For close to two years, while other deep-pocketed pharmaceuticals like Merck and Bristol-Myers Squibb charted their courses onto the World Wide Web, corporate communicators at Skokie, Ill.-based Searle and its PR agency Landmark Communications were hunk-ered over their computers and navigating their way through cyberspace to see what the competition was up to.
For Searle, which had $2 billion in sales last year, it was a game of wait-and-see - until two weeks ago when it officially launched its Web site at http://www.searlehealthnet.com. The site made its premiere with a highly unique PR twist - users are invited to guide a new drug through the approval process from the time of discovery to market clearance.
And so far, the site is being seen the way Searle and Landmark PR practitioners hoped it would - in a kind of good-faith, do-good light that most experts would argue is wise PR because it's leaps from the typical stronghanded corporate approach. Unlike other companies that use the Web to tout their products and companies and to set up information-rich press sites, Searle's hook is an interactive game, The Pipeline Game, designed for patients, healthcare providers and physicians.
By playing the game, which varies according to the choices a visitor makes, players select a medical condition and then guide a viable lead compound treatment through various clinical development stages. After this, players conduct safety testing and clinical trials before pretending to submit a new drug application to the Food and Drug Administration.
"As early as the end of 1994, we were seriously looking at how we were going to have a presence on the Internet, but we wanted it to be a very new way of getting Searle known," Jack Domeischel, VP of Searle's corporate communications, told PR NEWS last week. "We knew it could really help us create a global image but we knew we didn't want to do what everyone else was doing. We wanted to break new ground with an interactive site that wasn't loaded down with graphics and promotional content."
"We all agreed that we didn't, for instance, want to do what other companies were doing, like putting their annual reports online and using old print information," said Joe Landi, president of Landmark Communications, the Englewood Cliffs, N.J.-based PR agency that handled the site's PR.
The Internet destination has already attracted 4,800 players (users could check out the game before the official launch) and a steady steam of industry buzz.
Alon with more than 100 e-mails from clinicians praising the site, searlehealthnet.com has already been chosen as a top site (out of more than 100,000) as a key resource for healthcare professionals by online company Citizen 1 Software, which probes the speed and worth of online information.
The Logic Behind the Site
When Searle turned to Landmark for guidance several years ago, it not only wanted a progressive PR player - it wanted a partner that shared its philosophy.
"We wanted a site that shows that people are using the Internet in completely different ways than they're using other mediums," recalled Domeischel. "We determined that we should use this site to provide up-to-date information that's comprehensive and easy to access."
For Searle, that entailed a fairly costly undertaking and a willingness to watch other competitors go online while it solidified its PR Web strategy.
Overall, Searle earmarked $50,000 for site research; $150,000 for development (building the site); $20,000 for promotional activities; and $5,000 for monthly maintenance, including revamping content when needed and a planned press area within a year. But those figures don't include the development of The Pipeline Game, handled by Chicago-based creative house Swell Pictures Inc. which reportedly didn't charge Searle the full amount for the $200,000-$250,000 valued feature.
Those involved in the game's creation say the planning process wasn't easy because each of the key players came to the project from a different discipline: Domeischel, along with Searle Director of Public Affairs Pam Rasmussen, were concerned about how the site could strengthen the corporation's image; Landi looked at the undertaking from a communicator's vantage point; and Swell's Director of New Media Barbara Jones was mostly interested in the creation and functionality components.
"What we ended up with was a consensus - a down-to-earth site with a low-key PR approach," mused Jones. "And we were able to do this because we kept coming back to the drawing board with a focus on the mission statement: providing information to the public."
But even before Swell was involved, Landmark was setting the stage. "We looked at about 15 sites run by other key pharmaceuticals and we analyzed their usage of graphics; how they dealt with product messages; the level of interactivity; and whether they were using e-mail or seeking registration," said Landi, who regularly went online to see what new medical/health sites and pharmaceutical were doing. "During our research, we also turned to the press," Landi added. "We wanted to learn from those in the business and trade press - from talking to media contacts - how people were using the Internet. I remember that one Wall Street Journal reporter told me it was getting to the point that it was more newsworthy if someone wasn't on the Web than if someone was because so many companies were doing the same thing and were resorting to putting up print materials jazzed up with glitzy elements."
"We kept wondering: 'What can we do with this site that's fresh?' " Domeischel said. "And we realized that it was making our key target groups understand what we do and how difficult it is to get a drug approved. Later, we realized that our PR strategy in launching the site was The Pipeline Game because it isn't self-serving." (Jack Domeischel, 847/470-6163;Joe Landi, 210/567-4242; Barbara Jones, 312/464-8000)