Quotient Sciences is a global pharmaceutical development, clinical pharmacology and clinical and commercial manufacturing organization. Offering both individual and integrated services, Quotient delivers customized solutions for pharmaceutical and biotech customers. To build global awareness of its expanded CDMO and CRO capabilities following the acquisitions of Co-Formulate, QS Pharma, SeaView Research and Pharmaterials, Quotient Clinical rebranded as Quotient Sciences in 2017.
Mark Egerton joined Quotient as chief executive officer in 2005 and drives the company’s strategic global growth, overseeing acquisitions that strengthen the company’s service portfolio. Egerton has over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry.
How does Quotient Sciences differentiate itself from other service businesses in the drug development space?
Quotient Sciences brings together drug development capabilities and services that are typically found in disparate CDMOs and CROs. Our Translational Pharmaceutics® platform is our key differentiator — it integrates formulation development, real-time adaptive manufacturing and clinical pharmacology, and it is proven to reduce drug development costs and shorten timelines.
Our vision is to transform drug development with science and innovation by applying our quality, passion and expertise to accelerate the delivery of new medicines to patients. We have a culture that fosters unique, solution-oriented thinking, and we position ourselves within the industry as a partner to our clients to solve the industry’s most pressing questions.
One of your marketing goals for 2018 was to gain recognition in the industry. What strategies and tactics have helped build your visibility?
To harness the full potential of Translational Pharmaceutics, we established an operational footprint in the U.S. to replicate our platform. We have focused on U.S. acquisitions so we can ultimately have a more global impact on how we innovate drug development.
We rebranded to encompass our broadened business, reinforce our values and drive our overall strategy. The cornerstone of our message is that we are helping our clients innovate and transform their drug development process by answering their most critical questions. We updated our logo, tagline and Big Idea (the value proposition presented through visuals and messaging) to present and strengthen our message.
To build our visibility, we have been executing an integrated marketing plan. We’ve strengthened our trade show presence, participated in editorial opportunities, completed paid social and digital campaigns and hosted educational webinars and seminars — and we’re just getting started.
How did you achieve internal alignment for your new brand?
The rebrand was a significant milestone in our evolution of the business. To ensure that we articulated our vision and value proposition, internal stakeholders were included in the process to create messaging for each of our core areas, which are: Translational Pharmaceutics, Formulation Development, Clinical Trial and Commercial Manufacturing and Clinical Pharmacology. Then it was a matter of prioritizing tactics and executing them efficiently.
For the internal launch, we presented the brand to employees before the annual meeting of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) where we launched our brand externally. It was essential that our long-time employees understood the drivers for the change and its timing, and that our new team members felt welcome and clear on the company’s mission and vision. We held meetings at each of our sites, in which members of the leadership team spoke about the brand and what it means. It was important to me to reiterate that we would continue to grow Quotient in a manner that allows every employee to develop as an individual and achieve their own career goals, and that our culture of boundary-less thinking would continue to thrive.
How did you ensure that the industry was aware of changes to Quotient’s positioning?
We knew we needed to come out in an impactful way and that AAPS would provide the audience and platform we needed. The launch was the culmination of months of planning and investment. We invited clients, colleagues and members of the media to the launch event to learn about Quotient and our vision. All our marketing materials focused on our core message of how “Quotient is your answer” to our clients’ pressing drug development questions.
Every element connected to the theme. To build suspense and visual impact, we covered our newly branded trade show booth until the unveiling. On the first day of AAPS, I introduced the brand and our team before we presented the booth.
We also held a California boat cruise event during the show to celebrate the launch of our expanded business. We surpassed our lead generation and client meeting goals — and gained momentum that we’re continuing to leverage.
How has Quotient continued to build brand awareness since the launch?
Our launch at AAPS allowed us to build relationships with members of the media and, more importantly, talk about our Translational Pharmaceutics platform and its impact on the industry. It has been important for our long-term growth to build and speak to our expertise in our stand-alone services as well as in Translational Pharmaceutics. We were able to secure multiple editorial opportunities during AAPS. Building on that momentum, our team is also pursuing additional opportunities for coverage to increase our visibility and awareness and share our expertise to advance the industry.
What results have you seen so far from this investment and strategy?
We are pleased with the results of our brand launch. About 200 individuals attended the brand unveiling event, including eight members of the media. We left with four article requests and over 130 qualified trade show leads. In Q4 of last year (post launch), we saw a huge improvement to website traffic. We know this is just the beginning and are striving to top our numbers at AAPS PharmSci 360 this year.