Accenture Song’s Tracy Duffy on how the ‘empathetic’ nature of design thinking can be integrated into life sciences marketing strategies.
When it comes to the life sciences sector, there are a multitude of important considerations that companies must adhere to. Safety standards, regulations and even data protection instantly come to mind. As well as these, another important aspect of this area is communication.
A lot of companies working in life sciences will be involved in complex and sensitive disciplines such as medicine development and disease research, which constitutes a high standard of communication to those directly involved or impacted by their work. People – more specifically, directly involved patients – want to know what work is being done, what safety considerations are being made and the overall outcomes or effects of the work being done. Therefore, companies must be careful in how their communication and marketing strategies are deployed.
One method that is often used in these marketing strategies is design thinking, an approach that prioritises human-centric and user-specific considerations in problem-solving.
Thinking it through
“Design thinking starts with understanding the needs and experiences of patients and healthcare providers,” says Tracy Duffy. “This empathetic approach can lead to more effective communication and product development that resonates with the target audience.”
Duffy is experience design director and life science studio lead at Accenture Song, where she champions the use of design thinking in pharma communications, which she says is becoming more sought-after. “Traditional creative problem-solving skills are still important, but clients increasingly look to us to help them navigate new challenges quickly in an innovative and scalable way.
“The rapid prototyping of new ideas allows for quick feedback and iteration, and can be particularly beneficial when we have many stakeholders, global/local market needs and work in such a highly regulated area – ensuring that the strategies and solutions developed are not only innovative but also viable and sustainable.”
Duffy and her team use tools such as the Adobe Suite and Firefly to work with life sciences companies to deploy their marketing strategies, as well as popular design tool Figma. As well as these, her team are increasingly deploying the use of generative AI, particularly to streamline repetitive tasks, allowing them to focus on more valuable duties.
Duffy’s career in design began after she graduated from Limerick School of Art and Design, where she studied design communications. After spending some time working in small advertising agencies, two pivotal events sparked a career change.
“My mum passed away from breast cancer when I was at college – it makes you quite focused on what’s important in life, and unknowingly shapes the way you look at design and human-centric experiences,” she says. “The second was being made redundant from the e-learning role that I loved, leading the creative team in a multidisciplinary environment for global clients.”
These events prompted Duffy to move back home to Dundalk, and before long she was working in element design and had obtained a master’s degree in multimedia. After this, Duffy was “ready for a new challenge” and joined an agency in Dublin called Boomerang, which focused exclusively on design and digital marketing in the pharma industry, just as it was being acquired by Accenture.
Challenges and long-term effects
According to Duffy, some of the major challenges of crafting marketing strategies in the life sciences space include the complexity of new products, medications and services (and the subsequent effort to communicate these to a diverse audience), as well as regulatory compliance and the privacy and security concerns that arise from the presence of sensitive data. However, there a number of ways that Duffy and her team curb these challenges.
“All of our team, whatever role (strategy, research, content, creatives etc) are experts in life sciences and we sit alongside our colleagues in Accenture Song that work across industry, sharing best practice, future trends, insights and learnings,” she says.
As well as this, Duffy says that her team stays up to date with regulations and develop clear guidelines and project governance to “elevate standards”. She also highlights the importance of the team’s medical writers, editors and regulatory experts. Overall, Duffy states that maintaining compliance is engrained in the team’s culture and thought processes.
Aside from the challenges, we asked Duffy about how the design thinking method provides an alternative approach to life sciences marketing. She outlined a previous request from a client regarding the ‘speed to live’ of their marketing assets.
“After understanding their problems with the ‘as-is’ process, we created a new ‘digital-first’ atomic design system, where all stakeholders can access a library of creative assets that are aligned to our clients latest brand palette, are responsive, accessible and approved for use in each market.
“The impact of the new design system has been even bigger than we anticipated, improving the briefing of new work, reuse of assets and ensuring all assets being used in local markets are compliant.”
Reflecting on the rising demand for design thinking approaches, Duffy recommends that any life sciences company considering the method to “go for it”, as it can be a “transformative” decision.
“Providing a deep focus on understanding the needs and experiences of their audiences, design thinking thrives on diverse perspectives – encouraging collaboration between marketers, scientists and designers to create innovative solutions that resonate.”
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