Illumina New to NGS
Overcoming internal resistance to create a more welcoming (and award-winning) approach for an intimidating technology
INTERNAL & EXTERNAL CHALLENGES
Next generation sequencing (NGS) has revolutionized genomic research, spurring the advancement of new applications and a rising demand for NGS services. Illumina wanted to leverage its leadership position to attract researchers who were either new to using NGS or hadn’t yet incorporated it into their research. The issue was new-to-NGS researchers perceived Illumina as an imposing company with high-end, intimidating solutions, and they were hesitant to move beyond methods such as PCR, cell culture assays and microscopy to try NGS.
One of the key internal challenges was to help Illumina move past its traditional, top-down marketing approach. Not only did we need to address the strategy behind this campaign, we needed to overcome Illumina’s resistance to think about this audience differently.
KEY INSIGHT
Based on quantitative research, we knew most new-to-NGS researchers had some familiarity with NGS, which they usually associated with Illumina, but their knowledge was limited. Their top barriers were that they had no idea how to interpret the vast amount of data, how to convince their labs of its relevance, and how to even get started.
Leveraging Illumina’s high awareness and its audiences’ hesitation, the company had an opportunity to reframe itself as the leader in guiding researchers through the adoption of this exciting research tool, rather than focusing on its instruments’ superior, yet intimidating, technical differentiators.
CREATIVE POSITION
For researchers who are new to NGS, Illumina is YOUR GATEWAY TO NGS, helping you seamlessly step into the world of massively parallel sequencing at ultra-high throughput, scalability and speed.
RESULTS
By getting crucial internal stakeholder buy-in and approaching this audience in a unique way, the new strategy fueled an award-wining visual campaign that gained widespread exposure through a multifaceted tactical plan, including e-books, infographics, print, social ads and video.
AWARDS: MARCOM (Gold - Strategic Communications: Integrated Marketing; Gold - Advertising Campaign), Hermes Creative Awards (Gold - Strategic Campaign: Integrated Marketing)
