Case Studies
Change Management
Bristol Myers Squibb U.S.
Challenge: Bristol Myers Squibb’s IT Department was undergoing restructuring and needed to streamline its services to create efficiencies.
Description: Client sought to successfully offshore IT services for greater efficiency and cost savings, while keeping staff members engaged.
Scope of Services:
- Developed communications to support Vice President’s goals.
- Developed, implemented, and measured change-management plan for Culture Ambassadors Workgroup.
- Sourced and secured SMEs for weekly IT forums.
- Develop engaging Driver, Approver, Contributors, and Informed (DACI) tool to foster the evolved company culture and drive more productive meetings.
- Served as IT liaison to Accenture consultants to ensure organizational transformation goals.
Results:
- Highly engaged culture ambassadors and IT forum participants.
- Successful offshoring of identified IT services.
- Renewed contract for ongoing communications support.
Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation U.S.
Challenge: Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation was reorganizing under new leadership and facing brand expiry of their blockbuster drug—a product that was supported by approximately 25% of the workforce.
Description: Client sought to galvanize the workforce around the new leadership and vision for the organization beyond product expiry.
Scope of Services:
- Supported enterprise-wide rollout of messaging and corporate assets.
- Helped plan and develop content for quarterly townhall meetings for organizational updates and employee engagement.
- Develop stories to promote other Primary Care brands and how their efforts ladder up to the broader company vision.
- Highly engaged enterprise-wide workforce evidenced by feedback poll.
- Increased internal visibility for Primary Care Business Unit.
- Renewed contract for ongoing communications support.
Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation U.S. IT Department.
Challenge: The client was consolidating a vast amount of customer data from myriad systems to a new platform that offered improved sales and marketing support and flexibility.
Description: The IT team needed to engage a large group of stakeholders from major businesses and functions companywide, including primary care, oncology, and specialty medicines; customer support services; finance; compliance; and its own IT groups. Stakeholders needed to understand the benefits, value, and functionality of the platform, how to use it, and how to take advantage of new capabilities.
Scope of Services:
Ascend team members, then independent contractors of the US corporate communications
department:
- Worked closely with IT program leaders to analyze stakeholders and develop and refine
- A communications plan and key messages.
- Provided templates—including a standard, customizable presentation deck and announcements—enabling leaders to inform stakeholders of benefits and changes in advance of key milestones.
- Refined messaging and tools, adapted them to stakeholders, and obtained content approvals.
- Planned for and implemented communications for future system enhancements.
Results:
The Ascend team members’ collaboration, guidance, planning, and implementation enabled IT
program leaders to:
- Easily and effectively define and target audiences for communications.
- Introduce this major change to a wide and diverse group of stakeholders in ways that made sense for each group and ensured stakeholder support.
- Introduce future system enhancements.
- Seamlessly navigate their own program leadership changes.
Employee Engagement
Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation U.S.
Challenge: The Primary Care Business Unit was restructuring, seeking to rebrand themselves and showcase their successes across the organization.
Description: Client sought to promote the new Primary Care Unit and highlight the Unit’s successes, and new approach to working to support the vision of the new CEO.
Scope of Services:
- Served as the internal communications support to the Primary Care Business Unit.
- Developed internal communications strategy to support the Business Unit.
- Developed editorial calendar, interviewed SMEs, wrote content, and negotiated placement of content on internal communications channels.
- Developed leadership talking points for meetings and automated field announcements.
- Worked with Primary Care leadership and interior design company to develop and launch the Primary Care Ideas Lab, a dedicated team space for innovative thinking and brainstorming.
Results:
- Consistently garnered recognition from Primary Care Business Unit leadership and Head of Enterprise Communications for creative and impactful storytelling.
- Secured optimal real estate on internal communications channels.
- Recorded steady use of the Ideas Lab by Primary Care team members.
- Renewed contract for additional Primary Care communications support.
- Obtained additional contract to support the Health, Safety, & Environment Department internal communications.
Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation U.S. IT Department.
Challenge: The client was consolidating a vast amount of customer data from myriad systems to a new platform that offered improved sales and marketing support and flexibility.
Description: The IT team needed to engage a large group of stakeholders from major businesses and functions companywide, including primary care, oncology, and specialty medicines; customer support services; finance; compliance; and its own IT groups. Stakeholders needed to understand the benefits, value, and functionality of the platform, how to use it, and how to take advantage of new capabilities.
Scope of Services:
Ascend team members, then independent contractors of the US corporate communications
department:
- Worked closely with IT program leaders to analyze stakeholders and develop and refine
- A communications plan and key messages.
- Provided templates—including a standard, customizable presentation deck and announcements—enabling leaders to inform stakeholders of benefits and changes in advance of key milestones.
- Refined messaging and tools, adapted them to stakeholders, and obtained content approvals.
- Planned for and implemented communications for future system enhancements.
Results:
The Ascend team members’ collaboration, guidance, planning, and implementation enabled IT
program leaders to:
- Easily and effectively define and target audiences for communications.
- Introduce this major change to a wide and diverse group of stakeholders in ways that made sense for each group and ensured stakeholder support.
- Introduce future system enhancements.
- Seamlessly navigate their own program leadership changes.
Organizational and Community Leadership
Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce
Challenge: The Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce’s leadership was looking to refresh its image, evolve its service offerings, increase and improve membership value, and revamp its programming to increase sponsorships and attendance. However, they were lacking a plan and the resources to achieve these goals.
Description: Client sought an experienced and skilled leader in marketing and communications to lead the organization in developing a plan and gaining internal and external support.
Scope of Services:
- Developed a 3-year strategic marketing communications plan and gained buy-in from leadership, staff, and board members.
- Led the evolution of the Chamber website to include an Economic Development component.
- Set the strategy and themes for all events and programs.
- Led the planning and execution of signature events (annual meeting, women’s conference, first-responders breakfast, and legislative forum) that attracted 350 to 1000 attendees.
- Led pivot-strategy to online events during COVID-19 pandemic.
- Conceived and launched CEO C-suite Conversations Series that brought together the Chamber CEO with leaders from across the Triangle.
- Conceived and launched Business Insight and Key Investor newsletters to highlight businesses that moved to Durham and provide early preview to upcoming news, respectively.
- Reformed programming to provide more opportunities for member engagement and sponsorships.
- Represented the organization at various member and community events.
- Served as POC for media and wrote and distributed press releases, media advisories, and community stories for multiple publications.
Results:
- Elevated the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce as the leading economic development entity for Durham County.
- Elevated events and reimaged the format, which has led neighboring chambers to follow suit. For example, 2022 and 2023 Annual Meetings were produced as talk shows, with the CEO being the host.
- Achieved extensive coverage and visibility by local media.
- Published over 15 articles on small business members.
- Increase followers and engagement on social platforms by 30%.
- Increased newsletter readership by 22%.
- Received multiple accolades for Chamber events from community, members, and Board of Directors.
Health Communications
Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation U.S.
Challenge: In the U.S., Black women with breast cancer are approximately 40% more likely to die compared to white women with breast cancer, are more likely to be diagnosed at a later stage with more aggressive disease and have higher recurrence rates. Implicit biases and underrepresentation of Black providers, who comprise only ~2% of practicing oncologists, contribute to communication barriers and access to quality, consistent, culturally competent care.
Description: Client sought to promote health equity in breast cancer care, particularly among women of color.
Scope of Services:
- Provided strategic guidance on communication approach and culturally appropriate content for engaging communities of color, particularly Black women.
- Served as liaison to patients and interviewed them to capture their stories for the campaign’s website and storytelling video series.
- Developed resources for patients and HCPs to encourage meaningful dialogue and empathetic listening.
- Helped plan on-the-ground activation which included a breast screening component, and interviewed attendees who participated for inclusion in event sizzle reel.
- Provided oversight of productions for several campaign videos, and a new tool to be rolled out at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting.
- Provided vast editorial services.
Results:
- Highly engaged campaign Advisors, patients, and event attendees.
- Patient Storytelling Series as of August 1, 2023, resulted in 1.3M+ impressions 376K views 377K engagements.
- Website Traffic ~83K total impressions, 9.3K directed from QR codes/direct links.
- Resources downloaded 350 times.
- On-site breast exams at local event totaled ~80.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Challenge: The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) wanted to identify behaviors and community exposure associated with increased risk of COVID-19 by comparing local cases (from at least seven sites) to national controls using a comparison group of national survey respondents.
Description: Client sought to collaborate with researchers and communications consultants to develop the research methodology, conduct local and national research, and communicate the findings to the CDC and local health departments to inform existing and future public health emergency response.
Scope of Services:
- Managed project timeline, execution, and deliverables across multiple teams including researchers from national and international universities, local public health departments, and communications teams.
- Developed the overall communications plans to inform all stakeholders.
- Wrote and edited weekly reports to health departments.
- Organized and provided oversight for meetings to report findings.
- Oversaw project closeout and file transfer of all deliverables to the CDC and local health departments.
Results:
- Collected >25,000 responses from adults in the U.S.
- Secured participation of seven local health departments.
- Developed and distributed 47 biweekly reports to state and local health departments.
- Garnered interest from other CDC Centers and continue to discuss future opportunities.
Janssen Pharmaceuticals U.S.
Challenge: Black adults face disparities in mental health care, often due to racial bias among healthcare providers and lack of culturally competent care that takes into consideration the role of cultural beliefs, values, practices, and attitudes.
Description: Client sought to improve the trusted delivery and pursuit of equitable SMI care at the local level by partnering with mental health advocacy, faith-based, and healthcare professional organizations in North Carolina, Texas, Georgia, and California to provide tailored, local educational and awareness-building programs and care navigation resources.
Scope of Services:
- Provided strategic guidance on communication approach and culturally appropriate content for engaging communities of color and faith-based organizations.
- Developed resources for faith leaders to distribute to their congregations.
- Helped guide research questions.
- Provided editorial services.
Results:
- Successfully collaborated with advocacy groups to develop and equip community leaders with tools and resources to distribute in their communities.
- Assisted in research development to inform future communications.
Client Feedback
The communications team are consummate professionals, and working with them has been a pleasure. They did a nice job in helping us frame key messages, which we had been struggling with, and the slides have become part of our standard set.
They also extended the deck and provided valuable feedback and coaching on approaching our audience and always seemed to have just the right edits needed to perfect our management communications.
