Optimizing Global Content Reuse at Shire

This presentation outlines Shire’s strategic vision for optimizing the global content lifecycle, moving from initial concept development through regulatory approval, production, and eventual customer use. The core objective is to establish a unified, efficient, and compliant platform that streamlines the creation and dissemination of both promotional and non-promotional materials across international markets. The speaker emphasizes the necessity of integrating a complete feedback loop, particularly for digital sales aids, to track usage metrics—such as which pages or messages are utilized by representatives (Reps) and Medical Science Liaisons (MSLs)—and feeding that data back to central marketing teams in Zurich. This data-driven approach is designed to continuously refine content and messaging, ultimately enabling healthcare professionals (HCPs) to make informed prescribing decisions.

The initiative focuses heavily on consolidating disparate, inefficient legacy systems—including paper-based processes, different SharePoint sites, email approvals, and proprietary systems like Zinc—into a single, global platform, specifically mentioning the migration to "PromoMats" (Veeva PromoMats) and a centralized Digital Asset Management (DAM) system. This consolidation is projected to yield significant efficiencies, allowing for global approval processes managed by a centralized Commercial, Medical, and Regulatory (CMLR) team. The goal is to dramatically reduce the time-to-market for essential assets, including global press releases and website content, by leveraging native files stored securely on the DAM.

A key performance indicator for this transformation is the increase in global content reuse. The speaker notes that historical reuse figures were low (around 10-11%) and sets an ambitious target of achieving 30% to 40% reuse of core international materials. Furthermore, the project aims to drastically cut the approval cycle time, moving from an average of 40 days down to an optimal 7 to 8 days. Strategically, the company is shifting from a "push" model—where global teams manually disseminate content, creating high workload for local countries—to a "pull" system. This allows local affiliates to access core, compliant assets directly from the DAM, providing the necessary foundation for local customization while ensuring regulatory adherence. The primary challenge identified in this complex migration is securing comprehensive stakeholder engagement, particularly among senior leadership, IT, and CMLR business partners, to ensure smooth transition and adoption of the new unified platform.

Key Takeaways: • End-to-End Content Lifecycle Optimization: The vision encompasses the entire content journey, from concept development and CMLR review/approval through production, dissemination, and post-usage feedback, linking marketing strategy directly to field execution. • Data-Driven Feedback Loops: Essential for digital sales aids, the system must capture usage metrics (e.g., which pages were viewed, how messages were used) and feed this data back to marketing to refine content and improve message effectiveness for HCPs. • Consolidation of Legacy Systems: A major efficiency driver is the migration away from fragmented systems (paper, email, SharePoint, Zinc) to a single, global platform (Veeva PromoMats/DAM) to standardize the review and approval process internationally. • Global CMLR Standardization: Establishing a global CMLR team and platform enables unified approval of core global assets (e.g., press releases, websites), significantly improving regulatory compliance and reducing time-to-market. • Aggressive Efficiency Targets: The company aims to reduce the content approval timeline from an average of 40 days to a target of 7 to 8 days, demonstrating a focus on speed and agility in commercial operations. • Targeted Content Reuse Metrics: The strategic goal is to increase the global reuse of compliant core materials from a low baseline (10-11%) to an ambitious 30% to 40%, maximizing investment in content creation and minimizing agency costs. • Shift from "Push" to "Pull" Dissemination: Moving to a pull system allows local countries to access and retrieve assets directly from the DAM, reducing global dissemination workload while allowing local teams the flexibility to adapt materials based on specific country requirements. • Compliance and Compelling Content: The core mandate is to produce material that is both compelling for the audience and strictly compliant with regulatory standards, ensuring the integrity of the information shared with HCPs. • Stakeholder Engagement is Critical: The most significant challenge in migrating assets and implementing the new system is ensuring robust engagement and buy-in from all key stakeholders, including senior leadership, IT, and regulatory/business partners, from the project's inception. • Key Metrics for Success: Success is measured across multiple points: the number of cycles required for approval, the time taken to reach production, content usage metrics by the field force, and the final content reuse percentage internationally.

Tools/Resources Mentioned:

• Veeva PromoMats (implied by "promo man"): The platform used for managing promotional and non-promotional content review, approval, and distribution.
• Digital Asset Management (DAM): The centralized repository for storing native files and approved assets for global access and reuse.
• Digital Sales Aid: A specific content format used by representatives (Reps) and MSLs in the field, providing measurable usage data.
• Zinc: A legacy system mentioned as a source of assets being migrated.

Key Concepts:

• CMLR (Commercial, Medical, Legal, Regulatory): The cross-functional team responsible for reviewing and approving all pharmaceutical content to ensure regulatory compliance before distribution.
• Push vs. Pull System: A "push" system involves global teams actively sending content to local markets; a "pull" system allows local markets to retrieve (pull) content on demand from the central DAM.
• Time-to-Market: A critical metric measuring the duration from content concept development to its final approved use by the field force.