The team behind ckdt has specialty knowledge and experience in healthcare and bio-pharmaceutical communications.

We partner with Ph.D. level pharmaceutical experts and creative specialists in healthcare communications to develop solutions that are not only scientifically accurate and persuasive, but most of all get noticed.

Voltaren re-positioning campaign for Novartis

ckdt communications has extensive experience in introducing and promoting over-the-counter and prescription drugs, as well as medical devices.

We serve start-up biotech companies, mid-size national players and large trans-nationals.

Healthcare clients we have worked with include five of the top ten pharmaceutical companies worldwide.

Talk with someone who knows healthcare marketing. Contact ckdt today.

Some of our Healthcare Clients

Ares-Serono (Merck Serono), Bristol-Myers Squibb, Ciba (BASF), Discovery Technologies (DTI), Essex (Merck-Shering), Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, IBSA, Janssen-Cilag (Johnson & Johnson), MSD (Merck), Novartis, Pfizer, Roche, Starfish Medical, Straumann, Sulzer, ZLB Plasma (CSL Behring).

Brand Leverage in Healthcare

The healthcare and biopharmaceutical field is increasingly crowded in many areas, with mounting cost pressures and new entrants wanting to carve out a piece of this profitable and growing industry. As new products are launched in competitive specialties, pharmaceuticals go off patent or new applications are found for existing moieties, the need to differentiate and brand products has never been greater. more…

The healthcare and biopharmaceutical field is increasingly crowded in many areas, with mounting cost pressures and new entrants wanting to carve out a piece of this profitable and growing industry.

As new products are launched in competitive specialties, pharmaceuticals go off patent or new applications are found for existing moieties, the need to differentiate and brand products has never been greater.

This holds true for both OTC and prescription drugs, because physicians essentially respond to the same stimuli as consumers, though they may not be aware of it. Consumers and healthcare providers are similarly pressed for time and are overwhelmed by competing brands with conflicting claims and messages in the din of today’s marketplace.

That’s where a creative solution that stands out above the rest and truly captures the beholder’s attention can add considerable value. It’s not just about costs, benefits and side effects any more, but also about lifestyle and managing the patient’s quality of life.

From laboratory moety to market brand: Nobel-prize winning 1921 discovery from the University of Toronto becomes commercial pharmaceutical product by Eli Lilly sixty years later

In the meantime, the marketplace has dramatically changed with our current economically much more challenging times. Images of smiling patients no longer fully connect with today’s weary consumers. It takes considerably more to create market pull.

Consumers are demanding increasing transparency, governments are tightening regulations, while hospitals are managing costs and improving safety. This confluence of factors increases both the insecurity of patients and the pressure on healthcare providers. Consumers usually seek comfort in brands across all industries and pharmaceuticals are no exception.

Securing, managing, and investing in brands from OTC to prescription drugs and medical devices has become an increasingly strategic issue in the industry. Blockbuster drugs are much harder to develop and R&D expenditures have increased dramatically. On the other hand, the leverage brands can provide translates into goodwill and loyalty manufacturers can take to the bank.

Healthcare communications is a specialty area in which ckdt has a solid track record.

Talk with someone who knows healthcare marketing. Contact ckdt today.

In its second phase of growth, StarFish Medical wanted to reach a broader international market. ckdt helped the company better define its USP, differentiate its brand, and strengthen its online presence with target audiences from engineering to R&D and senior management.

Marketing activities included market research, advertising, media relations, video production, and a new website with a non-proprietary CMS, video and animation.

Talk with someone who knows technology. Contact ckdt today.

Researchers on microchimerism at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC) wanted to provide an online platform for peers and researchers, as well as affected patient populations.

ckdt created a simple website that includes commonly used, inexpensive CMS tools. This makes for easy updating by the research staff without the need for technical knowledge.

The microchimerism.org website is unusual because such research is normally not made available to a broad community. The researchers felt that due to the ground-breaking nature of this area and its potential impact, the latest information needed to be widely accessible.

Talk with someone who knows healthcare marketing. Contact ckdt today.

We love the website! We were truly impressed by the service and expertise of ckdt in creating a site for us. They were prompt, efficient, and excellent listeners — really understanding our specific needs.

- J. Lee Nelson, MD; Member, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center; Professor, Rheumatology, University of Washington

The website was optimally created for any browser and operating system with a simple interface for viewers. They made it extremely easy for us to maintain, thus minimizing costs. ckdt also helped us with search engine optimization, and our website has been number one with major search engines like Google and Yahoo!

- C.S. Chennakesava, PhD, Prof Lee Nelson Lab, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

ckdt created a comprehensive launch campaign for physicians that included advertisements in specialty publications, detail aids, handouts, and patient test aids.

Aricept from Pfizer was the first pharmaceutical of its kind with clinically proven results against the early onsets of Alzheimer’s disease.

Since this product was breaking new ground, the introduction aids had to allow pharmaceutical sales reps to demonstrate the benefits to doctors simply and effectively.

At the same time, aids were created to help physicians diagnose the illness with a test that could be administered to the patient in one short session at the doctor’s office.

Talk with someone who knows healthcare marketing. Contact ckdt today.

Our integrated online and print campaign, in a highly specialized and dry technical publication, obtained a high level of recall even years later. ckdt created a series of image

ads with complex intellectual challenges aimed at high-IQ scientists. The full-page ads drove them to the corporate website for the solutions.

Discovery Technologies ad campaign drives web traffic

Once the pharma research start-up had its target audience on their site, it was able to start creating a relationship by involving them in the company’s sophisticated technology.

The integrated e-branding campaign enabled Discovery Technologies to position itself as the go-to market leader in its biotech research niche.

ckdt followed up with corporate publications, which have a longer shelf-life, to re-enforce the company’s successful launch. Six years after its conception, Discovery Technologies was sold for $6 million.

Talk with someone who knows technology. Contact ckdt today.

Visual Identity is an important aspect of branding whether in the corporate, product, or service area. Yet branding encompasses far more than a pretty logo (of which we’ve created many).

ckdt has built powerful brands for start-ups, spin-offs, as well as growing industrial, service, and retail companies. It has also led extensive branding efforts in complex global companies.

Such projects include brand analysis and competitive positioning, brand creation and management, corporate and company naming and taglines, branding hierarchy, as well as integrated brand campaigns across traditional channels and electronic media.

Though the logo sets the tone, it is only the tip of the branding iceberg. It should be the first taste of an entire, satisfying meal. We’ll make sure your customers will want to taste your brand and take more than just one (c)lick!

Talk with someone who knows branding. Contact ckdt today.

Pharmaceutical giant Novartis asked ckdt to create a Europe-wide campaign that would help attract the best and brightest university graduates in science, medicine, engineering, and business.

The theme of “Be Curious”, which ckdt developed, was a perfect fit for this life sciences company. After being taken to job fairs at leading universities in one country, the project was broadened into a multi-langual campaign across Europe.

Media included advertising, posters, convention booths, direct mail, and internet marketing.

A supplemental campaign with a theme of “Dare to Succeed” was aimed at MBAs.

Talk with someone who knows healthcare. Contact ckdt today.

MSD (Merck) introduced the first lifestyle pharmaceutical Propecia that was clinically proven to reduce or even reverse hair loss in men with male pattern balding. The strategy ckdt implemented was to attract maximum attention that would reach the general public.

Outrageous hairstyles created media photo ops at the launch event

We chose to celebrate hair for this industry milestone with an attention-getting show.

The campaign involved a by-invitation-only VIP-event with top TV celebrities. High-fashion hair stylists demonstrated and showcased their latest and most outlandish creations.

Major press and television media attended. The wide coverage of this event drew considerable notice for the product.

The exposure created not only instant buzz, but a market driven pull-demand from affected “patients” with their on-setting baldness concerns.

For creative OTC and prescription healthcare solutions that get noticed, contact ckdt today.