Learn how to navigate the ThoughtLeader landscapes in the new normal.

Physicians are facing a major backlog of patient cases after Covid-19 diverted healthcare resources throughout 2020. ThoughtLeaders, or Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) and, clinicians on the ground are now harder than ever to access and activate, winning share of mind requires deeper knowledge of their networks and careful planning of every engagement.

Communication between ThoughtLeaders and clinicians has been impeded. So, to make an impact in the ‘new normal’, you need intimate knowledge of the ThoughtLeader landscape. You also need to understand how it is changing and how influence is shifting, including among Rising Stars. Equally important is an understanding of which KOLs are most active on social media, and on which platforms.

Know your target 

No two ThoughtLeaders have the same priorities. You need, therefore, expert knowledge of every one of your target KOLs’ individual preferences and goals in order to make a more personalized approach and provide value.  For example:

• What are their clinical interests?
• Are they experts in a particular treatment or technique?
• What are their preferred treatment approaches in clinical practice?
• What does value mean to them?
• How can they best be supported?
• How predisposed are they to work with pharma companies?

When choosing to engage ThoughtLeaders in clinical research partnerships, it’s important to target the right ones. At what level do they influence others – globally, nationally, or regionally?  Do they have the stature and energy to impact on formularies and treatment algorithms? Do they influence other ThoughtLeaders, and if so, which ones and how?

If you aim to leverage your target KOL as a speaker, or an author on a publication, be sure to read all their previous material before you engage with them, to learn what drives them professionally.

Or if you plan to recruit your target ThoughtLeader onto a (virtual) advisory board, think about how you can assign each physician a role, topic, or section of the agenda that best fits their own clinical interests and priorities.

Understand your target’s network 

Many ThoughtLeaders are most engaged with life science companies when a colleague they trust already has a relationship with the company. Remember: while two physicians may be ‘connected’ if, say, they work in the same hospital, that doesn’t necessarily mean one will influence the other. It could be quite the opposite if there are divergences in their treatment approaches or clinical priorities.

That means you need to know who your chosen KOL has partnered with in clinical trials, shared roles with on leadership boards and in organizations and associations, and collaborated with on published articles, editorial boards, conference talks, and physician panels. In short, you need to know who is playing a role in their decision making.

Personalize your approach 

ThoughtLeaders will respond differently to different messaging and channels of delivery. For this reason, personalization is the key here and requires careful planning. Some KOLs are more in demand or over-committed than others and harder to reach; some will respond to email, some to a cold phone call, some, a personalized LinkedIn connection or introduction via a close colleague. Others may be better reached through conferences or education programs.

Understanding their digital habits, and their social media interactions with other KOLs can identify new routes to share of mind from digital connections built in the shift to virtual engagement.

Learn more on digitally engaging ThoughtLeaders here. 

Mapping the most direct route to success

Machine learning, artificial intelligence, and deep knowledge are giving life sciences companies the insights to grow their share of mind through different channels. It is now possible to instantly create complex, detailed maps of each ThoughtLeader’s reach of influence, showing researchers, marketers, commercial and medical affairs how to engage with each individual and build more meaningful relationships quickly.

Those relationships – formed from mapping, navigating, and engaging target KOL networks effectively as Covid-19 continues to restrict face to face contact – will be fundamental to brand success in 2021 and beyond.

Learn more about navigating the changing ThoughtLeader landscapes.

The events of 2020 have necessitated some major changes in ThoughtLeader – otherwise known as Key Opinion Leaders, External (Scientific) Experts, or Key External Experts – engagement strategy. Where resources were typically focussed on the global top 50 or 100 in a given disease area, it’s now just as important to engage KOLs at lower levels of influence too: nationally, regionally, and locally. A holistic, integrated strategy has become fundamental to pharma brand success.

The reasons are twofold. The first is that, in a healthcare market in which more than a third (36%) of drugs are currently failing to meet market expectations such as in the United States, pharma brands need buy-in from the bottom up as well from the top down. While global ThoughtLeaders are best placed to offer advice on brand positioning and exchange scientific data, it’s the multi-disciplinary physicians, nurse practitioners, and pharmacists on the ground who are making treatment and prescribing decisions. Local and regional ThoughtLeaders make a significant impact with their clinical guidance and education.

As the voice of the patient, they need to understand, and have confidence in, the science underlying a product. In a crowded market, clearly communicating that science to ThoughtLeaders at every level is therefore vital. A study of launch performance across 20 brands, found the “leading companies look beyond the key opinion leaders (KOLs) and turn day-to-day prescribers into advocates.”

These advocates then go on to impact their peers, in shared healthcare institutions, involvement in clinical trials or published articles, affiliations in organizations, and associations, roles in medical associations or on editorial boards, meetings at (virtual) conferences, and on physician panels.

The second, more pressing reason why a holistic engagement strategy is now indispensable is that during the global pandemic, it’s no longer possible or practical to meet with ThoughtLeaders in person. The rapid shift to virtual has focused first on education and scientific meetings, a situation likely to continue into the future and spread rapidly to other engagements. As a result, creating meaningful relationships has become more challenging, particularly with those ThoughtLeaders at the highest level of influence; they’re often the most in-demand, overworked, and less or least digitally engaged.

Those lower down the pyramid of influence, however, are both easier to access and more likely to be a Digital Opinion Leader (DOL). Some of them, including Rising Star ThoughtLeaders, influence hundreds of other clinicians, often through mediums untapped by the top 50: LinkedIn articles, email newsletters, Twitter, and social networks used exclusively by medical professionals, among others.

So a well-researched introduction to a national, regional, or local DOL – addressing their individual unmet needs – in the form of a LinkedIn connection request, tweet, or cold email, can open doors to a much wider audience. As Pfizer’s internal digital marketing mantra goes: ‘be useful, be human, be connected‘.

The historic challenge in doing so was that a holistic approach, engaging community by pinpointing which ThoughtLeaders are interacting and sharing best practices, does require a huge quantity of data – far more than can be collected with desktop research.

But technology can now provide this data in seconds. Precision intelligence platforms, powered by machine learning, artificial intelligence, and deep learning, can uncover and depict intricate maps of clinicians around the world, how these clinicians interact, and show on the most effective channels of engagement in real-time.

This creates a major opportunity for MSLs and marketers to engage with communities at global, national, regional, and local levels, with the right outreach, at the right time. With the market environment set to be no less challenging for new pharma products in 2021, that engagement will be invaluable for pharma brand success.

Click here to learn how Lumineer can drive pharma brand success in 2021.

Ready to get started? Contact us at [email protected] or call +1 404.496.4136. to discuss your ThoughtLeader strategy.

Rising stars are the upcoming, bright, talented, technophile medical experts in specialist therapy areas. Their outlook on emerging treatment approaches gives an important insight into future treatments. These emerging leaders are often digital influencers as well, making them even more relevant in the current times.

Identifying and engaging with the right rising stars is a key responsibility differentiator for life science companies

• Rising stars tend to be very forward thinking in terms of new treatment pathways and can give valuable insights into the future that would not necessarily be forthcoming from more established clinical experts
• Given their relative young age engaging with them early can often lead to a long term benefit to the biotechnology organisation strengthening the link between clinical expertise and development.
• With a robust online presence, the rising stars engage profoundly with a wide audience.

LUMINEER offers a powerful platform to identify and activate rising stars

Even though emerging talent is identified through metrics derived from scientific presentations and publications in peer-reviewed journals, the rising stars often begin their journey by presenting a novel therapy in a poster session of a scientific meeting.

Rising stars are readily pinpointed through Lumineer. Curated by disease area, Lumineer assists rapid business decisions and deployment of strategy through extensive precision intelligence, deep learning and real-time updates tracking scientific activities to successfully drive identification and activation of your right professional customers!

Lumineer enhances experiences of clients like you when requiring fast, on-demand and ease of access to precision intelligence to assist your ThoughtLeader strategy and planning.

We have helped many clients identify and activate rising stars through our assignments drawing information from our unique validated and active community of over 130,000 treaters including 13,000+ ThoughtLeaders in oncology, hematology and complex rare diseases. We can readily assist you across 60+ disease areas.

For one client, we generated an in-depth TL road map including rising stars for their oncology portfolio, with a particular focus in women’s health.  “This is awesome insight, and especially the ThoughtLeader model allows us to query the data and fine-tune ranking based on the different weighting of criteria. You delivered very robust results that will allow us to engage with the right ThoughtLeaders for the right opportunity using the right drivers’. Therapy Area Leader, Medical Affairs, Global Pharmaceutical Company.

Let’s identify and activate the right target ThoughtLeaders for your business!. Contact us at [email protected] or call +1 404.496.4136. to discuss your ThoughtLeader strategy.

MDOutlook, a precision intelligence leader specializing in life science strategies, recently launched Lumineer™, an extension of the company’s proven suite of ThoughtLeader identification solutions.

The latest offering in MDOutlook’s thought leadership and precision intelligence services, Lumineer delivers several material differentiators that set it apart from other online Life Science resources. Built on the largest network of cancer-focused physicians globally, Lumineer’s depth of capabilities enable users to develop curated rosters of oncology experts that specialize in a particular type of disease. Lumineer also uses cutting-edge technology to quickly map relevant and accurate professional information to designated practitioners in real-time.

Additionally and uniquely, Lumineer leverages peer nomination to help refine curated searches based on geographical data points on both a regional and local level. MDOutlook CEO and Founder, Jan Heybroek, discussed how Lumineer makes a perfect complement to its current services, strategies, and solutions:

“The MDOutlook team is very excited about using Lumineer to expand the capabilities we’ve been delivering to our clients for the last six years,” Heybroek said. “Our online community of cancer treaters is currently at approximately 150,000 validated physicians globally—and is continuously growing. Lumineer affords us an ideal opportunity to build our platform with real-time, relevant information that helps light a direct path between our clients and physicians.”

Lumineer utilizes proprietary technology that merges unique machine learning, AI innovation, human intelligence, and the voice of its online community to identify the very best thought leaders with every search. Once implemented, Lumineer is available immediately to designated life science teams, providing dynamic and diverse insights on oncology ThoughtLeaders for specific initiatives and engagements.

Most importantly, Lumineer centralizes thought leadership intelligence, enabling various teams within the same organization to work from a single platform that optimizes marketplace transparency. “At MDOutlook, we’re finding that, more and more, our clients are working with thought leaders in both development and educational capacities,” Heybroek said. “Lumineer’s transparency equips users to step outside of internal silos, develop fresh perspectives, and build-out strategic goals based on upto-date data for optimized project and program success.”

About MDOutlook

MDOutlook works with life science organizations to develop research-based consulting and precision intelligence solutions. To learn more, contact MDOutlook at [email protected] or call us at +1 404496-4136.

Lumineer webinar – 17^th June 2020 at 11.00 AM EST 

Join us at the launch of Lumineer: Three ways to Identify and Activate ThoughtLeaders. Watch the webinar here. 

With ASCO announcing their inaugural virtual program last week and ahead of other major oncology and hematology conferences (such as EHA) moving online, client appetite for planning their activities have not abated in hiring us to measure impact of their data announcement activity in the current “new norm”.

Have you planned measurement of your upcoming virtual conference activity?

Irrespective of the meeting format, measuring data announcement impact is more important than ever. With the deluge of scientific data presentations planned, clients are eager to assess the effectiveness of the virtual conference format and assess the impact of their activities in breaking through the competitive noise. Through access to the largest validated global online community of 130,000+ ThoughtLeaders and treaters (in oncology, hematology and complex rare diseases) are we able to get to your core targets to evaluate whether announcements change oncologists’ behavior and estimate how a data presentation influences their future treatment decisions and clinical practice.

Be the first to know!

Clients often find themselves in a situation where they need to quickly understand the implications of their own and competitors’ conference data announcements. For one of our clients we recruited 500 oncologists across 30 countries within a week of the conference via our agile ONCpulse^TM research service. Timely access to the results allowed our client to confidently react quickly to our insights! Often, we are the first to offer in-depth results after a congress.

Client feedback

“Rapid results allowed us to adapt our commercialization plans for the following year and assess success of our own data announcements. This is very useful for us in light of next year’s planning”.

Brand Director Oncology, Major Pharmaceutical Company

Tracking your impact post conference matters

Whilst measuring conference impact is important, tracking follow-up activity from a conference is of even greater importance and should not be overlooked when assessing the influence and reach of your messages. In the current “new-norm”, these channels for communication will be less affected!

Conference data announcements speak volumes and the virtual format will similarly be as impactful. However, the importance of measuring follow-up and impact from messaging activity post-conference is neatly highlighted from a client survey of 147 US oncologists in showing little difference with attention captured at conferences when compared to post-conferences.

About half (n=75) of US oncologists who did not attend the conference rated their awareness of the news as relatively high. Nearly two-thirds of academic non-attendees rated their awareness of conference results as high or very high and by comparison, still almost half of US community oncologists rated their level of awareness on a similar basis. We must not forget that non-attendees choice for staying up-to-date of information post conference will in most cases be via digital communication channels and least affected by the current situation.

Conference research specialists

Are you currently facing the challenge of measuring the impact of your scientific data presentation in the “new-norm”? For clients like you we make this process easy. With 10+ years’ experience and more than 140 projects under our belt, take the next easy step to meet using the calendar link or contact us at [email protected] or call +1.404.496.4136.

Choose MDOutlook to measure the success of your scientific data presentation.

In our latest annual series exploring corporate leaders in oncology (in oncology and IO), oncologists shared their views to reveal BMS (and Celgene), Merck & Co and Roche / Genentech as dominant in oncology and ImmunoOncology.

Today’s corporate leaders dominated in 2019 with oncologist preferences showing consistency in their ranking companies (year on year) with one notable change as Pfizer dropped out the 2020 top 3 leaders in EU oncology.

Oncologists chose to rate corporate leadership across a greater number of companies in oncology compared to a tighter list of companies they rated in ImmunoOncology.

Leadership was determined through triangulation of three robust approaches. IO corporate leadership patterns were more distinct with clear leaders (compared to oncology) across tumor types.

• BMS ranked first in IO tumor types including AML, Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Multiple myeloma, HCC, Pancreatic, Kidney, Melanoma and Head & Neck cancers
• Roche / Genentech was rated top in B-cell lymphomas, Breast (including HER2+, HR+ & TN), Bladder and SCLC
• Merck & Co made IO pole position in Colorectal, NSCLC and Prostate cancer

Around half of US (50%) and EU (58%) oncologists view corporate leadership in IO broadly, and the other half view corporate leadership by individual tumor types.

Our next post will explore attributes oncologists viewed as driving successful corporate leadership.

About the Study

The 2020 Corporate Leadership Study was conducted with 100 oncologists across US and EU using ONCpulse^TM agile research solution. ONCpulse^TM  answers today’s questions tomorrow through global access to 130,000+ experts and treaters in oncology, hematology and complex rare diseases.

The objectives of the research were to:

• Define the meaning of ‘corporate leadership’ to the oncology community
• Reveal the leaders in oncology and ImmunoOncology (IO) to compare/contrast how companies are evaluated by oncologists
• Assess current barriers and drivers to ImmunoOncology treatment use and identify what oncologists would like to see improved by corporate leaders in the IO space

Want to find out more? Click here to get your copy of the 2020 Corporate Leadership report  and keep reading to find out how we can help you engage with the top oncology leaders.

How MDOutlook connects leaders in oncology with pharmaceutical brands through ThoughtLeader activation and precision intelligence:

What are Leaders in Oncology?

Oncology leaders specifically, are highly influential in the oncology space and can help promote new treatments and therapies to patients and physicians. Oncology leaders typically have a deep understanding of the oncology landscape and are well-connected with key opinion leaders (KOL’s) in the space. As such, they can play a pivotal role in helping to shape public perceptions of new treatments and therapies.

Oncology leaders can be an important part of a company’s marketing strategy and can help to generate buzz around new products. Oncology leaders can also help companies to connect with key opinion leaders in the oncology space who can provide valuable insights into the latest treatment trends and developments.

Oncology Leader Mapping

Oncology leader mapping is an important tool that allows companies to identify and target these key influencers in specific disease states. Oncology leader mapping allows for a targeted search of influencers, based on factors such as geography, institutions, formularies, and level of influence. This enables companies to find the best matches for their brand based on loyalty towards other treatments and the overall level of influence within a particular disease state. 

Oncology Leader Engagement

If you’re looking to engage leaders in oncology for your brand, it’s important to make sure you’re targeting the right individuals. Here are three key questions to ask:

1. Does the leader in oncology currently influence formularies, treatment algorithms, institutions, networks, and other health care professionals? Are you able to measure the reach of their influence?
2. Do oncology leaders also appear at the top of peer nomination lists?
3. Are your selected leaders in oncology gaining prominence? Are these at the top of their field, region, locality, or institution? Are they on the decline?

Answering these questions can help ensure you’re engaging the most relevant and influential oncology leaders for your brand.

We breed client confidence as a leading precision intelligence company through winning solutions and team expertise. Let’s discuss your and your team’s future leadership success. Take the next step to arrange a meeting using the calendar link or contact us today at [email protected] or call +1.404.496.4136.

ThoughtLeaders in healthcare are individuals who are recognized as experts in their field. They are often thought of as innovators and visionaries, and their insights and perspectives can be highly influential in shaping the direction of the healthcare industry. As such, they can play a significant role in shaping healthcare policy and driving change within the industry.

There are many different ways clinicians become ThoughtLeaders in healthcare. One common path is to accumulate a wealth of knowledge and experience through research, clinical practice, or teaching. Alternatively, some ThoughtLeaders may emerge through their work in advocacy or public policy. Others may gain prominence through their writing or speaking on healthcare issues.

Engaging ThoughtLeaders in healthcare early on can help pharmaceutical companies to get buy-in from other healthcare professionals (HCPs)  and clinicians for new treatments, which is essential for successful launch and uptake. ThoughtLeaders can also play a key role in promoting scientific exchange and discussion around new therapies, which can help to build support among other HCPs.

It’s therefore clear that engaging HCPs, and ThoughtLeaders in particular, is crucial for the success of any new pharmaceutical treatment. By building relationships with these ThoughtLeaders, companies can ensure that new treatments are supported from the very beginning right through to launch and beyond.

When to Engage ThoughtLeaders in Healthcare

Most life science companies strategize to engage ThoughtLeaders,  with the majority of clients deploying engagement strategies during the launch phase (Phase 3). A small number of companies target influential ThoughtLeaders in healthcare earlier (pre-clinical/pre-launch) building long-term valuable relationships (‘brand ambassadors”) within scientific and physician communities.

Along the product journey, MDOutlook empowers clients by engaging experts and treaters at different stages through superior approaches to identification, mapping and activation.

We help you find Right ThoughtLeadership for a specific treater

Clients hire us to hyper-target experts and treaters that matter most in their journey, whether driving impactful commercialization strategies or engaging influential scientific experts during pre-launch. With an unparalleled global community, we instantly access clinicians (including niche targets) to your competitive advantage.

ThoughtLeader Mapping

One important method we use us to identify and activate the right ThoughtLeaders in healthcare for your brand is ThoughtLeader mapping. ThoughtLeader mapping is an important tool for pharmaceutical companies, as it allows them to identify and target ThoughtLeaders that specialize in specific disease states. ThoughtLeader mapping allows for a targeted search of influencers, based on factors such as geography, institutions, formularies, and level of influence. This enables companies to find the best matches for their brand based on loyalty towards other treatments and the overall level of influence within a particular disease state. Ultimately, ThoughtLeader mapping provides a more efficient way for companies to connect with ThoughtLeaders in healthcare who can help promote and shape public opinion on various topics related to their health and medicine brands

Receive the Right Information at the Right Time

Making confident decisions on-the-go matters most to our clients who regularly choose us to be there for them when it matters most with meaningful precision intelligence!

• Improving targeting or call planning, we support sales activity planning through immediate identification or verification of valuable experts and treaters
• Through rich profiling, finding influential scientific ThoughtLeaders in your brand journey to involve with e.g. clinical trials, medical publications, or scientific conferences
• Optimizing expert collaborations at the (inter)national, national and local level from mapping network behind networks for maximum impact!

Rapid activation of ThoughtLeaders in Healthcare

Clients retain us knowing quick and easy wins to activating experts and treaters are consistently delivered

• Answering today’s questions, tomorrow via ONCpulse studies
• Through powerful and actionable insights e.g. navigating brand performance in competitive markets through hybrid KPI / ATU tracking

Clients judge us on successful outcomes:

• For one client, we measured conference data impact in a week via insights from 500 top oncologists, worldwide. “Rapid results allowed us to adapt our commercialization plans and assess the success of our own data announcements. This is very useful for next years’ planning”  Brand Director Oncology, Major Pharmaceutical Company
• For another client, using our Oncology community, we activated highly influential ThoughtLeaders across five countries in Asia, for an Ad Board to ascertain messages resonating with those on the ‘decision edge’ in Hepato-Cellular Carcinoma (HCC)

We breed client confidence as a leading precision intelligence company with transparent solutions and team expertise. Let’s take a positive step together to make this year a success for you, your brand and business! Contact us today at [email protected] or call +1 404.496.4136. to arrange a meeting.