$0m
Pipeline value built for Simbec-Orion in 18 months
Drug Discovery Services
Mean more. Make complex markets simple.
Make complex science easier to choose.
Contract research organisations (CROs) and pharmaceutical, biotech and life sciences organisations operate in markets where propositions are technical, buying journeys are long and audiences are highly specialised. Being understood is the first challenge. Being meaningfully different is the next.
Our experience covers early-stage biotech and specialist CROs as well as some of the world’s largest pharmaceutical, clinical research and life sciences organisations.
At AgencyUK, we combine brand, communications, web and tech to help organisations across drug development simplify complex propositions, build global recognition, create demand and generate commercial opportunity.
Our drug discovery impact
$0m
Business won for Simbec-Orion in the first six months
0%
Lead qualification rate for Cerba Research, compared with 23% historically
0+
People recruited for Synexus clinical trials through social advertising in 2022
0%
Increase in unique website visitors for Almac
0%
Reduction in participant acquisition costs for IQVIA
Why is the drug discovery sector different?
Drug discovery businesses are inherently complex, with multiple services, therapeutic areas, technologies, geographies, stakeholders and scientific disciplines. Often, years of acquisitions have created brands, capabilities and propositions that don’t naturally fit together. We find the story that connects them, making expertise easier to understand and harder to overlook.
For Cerba Research, we created an M&A brand and communications playbook that ran alongside KPMG’s operational integration. The methodology became Cerba Research’s standard for acquisitions.
Specialists since 2008.
Our experience in drug discovery and development started in 2008, when Quintiles, now IQVIA, appointed us to develop its global CRO proposition for Phase I–IV. We then took that proposition to the biotech industry through integrated digital, thought leadership, events and lead generation.
Since then, we’ve worked across CROs, pharma, biotech, clinical trials, laboratory services, patient recruitment and medical technology, with organisations including Pfizer, AstraZeneca, IQVIA, Thermo Fisher, Almac, Cytel, Cerba Research, Simbec-Orion, Medical Research Network (MRN) and Synexus.
Across global brand architecture, value propositions, websites, campaigns, lead generation and patient acquisition, we understand the commercial challenges behind highly technical businesses. Science is complicated enough. Your marketing shouldn’t add to it.
“AgencyUK installed a team that hit the ground running. They helped us plan and deliver a large volume of work, including digital transformation programmes across the marketing function in record time. Following our PE acquisition we were up and running by the end of the first quarter.”
Doug Cookson
CMO, Perceptive eClinical
Brand
Mean more through meaningful difference.
In a market where everyone talks about expertise, science, quality and partnership, meaningful differentiation matters.
We work with leadership, employees and customers to understand what separates an organisation from its competitors, then turn complex capabilities into clear propositions and distinctive brands.
For Cerba Research, that meant research across customers, leadership and more than 1,000 employees before creating the platform “Transforming Research, Advancing Health Together” and customer-centric propositions across services and therapeutic areas.
Strategy
Positioning
Proposition
Architecture
Identity
Experience
Communications
Mean more to more people.
Different audiences need different reasons to engage. We use audience intelligence to understand decision-makers, influencers, therapeutic areas and markets, then create integrated communications that build awareness, demonstrate expertise and generate demand.
Creative, content, paid media, search, social and lead generation work together around commercial objectives, with performance continually measured and optimised.
Campaign Planning
Creative
Thought Leadership
Media
Lead Generation
CRM
Web
Mean more through better experiences.
For complex scientific businesses, the website has a difficult job. It needs to communicate expertise without overwhelming audiences, while helping people find the right capability, evidence and next action quickly.
We use audience journeys, search intelligence, UX and content architecture to turn complicated portfolios into intuitive digital experiences designed around both discovery and conversion.
Our websites connect with CRM and marketing platforms to turn digital behaviour into measurable leads and commercial intelligence.
UX
Development
SEO
Content
Lead Generation
Optimisation
Tech
Mean more by learning faster.
Drug discovery organisations generate huge amounts of information. AI creates new ways to make that knowledge more accessible and useful.
We use AI to accelerate audience, competitor and campaign analysis, interrogate performance data, support content and creative development, and build intelligent digital experiences.
We also develop agents and AI-powered interfaces that help customers and teams find their way through complex services, content and organisational knowledge faster.
AI
Brand OS
Intelligence
Automation
Agents
Data
One brand across complex buying journeys.
Growth doesn’t happen in one channel. Drug discovery audiences move between research, thought leadership, events, search, social, websites, scientific content, sales teams and personal networks long before an opportunity enters the pipeline.
To your audiences, every touchpoint should look like the same organisation. We connect brand, communications, digital and technology so the proposition that gets someone’s attention is reinforced by the website, demonstrated through your expertise and carried into the sales conversation.
Each touchpoint builds familiarity and creates the confidence that generates opportunity.
Search
Scientific Content
Thought Leadership
Events
Paid Media
Social
Website
CRM
Sales Tools
Presentations
Proposals
Build the brand to build the pipeline.
Drug discovery marketing should create demand well before a lead form captures it. We build the recognition, authority and preference that put organisations into consideration before an active requirement exists, while search, paid media, content and lead generation capture demand when buyers enter the market.
We then connect campaigns with landing experiences, CRM, lead scoring and sales activity to understand which audiences and activity are creating real commercial opportunity.
For Simbec-Orion, that connected approach helped build a $500m pipeline in 18 months, with $26m of business won in the first six months and top-10 search rankings supporting demand generation.
Brand awareness
Thought leadership
Search
Content
Paid social
Lead generation
Websites
CRM
Lead scoring
Our drug discovery experience
CRO / Pharma / Biotech / Clinical Trials / Laboratory Services / Patient Recruitment / Medical Technology
We’ve worked across every stage of drug development, and that depth is unusual for an independent integrated agency.
Frequently asked questions
Do you understand the science behind what we do?
Yes. AgencyUK has worked with organisations across drug discovery and life sciences since 2008, so we understand the importance of getting the science right without allowing complexity to get in the way of the message.
As a life science marketing agency, we work with specialist teams to understand their science, services, audiences and commercial objectives before developing the strategy or communications. That experience also shapes our work as a biotech marketing agency.
We don’t pretend to replace your scientists. We bring the sector knowledge and marketing expertise needed to turn specialist propositions into clear, credible communications.
How do you market to scientists and technical buyers?
Effective marketing to scientists needs to respect the expertise of the audience. Oversimplifying the science can undermine credibility, while leading with technical detail alone can make it difficult to understand why your offer is different.
We identify what matters to each audience, from scientific and technical requirements to the wider commercial considerations influencing a decision. That informs the proposition, messaging, content and channels we use to reach them.
The aim is clarity without losing scientific substance. Your audience should be able to understand both the evidence behind what you do and why it matters to them.
Can you help recruit patients for clinical trials?
Yes. Clinical trial recruitment requires communications that help the right people understand the opportunity, build confidence and make an informed decision about taking part.
Our experience includes patient recruitment for Synexus, where our work helped generate more than 7,750 recruits. We combine audience understanding, campaign planning, creative, media and digital experiences to reach prospective participants and support them through the recruitment journey.
Clinical research also brings important ethical, regulatory and privacy considerations. We account for those requirements throughout the work while focusing on making complex information clear and accessible to potential participants.
How do you stand out when every provider claims the same expertise?
When every provider talks about expertise, quality and partnership, repeating those claims more loudly rarely creates meaningful difference.
Our brand team looks for the evidence, capabilities and customer value that distinguish your organisation, then turns that into a position your market can understand and remember. As a pharma marketing agency, we can carry that thinking through into communications, web and technology rather than leaving it in a strategy document.
In specialist markets, credibility is essential. But credibility gets you considered. A clear and relevant difference gives buyers a reason to choose you.
Ready to mean more?
Let’s have a conversation.
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