdue Pharma (Canada)’s particular situation. Below are some of the companies whose cases we studied and analyzed.
Strategy Setting
We worked closely with the leadership of Purdue Pharma (Canada) and presented our analysis and recommendations for the company moving forward. Our approach had to carefully consider the public relations risks inherent in doing significant work around the brand, and in particular the possibility of a complete brand change. We expertly guided the company through a variety of scenarios, weighing the pros and cons by engaging in a detailed SWOT analysis and long-term projection of potential outcomes for each of these scenarios.
Rebranding Approach – a Multi-Pronged Process
The Purdue Pharma (Canada) eventually settled on the strategy to divide the company into two distinct brands.
As a leader in the research and development of medicines that treat pain and central nervous system disorders, Purdue Pharma (Canada) would continue to operate as a division of a new life sciences company to be rebranded, and focus solely on the organization’s pain portfolio. Purdue Pharma (Canada) has been producing innovative medicines for Canadians for the last 60 years and would continue to operate in Canada under the legacy Purdue brand. Its products continue to play an important role in the treatment of patients suffering from pain and central nervous system disorders.
This accomplished two very important goals: first, ensure the company was not seen to be running away from the controversy and the legal consequences it was subject to; second, it gave it the credibility and moral license to rehabilitate the brand by properly contextualizing opioid-based prescription drugs as essential, even life-saving pain management therapies.
Additionally, Purdue Pharma (Canada) would form a new separate company and brand to encompass all other therapy areas. The new company brand and re-organization would better reflect its evolution as an agile, forward-looking, entrepreneurial and research-based organization that brings innovative therapies to healthcare providers and patients. It would operate solely in Canada and be focused on growth, innovation, diversification and improving the lives of Canadians in areas such as neurological (ADHD), chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV), ophthalmic conditions and various self-care (OTC) products while researching and developing new therapies to meet Canadian treatment needs.
Objectives of the new brand were:
To help shield the company, and place it at arms-length from the legacy brand’s (Canada and U.S.) reputational issues in relation to the marketing of opioids.
To position the new company as a leading fully integrated Canadian pharmaceutical company working in a variety of therapeutic areas, on the national stage.
To signal a ‘reset’ and a change in direction, externally and internally.
To allow the company to refocus on the mission, and not have to fend off media attacks and negative press coverage.
To help build/rebuild trust over time.
To re-instill a sense of pride in the organization and foster a re-invigorated culture.
To help attract top talent – with a compelling message and by promoting a great culture.
To set the ground for lasting positive differentiation in the marketplace.
To convey entrepreneurial, nimble, fast-moving, courageous, forward-looking, dynamic, growth-orientated, progressive spirit
To help create a perception and reputation for quality and value.
To ensure the name and logo will function together as a succinct descriptor that embodies the company’s values set, operational and market philosophy and business focus.
To have greater latitude to expand and grow the business in other therapeutic areas, and to continue to pursue the company’s strategy of diversification, both in Canada and through domestic and international partnerships, unimpeded by reputational and legal issues.
More than a cosmetic change. A brand reinvention
The first things we tackled was to set a baseline that would help establish a foundation for the culture of the company. This new brand was not simply going to be a cosmetic change, but a strategic brand reinvention.
Before a new name and logo could be developed, the basis on which the company would be launched and operated, its commitment to the Canadian community, its purpose and its mission had to be carefully and thoroughly defined. This was an imperative that helped ensure that the rebranding could not simply be dismissed by the public, the government and the media as an attempt to bury the past. We had to acknowledge the backstory but also be able to redirect the narrative effectively and earnestly toward the values and commitments the new brand would espouse.
The intended brand positioning was the first step in the exploration of a new name. The positioning started with the creation of a strategic brand platform. This means defining, clarifying or confirming the foundational tenets of the brand. These are or may be: a) a “compelling” Vision for the future of the company; b) a “clear and purpose-driven” Mission Statement; c) the concise expression of the Values that drive and define the Company and its character; and d) a picture of the Brand’s Personality, or how it wants to be perceived, internally and by the external public.
We workshopped these various iterations in quick succession, in a series of sessions with the company’s leadership. Once reliably defined and clearly expressed in compelling language and endorsed by the company, we move on to refining the brand positioning, the brand promise and unique value proposition.
Core Values of the New Organizational Brand are:
Competence
Consistency
Putting patients health ahead of profits
Customer-centricity
Innovation
Unique Selling Proposition of the Company
Canadian
Fully Integrated (Bench to Bedside)
Nimble
Innovative
Communications
Communicating Internally
This had to start internally. Fortunately, the actual culture of the Canadian operations did not need major changes. The staff was eager to get out from under the cloud of the tarnished reputation of the Purdue name, having felt the weight of it for over two years. They were hungry for a new direction and a new commitment they could fully embrace and get on-board with.
Communicating Externally
Externally, we also had to develop key messages to provide a succinct but comprehensive overview of Purdue Pharma Canada’s name change and new corporate identity. These messages were to provide proactive talking points to the company’s spokespeople but also but also help the company react to potential bad or negative story that were sure to surface in the media regarding the rebranding efforts. We needed to set up media monitoring systems and update messages with new topics and position statements as the launch would unfold.
A Further Challenge: A Drastically Compressed Timeline.
Fast-moving events relating to the dynamic nature of the US court cases, forced the Canadian subsidiary to greatly accelerate its own timeline for rebranding. We had to improvise an agile process where multiple steams of activities could occur concurrently, rather than sequentially. This non-standard and custom-tailored process required a realignment of priorities, as well as a significant re-allocation of resources to ensure that we could meet the requirements of the company without compromising the quality of the work product/deliverables and overall strategic efficacy of the outcome. This also meant that we worked very closely with the company’s legal department as well as our trademark counsel’s office to ensure we could validate potential solutions almost in real time.
The naming process occurred in far less time than would be otherwise comfortable, given that the brand (name and logo signature) needed to be trademarked globally.
Beyond the very obvious logistical challenges posed by a severely foreshortened process, we had to also recognize the challenges usually inherent in developing, approving and securing a new corporate name under the best of circumstances, would be amplified.
Creating a New Name
Naming Approach and Process
Naming is a world onto its own, and requires its own specific briefing. Paradoxically, agreement on a name direction must be reached before the name exploration/development itself can proceed, in order to avoid unnecessary and avoidable debates and delays. Once names candidates are presented, they should all respond to a specific set of pre-approved criteria. In that regard, the most important aspect of the naming process in all cases, is having a consultant who can comfortably guide the client organization through the validation and selection process.
The exploration and search for a new name began with establishing branding territories and naming targets.
The pharmaceutical industry presents a number of challenges that are different from other sectors, and we determined early on that a name – or combination of words forming a name – arbitrarily picked out of the dictionary, would not work. We quickly identified that the way to go was to resort to “word design,” or to create synthetic* neologisms**, through the combination of morphemes*** to create new meanings and expand the limits of existing language; new words that, while invented, were laden with meaning.
* use of affixes, rather than words to express syntactic relationships *
** new word, meaning, usage, or phrase
*** smallest grammatical unit of a language constituting a meaningful part of a word
This approach almost always encounters some resistance on the part of clients, as it produced what appears at first to be strange and unfamiliar words with undefined meaning. Human nature cannot be discounted in this process. We are programmed to reject the unfamiliar and dismiss what, at first, does not appear to conform to a reassuring and recognizable “pattern.” Once the comfort of familiarity and immediate understanding is removed, people feel uneasy. This is why it is imperative to strategically support each solution presented and present them in their full potential. It is also important to remind the client at every turn, that acceptance of a name grows overtime through repeated exposure and usage. We presented the client with 8 solid potential names in the first round – and three more in a second round – all of them neologisms.
Naming Criteria
Authenticity and individuality were key criteria in the selection process. The company was looking for a name that would also meet the following criteria:
Not trendy (a name for the long term)
Not contrived/over-engineered (Like many in the sector)
Uniqueness
A sound all its own
Memorability/stickiness
Easy to pronounce
Indicating a change in attitude and approach
Projecting a certain ethos
Relevant to the industry
Laden with the right strategic associations
Invites dialogue, elicits conversation
Acceptable deviation from the industry “norm”
Potential for building a strong narrative
Flexible: could be invested with further meaning over time
Re-instill a sense of pride in the organization and a re-invigorated culture
Re-establish trust with consumers and repair broken relationship with the market
Help attract top talent
The New Brand Name
The meaning behind the name:
Our brand name carries a meaning that should be understood by all:
EL- for elevating: ELEVARE in Latin;
VI- for LIFE: VITA in Latin;
(I)UM for science, specifically chemistry: indicates the presence
of trace elements and/or their chemical properties.
Creating the Brand Signature
Elvium’s Brand Visual Identity Signature
The new name and visual identity bear the clues to the transformation of the organization, of its focus as a life sciences company, and to its dedication to delivering the best health outcomes for clients by bringing innovative therapies to healthcare providers and to their patients.
The visual representation of the Elvium Life Sciences identity helps support and communicate the company’s values. Its consistent and disciplined application demonstrates to all who come in contact with the company, that quality and commitment to patients and to the development of innovative therapies to help improve and elevate their quality of life.
The “Quantums”
The three drop-shaped elements slightly upwardly offset to the right of our name are called Quantums. For the purpose of our corporate signature, they always appear as a unit, in the same position, and relationship to each other, and to our brand name.
Brand Positioning and Tagline
Elvium Life Sciences is a new generation life sciences company that is forward looking, entrepreneurial and customer-centric. It is committed to patients’ health outcomes and dedicated to elevating life through science by bringing innovative therapies to market. It operates with the highest ethical standards for patients’ benefit by strictly adhering to the industry’s code of conduct, while building a diverse, healthy and engaging work environment that encourages cross-functional learning and personal/professional development. It is focused on doing the right thing, always
Tagline
Elvium Life Sciences is a leading-edge and customer-centric life sciences company focused on improving the lives of patients through advanced science, expertise, and innovative therapies. Hence the tagline: Elevating Life Through Science TM. Adapted in French to: Vivre mieux grâce à la science MD
English Signature
French Signature
Brand Manifesto : The WHY of the brand.
In order to anchor the company’s freshly restated ethos, and to provide a guide to internal and external messaging and communications, we produced a company manifesto. A manifesto is designed to clearly articulate what the brand stands for – what motivates employees every day to deliver on the brand’s vision. It is explicitly NOT about a brand’s product or service, but rather speaks to the heart of why they sell it in the first place.
The Visual Identity Branding System
Creating properly designed and formatted Elvium materials is an important function of Elvium’s visual identity. As a life sciences leader with a host of products, audiences, and stakeholders, maintaining visual consistency across its communication vehicles preserves Elvium’s unique brand and strengthens recognition of Elvium in the national and international marketplace.
Corporate Stationery
Quantum Patterns Graphics
Website
Brand Governance
The Elvium Life Sciences Brand Identity Guidelines provide direction in the proper usage of the brand and examples to assisting creating a range of branded communications and campaign materials.
