Culture
July 9, 2024
Pharmaceutical writers are often tasked with putting (compliant) words and phrases in people’s mouths—especially doctor’s mouths. Every word we write is scrutinized by clients, review teams, and others. The result can be stilted, unnatural, and wordy language that no human would ever actually utter.
We can do better.
While being legally compliant, medically accurate, and true to the label are all worthy priorities, I would argue that being engaging, passionate, and believable are equally important. Finding a balance between compliance and authenticity is tricky, but selecting a partner with strategic content development expertise can make it a reality.
At Relevate Health, for example, we offer a rep enablement tool, called KOLCastTM. KOLCast is built around the idea of capturing key opinion leaders’ (KOLs) real-world experience with a particular drug or disease state and allowing them to offer insights to a colleague who has less experience with the drug or disease state through video. The video content we capture is entirely UNSCRIPTED.
Yup, you heard me right. UNSCRIPTED. We purposely don’t script our KOL interviews for this program to allow the KOL's authenticity to shine through. The results are more engaging video content that reps can leverage in their conversations with customers.
So how do we do it? With our proven, extemporaneous content development process. I’ll highlight four key aspects below:
1. Embrace the concept review
Many review teams have the option for a concept review before a formal submission. We always take advantage of this opportunity to discuss and collaborate with review teams. We walk through the program, its components, and our process for reviewing and eventually approving content. This is a great time to answer the review team's questions and concerns, provide examples, and demonstrate your commitment—and expertise—to staying within the brand's guardrails while also producing a high-quality piece that customers will watch.
2. Have a clear, stepped process for feedback
What especially helps put review teams at ease with an extemporaneous program is a clear process that has been used time and time again with success. For KOLCast, our process starts with a moderator guide where we define specific guardrails for the KOL to keep top of mind during filming and identify content we must cover within a particular topic. After the moderator guides are approved, we schedule the filming of the KOL. Reviewers are invited to attend the filming virtually and provide live feedback for retakes. After filming, we submit storyboards and video assets for review and approval. This means reviewers have 3 separate opportunities to provide insights and feedback before approval.
3. Select KOLs carefully and schedule prep work
Not everyone has what it takes to pull off an unscripted, compliant discussion. We work closely with our clients to ensure the KOLs they select are not only at the top of their field but engaging speakers in front of the camera. Once selected, we work with the KOL to review the content and guardrails before the shoot date. On-site at a location convenient to the KOL, we limit the crew to a small team to ensure the KOL is comfortable and can imagine themselves having a casual, one-on-one discussion with a peer.
4. Plan for extra takes and outtakes
The number one thing I communicate to review teams is that we take an hour of footage per topic, but we only produce a 3-5 minute video in the end. This means we capture a lot of extra footage so that we have plenty to work with and can cut anything that isn’t approvable. We also use two cameras and incorporate graphics throughout the videos to make editing and transitions seamless.
So, are you ready to make a compliant KOL video that sounds like a real human with interesting expertise to share? Talk to us!