Brand Institute

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of marketing of healthcare company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Brand Institute?

We needed a brand name.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Brand Institute has helped us go through our naming process. We already knew what we wanted from a business perspective, and we had certain objectives in mind. Still, we initially went through a discovery process, where Brand Institute brought their knowledge to the table, helping us find names approved by regulatory bodies.

We started whittling down from hundreds of different names, and we’ve reached the few top names we like the most. Ultimately, they will deliver a list of those final names, each with their description and meaning, as well as a PowerPoint presentation.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with two people from Brand Institute on a day-to-day basis, but they have a lot of other resources. In total, 6–7 other people from their team have been present in our meetings throughout the project, including creatives and people from different departments.

How did you come to work with Brand Institute?

Brand Institute came recommended by someone I worked with.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around Q4 2019, and we’re still working together, but we’re wrapping up the project around March 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Brand Institute has helped us get named through regulatory bodies fairly quickly, which is very impressive and challenging to do. We’re a small company, but we’re all very pleased with the results. Overall, Brand Institute is very experienced, and they’ve made the process very easy.

How did Brand Institute perform from a project management standpoint?

Brand Institute is very responsive, and they have many resources in different areas. If we have any questions in a grey area, they usually have someone who can help us out, which is a significant value add for us.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Brand Institute has a very solid team. They have a nice balance between creativity and regulatory bodies' experience, a balance hard to manage. From their creatives to their regulatory experts, their team is very robust, helping clients through the process.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. I normally don’t leave these types of reviews, but Brand Institute has done such a  great job that I wanted to share my experience.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have consistent communication with them, ask them questions, and ask them for resources. Brand Institute has the capabilities to get your job done.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I was VP of Marketing/VP of Med Affairs for a Biotech company

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Brand Institute, and what were your goals?

We brought BI to help us with developing the tradename for a highly specialized targeted cancer agent

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Prior experience, this is perhaps the third or forth project of this type that I have worked with BI.

Describe the scope of their work in detail, including any steps and the final deliverables.

BIs method incorporates analysis of the brand personality, the company's vision for the brand and the competitive landscape. The goal is to identify a tradename that resonates with the product, has some correlation to the mechanism of action, biologic target, disease addressed, etc.

Ultimately the name needs to resonate with senior management and has to be approved by the FDA. BIs support is critical in navigating the process all the way up to FDA submission and approval.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

My direct contacts include a VP and his staff working on client services. However, there are many other people within BI that bring expertise such as ex FDA reviewers etc.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The tradename selected was approved by senior management and now just waits for FDA approval of the product and the name

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Timelines are well defined, required steps are outlined with frequent touchpoints along the way. Note that these are time sensitive projects as timing is defined by the FDA timelines for product review and approval.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Brand Institute had the necessary expertise to perform these very complex and time-sensitive projects.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

nothing comes to mind

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I was the marketing director tasked with developing our brand name, strategy and regulatory coordination

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Brand Institute, and what were your goals?

They helped us ideate, develop and validate a global brand name strategy including regulatory support

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We used a RFP process but they had already done work for other naming workstreams so it was easier to put them into the process alongside 2 other vendors.

Describe the scope of their work in detail, including any steps and the final deliverables.

they led workshops to help us think of brand names that aligned with our positioning, brand essence and brand objectives. They helped us understand regulatory risk, write supporting submission documents for EU, Canada, Brazil, and the US. They helped us think of backup names and strategies to optimize a brand name submission and approval prior to approval.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

in total probably like 4-5. They ranged from account services to head of EU, head of Brazil regulatory, and their creative team and President of course.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

They fixed a prior vendors negative regulatory brand name submission and successfully got us to a great brand name that has now launched globally.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

they are very organized via weekly check-ins, management presentation updates, slide support and also utilize their own proprietary tools to assess risk like via POCA, etc.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

customized service, ability to meet deadlines, anything possible attitude and probably the best senior leadership of any naming firm given their experience leading regulatory bodies in the past.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

none, I would like to use them again when my next drug launch/brand name emerges.