Osteoporosis, a disease that weakens the bones, goes hand in hand with an aging population. In Japan, more than a quarter of the population is currently over 65 years old. By 2036, this demographic will be a third of the population, meaning the number of osteoporotic patients is rising. In 2020, Depuy Synthes, Johnson & Johnson’s orthopaedics company, made a breakthrough in the Japanese market, as they successfully gained PMDA approval for the Fenestrated Screw. While Expedium is one of the largest brands globally for surgical spine screws, it is behind in launching innovations. Our objective was to establish a new perception of Expedium while maintaining the trust healthcare personnel have in the heritage brand, and think of ways to access new customers while also retaining old ones. To revive the brand, we launched the Fenestrated Screw at the prestigious annual JSSR Spine conference in Japan.

Our objective was to establish a new perception of Expedium while maintaining the trust HCPs have in the heritage brand, and think of ways to access new customers while retaining old ones. Extensive research and interviews with users enabled us to build a brand and design strategy that shares the DePuy Synthes vision for innovation that supports the unmet needs of surgeons and sales teams. We designed a visionary O2O experience to help tell the heritage and innovation story of Expedium Fenestrated Screw, launching the product at the prestigious JSSR conference. This end to end design experience highlighted the main features of the product in a single-minded, remarkable way while building trust. We provided sales teams with a premium unboxing tool to showcase the product, which led to an immersive website and further linked to a brand-new AR experience that enabled a memorable, intelligent introduction to the new Fenestrated Screw.

While the Fenestrated Screw is not new globally, Johnson & Johnson was the first to launch the product in Japan at the JSSR conference. Through extensive research and interviews with surgeons and sales representatives, we gathered data on brand perception, product immersion and strategic development, among others. These key learnings informed our brand and design strategy, which centralised the company’s vision for innovation and meeting the needs of HCPs and sales teams. Our objective was to change people’s perception of DePuy Synthes as an old-fashioned and non-innovative brand. Simultaneously, we were tasked to redesign the approach to cross-functional collaboration with internal sales teams. Central to this was on the one hand inspiring the team to be powerful advocates for the brand, and on the other empowering them with the tools necessary to harness surgeons’ excitement and digital means to access new customers during the pandemic.

We launched the Expedium Fenestrated Screw as a brand new solution for osteoporosis patients during the prestigious annual JSSR Spine Conference in Japan in 2021. Using the design thinking process, we challenged our business partners to think outside the box and collaborate as a cross-functional team. We started with gathering insights through extensive research and interviews with users. Key learnings from this process helped us build a brand and design strategy, which focused on meeting the needs of surgeons and sales teams. The brand shared the heritage and innovation story of the Fenestrated Screw through a visionary O2O experience, with all touchpoints highlighting the product’s four main features and goal to redefine fixation and control. Additionally, we created an immersive website and a unique AR experience to introduce the new Fenestrated Screw in a memorable, intelligent way—for the first time reaching surgeons through new digital touchpoints.

IMPACT OF THE DIGITAL TOOLS:

- 50% reduction in time needed to promote product

- 50% increase in number of surgeons reached

- 1st time ever: 43% of surgeons were reached via new digital touchpoints

IMPACT OF INNOVATIVE BOOTH EXPERIENCE:

- 60% increment in in-person surgeon engagement beyond what the team had anticipated, compared to JSSR in 2020

IMPACT OF THE O2O EXPERIENCE:

- Helped sales teams engage surgeons in an innovative end-to-end way

- Contributed to increased surgeon adoption rates

- Improvement in overall sales team sentiments, empowering them to tell surgeons a compelling story of the Fenestrated Screw