How MSD Drives Engagement with ON24 Webinars

Healthcare practitioners are a busy bunch. They have to meet and diagnose patients, run a clinic and, of course, stay up to date on all the latest innovations in the healthcare field.

This latter point is particularly important when it comes to pharmaceutical treatments. But HCPs often don’t have the time or resources to self-educate. To keep these HCPs informed of the latest medical updates and innovations, pharmaceutical companies, like MSD, would often set up face-to-face meetings and annual conferences to help keep HCPs in the know.

In 2020, however, face-to-face meetings and large gatherings simply weren’t possible. The entire pharmaceutical industry had to shift to a digital-first strategy and it had to do so fast. Luckily, MSD Egypt was already in the midst of a digital transformation — and quickly experimented with a variety of digital solutions.

With ON24, MSD:

• • Kept webinar attendees engaged for more than an hour
  • Created an ongoing webinar series featuring key opinion leaders
  • Crafted professional webinars with high-quality branding and content

When Meeting Tools Don’t Cut It

To help its representatives maintain relationships with HCPs, MSD elected to use online meeting software. But MSD often ran into issues with the virtual meeting tools it used early on.

For example, one tool could only accommodate up to 25 guests — severely limiting the company’s reach. Some tools didn’t work on mobile while others simply didn’t empower the organization to design its events, limiting its ability to promote its brand.

These limitations were particularly pronounced when MSD Egypt hosted symposiums with key-opinion leaders. These large events, typically held once or twice a month, would often bring in a lot of HCPs and help MSD cement itself as a trusted partner.

MSD quickly realized that its virtual meeting tools — though useful in certain contexts — were simply not capable of engaging HCPs on the scale it needed.

Scaling Thought Leadership, Brand Image with ON24

To overcome this challenge, MSD Egypt turned to ON24 Webcast Elite. With ON24, the organization was able to spin up a large-scale event and bring KOLs, HCPs and its pharma reps together in a digital environment.

But getting attendees in the door is one thing. Keeping them engaged is another.

With ON24, MSD had full control over the look and feel of its digital events on both desktop and mobile devices. Through its custom webinar consoles, MSD Egypt not only showcased its brand but promoted upcoming events and provided attendees with an embedded event agenda.

MSD also encouraged audience participation with ON24 Engagement Tools like Q&A. With Q&A, attendees could ask panelists and KOLs questions directly. This two-way communication not only helped attendees get answers but also provided MSD and its hosts with insights into audience concerns.

The Results

MSD knows that any time spent with HCPs is valuable time. That’s why, in the past, it would simply fly KOL(s) out for a day or two for a conference in Egypt.

But while travel and health restrictions made in-person gatherings of any size impossible, MSD didn’t miss out on engagement with its target audience.

In fact, with ON24 webinars, MSD keeps healthcare professionals engaged with its content for roughly 65 minutes. That’s more than an hour of engagement with a key audience — no travel costs required.

MSD also gained key insights into audiences with ON24 Intelligence. With ON24, the company could see how engaged its audience is with a given topic, where the audience is from and provide its reps with as much information as possible.

Altogether — with branded webinars and monthly events — MSD Egypt has transitioned to the digital era nicely.