1. Social
media
relationship
quality
of
three
Swiss
brands
Roche
–
Novartis
–
Weleda
Course:
Digital
Marketing
Professor:
Andreina
Mandelli
Submission
date:
22.
November
2012
Group:
Maria
Zhukova
Emilie
Høyer
Laura
Pelizzari
Mengyue
Zhai
Shan
Qing
Wang
Miaomiao
2. Executive
Summary
In
this
report,
an
analysis
of
the
quality
of
relationship
building
in
social
media
for
Roche,
Novartis
and
Weleda
will
be
carried
out
and
be
evaluated
by
seven
variables
which
are
social
presence,
dialog/customer
engagement
management,
sentiment/advocacy
management,
support/value,
innovation,
leadership
and
linking
value/community.
A
vote
(between
1
and
10)
will
be
assigned
to
the
brands
on
each
variable,
based
on
our
subjective
evaluations.
The
aim
of
this
report
is
to
establish
an
overview
of
social
media
branding
for
Roche,
Novartis
and
Weleda,
and
to
provide
the
readers
with
a
good
understanding
about
the
impact
of
social
media
branding
in
the
healthcare
industry.
Finally,
we
compare
the
ratings
between
the
different
brands,
and
sum
up
with
a
conclusion.
2
4. Introduction
The
analysis
of
social
media
in
public
relations
is
one
of
the
most
popular
research
topics
today
(McCorkindale,
2010)1.
However,
while
many
top
corporates
are
using
social
media,
they
are
not
using
their
sites
efficiently
to
disseminate
information
about
their
brand
and,
most
importantly,
they
are
not
actively
engaging
their
customers
with
relation-‐building
strategies
(ibid).
Through
social
media
many
healthcare
stakeholders
have
the
ability
to
discuss
treatments;
patients
are
using
social
media
sites
to
share
and
compare
their
experiences
with
pharmaceutical
treatments
(Baldwin
et
al,
2011)2.
Leading
pharmaceutical
companies
could
embrace
this
opportunity
to
engage
with
their
many
different
stakeholder
groups,
in
particular
their
patients,
to
keep
them
at
the
centre
and
see
them
as
partners
rather
than
as
a
distant
and
insignificant
part
of
their
target
audience.
In
this
report,
an
analysis
of
the
quality
of
relationship
building
in
social
media
for
Roche,
Weleda
and
Novartis
will
be
carried
out
and
to
be
evaluated
by
seven
variables
which
are
social
presence,
dialog/customer
engagement
management,
sentiment/advocacy
management,
support/value,
innovation,
leadership
and
linking
value/community.
A
vote
(between
1
and
10)
will
be
assigned
to
the
brands
on
each
variable,
based
on
our
subjective
evaluations.
The
aim
of
this
report
is
to
establish
an
overview
of
social
media
branding
for
Roche,
Novartis
and
Weleda,
and
to
provide
the
readers
with
a
good
understanding
about
the
impact
of
social
media
branding
in
the
healthcare
industry.
Finally,
we
compare
the
ratings
between
the
different
brands
and
sum
up
with
a
conclusion.
Roche
Social
presence:
8
points
On
Roche’s
webpage
a
list
of
different
social
medias
are
listed
in
which
the
brand
is
present.
The
list
includes
some
of
the
most
popular
communication
platforms
such
as
Twitter,
Facebook,
YouTube,
LinkedIn,
Xing
and
Blog3,
which
prove
that
Roche
puts
a
lot
of
effort
in
trying
to
be
broadly
present
on
social
platforms.
Roche
argue,
that
the
aim
of
using
the
many
community
platforms
is
an
attempt
1http://www.prsa.org/Intelligence/PRJournal/Documents/content_analysis_of_the_fortune_50s_facebook.pdf
2
Baldwin
M,
Spong
A,
Doward
L,
Gnanasakthy
A.
Patient-‐Reported
Outcomes,
Patient-‐Reported
Information:
From
Randomized
Controlled
Trials
to
the
Social
Web
and
Beyond.
The
Patient:
Patient-‐Centered
Outcomes
Research
2011;4(1).
3
http://www.roche.com/socialmedia
4
5. to
change
the
way
of
communication,
interaction
and
doing
business.
This
attempt
is
done
both
externally
and
within
the
Roche
network.
In
our
opinion
Roche’s
current
presence
on
the
platforms
shows
that
Roche
understands
the
importance
of
being
presented
in
social
medias.
On
Roche’s
webpage
a
document
regarding
“social
media
principles”
is
accessible
(see
picture
below),
in
which
Roche
proposes
the
following
guidelines
for
using
social
media.
This
statement
supports
the
impression,
that
Roche
makes
a
lot
of
effort
in
being
aware
of
how
social
medias
should
be
handled
and
used:
Source:
http://www.roche.com/socialmedia
When
considering
other
platforms
that
could
be
relevant
for
Roche’s
business
and
relation
strategy,
we
suggest
web
pages
like
PharmPro
and
Healthcare
Today,
which
are
news-‐platforms
about
healthcare
and
technology
development
in
the
healthcare
industry.
As
Roche
already
uses
these
webpages
for
press
releases
about
new
product,
but
they
could
consider
using
such
platforms
more
widely,
e.g.
providing
critical
research-‐articles
about
future
technological
development
of
healthcare
products,
to
seem
more
pro-‐active
and
consumer-‐oriented.
In
sum
we
have
ranked
Roche’s
social
presence
8
points,
due
to
the
high
awareness
and
use
of
social
platforms.
However
we
believe,
that
the
information
and
activity
could
be
improved
and
made
more
customer
relevant.
Dialog/customer
engagement
management:
4
points
Now
that
we
have
an
overview
of
the
different
social
platforms
that
Roche
uses,
we
will
look
into
how
many
users
Roche
has
managed
to
contact
and/or
engage.
When
looking
at
Roche’s
Twitter-‐
profile
user
responses
mostly
stem
from
people
linked
to
the
healthcare
industry.
On
Roche’s
5
6. Facebook-‐profile
they
have
less
than
10.000
“likes”,
and
the
updates
posted
by
Roche
is
seldom
commented
on.
From
this
data
it
seems
that
Roche
have
some
difficulty
trying
to
engage
potential
users
of
their
products
on
the
social
platforms.
It
seems
that
the
communication
often
is
information-‐
oriented
and
lack
a
sincere
attempt
to
create
a
real
dialog
with
the
customers.
This
creates
the
impression
that
Roche
lacks
experience
and
creative
ideas
about
how
to
engage
the
customers
more
actively
on
the
platform.
In
sum
we
have
ranked
Roche’s
dialog
with
customers
4
points,
as
we
will
argue,
that
Roche
only
creates
limited
brand
awareness,
since
they
have
not
so
far
succeeded
in
engaging
customers
on
the
social
platforms.
It
is
not
enough
for
Roche
to
be
present
on
the
social
platforms
they
also
need
the
skill
of
creating
customer-‐feedback
and
-‐dialog.
Sentiment/advocacy
management:
2
point
Next
we
will
move
on
to
evaluate
customer
satisfaction
about
Roche
and
potential
evidence
about
positive
word
of
mouth.
We
will
present
our
assumptions
only
on
the
basis
of
data
available
on
Roche’s
social
platforms.
Customer/stakeholder
comments,
about
Roche
made
on
the
various
social
platforms
are
mostly
positive
but
we
will
argue
this
is
not
the
same
as
saying
there
is
not
negative
word
of
mouth
about
Roche.
As
mentioned
earlier,
less
than
10.000
“liked”
Roche’s
Facebook-‐profile,
which
is
quit
little
compared
to
the
total
number
of
customers
using
Roche’s
products
or
employees
working
at
Roche.
This
fact
could
indicate
that
a
lot
of
customers
either
think
that
Roche’s
Facebook-‐profile
is
uninspiring
and
not
worth
liking,
or
that
people
are
unaware
of
Roche
presence
on
Facebook.
A
third
explanation
could
be,
that
people
did
not
like
the
profile
because
of
bad
experience
with
or
impression
of
the
brand
Roche.
Either
way,
10.000
likes
are
not
even
close
to
a
statement
saying
that
Roche
is
widely
liked
and
shared
by
people
all
over
the
world.
We
will
further
argue,
that
comments
and
likes
on
online
platforms
like
Facebook
and
Blog
are
usually
positive,
since
only
people
with
interest
and
engagement
in
a
brand
visit
its
social
platforms.
If
someone
wanted
to
express
negative
feedback
or
complain,
we
assume
that
such
customers/stakeholders
would
approach
the
company
directly,
or
participate
in
critical
articles
or
research
about
the
issue.
We
have
not
found
any
data
indicating
how
Roche
manage/stimulate
positive
comments.
However,
we
found
a
recent
scenario
where
Roche
is
not
handling
customer
comments
and
negative
conversations
actively.
The
webpage
BMJ.com
–
a
leading
British
medical
journal
by
doctors
for
doctors
and
patients,
posted
a
critical
article
saying
that
Roche’s
flu-‐drug;
Tamiflu
was
ineffective
and
that
they
demanded
that
all
data
regarding
the
development
of
the
product
should
be
released.
6
7. Since
the
release
of
this
negative
statement
about
Roche,
we
have
not
found
any
responds
from
Roche
on
either
of
its
social
platforms.
Using
Analytical
Tools
We
have
used
the
program
friends.skuttle.com,
which
is
an
analytical
tool
to
monitor
a
brand’s
Facebook
presence,
campaigns
and
competitors.
The
following
analysis
using
this
simple
Facebook
activity
report
for
Roche
shows
a
number
of
interesting
characteristics:
Source:
friends.skuttle.com
To
sum
up,
we
give
Roche
2
points
for
handling
both
negative
comments
and
stimulate
positive
conversations,
since
their
efforts
seem
to
be
undeveloped
and
non-‐existing
at
the
moment.
Support/value:
5
points
In
this
section
we
will
explore
whether
Roche
offers
free
and
valuable
content
to
customers.
When
looking
at
Roche
webpage,
a
platform
called
Responsibility
Center
shows
an
impressive
list
of
different
engagements
that
Roche
are
involved
in.
The
list
includes
a
lot
of
activities
that
are
free
and
valuable
for
customers.
To
name
a
few
Roche
provide;
campaigns
to
raise
funds
to
vulnerable
kinds
all
over
the
world4,
an
educational
program
for
African
regions
about
cancer5,
a
report
about
4
http://www.roche.com/responsibility/sustainability/policies_guidelines_and_positions.htm
5
http://www.roche.com/sust-‐educare.pdf
7
8. frequently
asked
questions
about
animal
testing6
and
an
attempt
to
implement
Greenhouse
Gases
to
support
the
fight
against
global
climate
changes7.
When
looking
at
Roche’s
social
platforms,
the
Twitter-‐profile
supports
a
steady
flow
of
information
regarding
resent
research
developments
and
new
product
launches,
whereas
the
Blog-‐webpage
are
used
as
an
online
job-‐portal
containing
available
job-‐positions
within
Roche.
In
other
words,
Roche
does
not
make
any
obvious
attempts
to
provide
free
customer
value
on
any
of
their
social
platforms,
but
rather
uses
them
as
a
channel
through
which
they
provide
information
and
advertising
about
their
image
and/or
products.
In
our
opinion,
Roche
could
benefit
from
making
their
social
media
presence
more
personalized,
e.g.
providing
information/answering
questions
regarding
customers’
personal
medical
experience.
Through
such
additional
services,
Roche’s
customers
could
benefit
from
additional
information
given
about
their
personal
experience
with
Roche’s
products,
and
learn
more
about
their
health
development.
In
total
we
rank
Roche’s
additional
support/value
5
points,
since
they
engage
in
a
lot
of
activity
globally,
but
lack
a
more
local
connection
with
users
of
Roche’s
products.
Innovation:
8
points
In
this
section
we
will
examine
whether
Roche
is
engaged
in
different
kinds
of
collaborations
as
well
as
whether
different
cooperation
have
resulted
in
new
products
or
solutions
to
healthcare-‐related
problems.
Through
Roche’s
webpage
it’s
clear
that
product
development
and
innovations
are
done
with
help
from
more
than
150
different
alliances
and
partnerships 8.
These
collaborations
bring
together
creative
and
diversified
sources
of
knowledge
that
align
innovation
across
multiple
disciplines
like
biochemistry,
biology,
and
physics
and
engineering.
Many
collaborators
constitute
the
foundation
of
Roche’s
technological
research
and
development
department,
and
future
expansion
of
the
product
portfolio.
In
addition,
Roche
collaborate
with
diagnostics
to
come
up
with
custom-‐made
solutions
for
patients,
through
which
smaller
partners
are
invited
to
contribute
to
product
development9.
The
way
through
which
Roche
tries
to
support
and
build
upon
their
collaborations
is
through
surveys
and
frequent
interaction.
Roche
is
highly
engaged
in
creating
what
they
call
an
“innovation
6
http://www.roche.com/ar_faqs.pdf
7
http://www.roche.com/greenhouse_gases.pdf
8
http://www.roche.com/research_and_development/partnering/roche_partnering/our_alliances.htm
9
http://www.roche.com/research_and_development/partnering/roche_partnering.htm
8
9. network”,
that
is
seen
as
a
gateway
to
scientific
excellence10,
which
is
why
Roche
focus
a
lot
of
energy
on
building
collaborations.
From
multiple
surveys
conducted
by
Roche
and
third
parties,
Roche
gathers
feedback
from
customers
in
order
to
optimize
communication
channels
as
well
as
sales
and
marketing
plans11.
Recently,
Roche’s
department
in
Spain
received
the
Madrid
Excellence
Reward
for
customer
confidence
and
creating
suitable
value
by
meeting
customers’
satisfaction12.
When
looking
at
Roche’s
webpage,
we
only
find
limited
attempts
to
include
the
broad
mass
of
actual
and
potential
customers.
Further,
as
seen
on
Roche’s
Facebook-‐profile,
the
attempt
to
include
or
activate
customers
had
limited
success.
See
the
image
below:
Source:
Facebook:
“Roche
Careers”
Even
though
Roche
tries
to
engage
customer
participation,
their
attempt
was
only
“liked”
by
6
people.
We
suggest,
that
Roche
could
post
more
intrigues
and
eye-‐catching
posts,
and
restrain
the
customers’
attention
by
following
up
with
comments
and
new
insights.
As
it
is,
Roche
does
not
reply
those
few
responds
that
appears
once
in
a
while,
which
gives
the
impression,
that
the
attempt
to
create
communication
and
dialog
is
insincere
and
shallow.
In
sum
we
have
assigned
Roche
8
points
regarding
their
current
innovation-‐level.
We
definitely
see
a
strong
collaboration
behind
the
development
of
the
products,
and
some
strong
attempts
to
maintain
10
http://www.roche.com/rd_partnering.pdf
11
http://www.roche.com/search.htm?query=2011&x=0&y=0,
Roche
2011
annual
report
12
http://www.roche.com/search.htm?query=2011&x=0&y=0,
Roche
2011
annual
report
9
10. a
widespread
innovation
network.
However,
when
focusing
on
Roche’s
attempt
to
build
customer-‐
networks
on
social
platforms,
they
still
have
a
long
way
to
go.
Leadership:
6
points
In
this
section
we
will
evaluate
Roche’s
attempt
to
create
figurative
story
telling
and
evaluate
whether
the
brand
is
connected
to
relevant
influencers
in
social
medias.
When
looking
at
the
front
page
of
Roche’s
website,
a
film
presents
a
catchy
sales
talk
about
the
aim
of
Roche
and
how
they
operate13.
The
film
is
made
trustworthy
through
facts
and
real-‐life
insights
from
Roche’s
manufacturing
quarters.
Further
the
film
tries
to
capture
a
three-‐folded
product-‐focus,
namely
to
capture
and
deliver
benefit
to
patients,
pharmaceuticals
and
researchers14.
Even
though
the
film
is
presented
from
an
objective
and
matter-‐of-‐factly
point
of
view,
which
is
mostly,
is
in
favor
of
an
approach
toward
pharmaceuticals
and
researches,
the
patient
point-‐of-‐view
is
supported
through
an
additional
film
that
pops
up
right
after
the
first
film
has
ended.
The
second
film
focuses
entirely
on
the
patient,
by
telling
a
story
about
Roche’s
products
from
a
personal
point
of
view.
The
film
is
about
a
pianist
who
got
his
life
and
passion
back,
due
to
some
of
Roche’s
new
technological
developments.
The
film
captures
a
real-‐life
scenario,
to
which
both
actual
and
potential
customers
can
relate,
while
succeeding
in
presenting
the
positive
benefits
of
using
Roche’s
products.
When
looking
at
Roche’s
Facebook-‐profile
and
other
social
platforms,
Roche’s
storytelling-‐ability
is
not
nearly
as
accurate
and
personalized
as
the
films
on
the
home
webpage.
The
majorities
of
the
posts
on
the
social
platforms
are
made
by
Roche
and
are
formulated
from
a
Roche-‐employee
point
of
view.
This
perspective
does
not
succeed
in
inviting
customers
to
participate
in
the
conversation,
which
shows
on
the
nonexistent
response
under
each
post
(see
picture
below).
Source:
Facebook:
“Roche
Careers”
13
http://www.roche.com/index.htm
14
http://www.roche.com/products.htm
10
11. However,
the
tones
of
the
posts
are
trustworthy
and
as
a
viewer
you
get
the
impression
that
Roche
has
their
internal
capabilities
and
developments
under
control,
as
the
employees
explaining
the
aim
of
the
posts
are
presented
as
calm,
rational,
healthy
and
forthcoming.
We
suggest
that
Roche
could
benefit
from
a
more
creative
way
of
posting
statements,
in
order
to
activate
and
capture
attention
on
the
social
platforms.
Further
we
suggest,
that
Roche
put
an
effort
in
building
a
correlation
with
influencers
of
different
social
platforms.
Such
influencers
could
be
real-‐life
customers,
whom
have
had
experience
with
the
treatments
(both
doctors
and
patients).
In
total,
we
rate
Roche’s
Leadership
ability
6
points,
since
a
lot
more
can
be
done
to
capture
the
attention
and
perspective
of
the
users
on
the
social
platforms,
but
that
some
relevant
material
already
exists
(e.g.
the
films),
but
are
not
yet
made
available
on
the
relevant
social
platforms.
Linking
value/community:
4
points
In
this
final
section
we
will
examine
whether
Roche
is
positioned
as
a
connector,
and
how
Roche
handles
users’
connection/relatedness
on
the
different
social
platforms.
As
our
analysis
above
indicates
so
far,
Roche
is
not
seen
upon
as
a
social
connector.
We
believe
that
Roche
should
work
more
on
all
of
its
presents
on
social
media
platforms.
This
conclusion
is
based
upon
the
number
of
visitors
found
on
the
different
platforms:
Twitter:
24.046
followers,
Facebook:
9.593,
YouTube:
260
views
and
LinkedIn
18.003
members15.
Source:
Twitter:
“Roche”
Source:
Facebook:
“Roche
Careers”
15
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=2314868
11
12.
Source:
Youtube:
“F.
Hoffmann-‐La
Roche
Ltd.”
In
sum
this
picture
could
look
much
more
positive,
since
members,
followers
and
“likes”
is
not
arguably
high
considered
the
size
of
Roche,
which
is
why
Roche
only
gets
4
point
as
a
social
connector.
Novartis
Novartis
is
a
Swiss
multinational
pharmaceutical
company
with
headquarters
in
Basel,
Switzerland,
ranking
number
two
in
sales
among
pharmaceutical
industry
worldwide
in
201016.
Social
presence:
9
points
Source:
http://www.novartis.com/newsroom/stay-‐up-‐to-‐date/index.shtml
From
the
homepage
of
Novartis,
you
can
see
related
links
to
Novartis’s
social
media
platforms
as
the
picture
shown
above.
The
brand
of
Novartis
is
present
mainly
in
five
public
social
media
platforms;
these
are
Twitter,
YouTube,
Facebook,
LinkedIn
and
Flickr,
and
each
platform
presents
relevant
information
for
supporting
their
business
and
relationship
long-‐term
strategy
which
is
keeping
16http://www.imshealth.com/deployedfiles/ims/Global/Content/Corporate/Press%20Room/Top-‐
line%20Market%20Data/2010%20Top-‐line%20Market%20Data/Top_20_Global_Products.pdf
12
13. growing
in
a
dynamically
changing
healthcare
environment
by
focus
on
innovation,
diversify
portfolio
and
improve
efficiency
in
business
processes17.
In
addition,
Novartis
has
developed
CML
Earth
(shown
as
below)
that
is
a
social
network
that
especially
connects
Chronic
Myeloid
Leukemia
patients,
while
the
site
welcomes
patients,
patient
groups
and
healthcare
professionals
from
around
the
world
to
be
CML
focused.
As
well
as
online
cystic
fibrosis
(CF)
community,
Novartis
has
also
involved
to
expend
their
business
service.
Source:
http://blog.kruresearch.com/2009/06/novartis-‐cml-‐earth/
Comparatively
speaking,
among
healthcare
sector,
Novartis
has
not
only
have
established
their
own
account
on
public
social
platforms,
but
it
has
created
its
own
social
media
platform
with
a
global
target
focus.
For
a
healthcare
brand
like
Novartis,
social
media
means
so
much
more
than
just
pushing
their
brand
or
gain
awareness,
such
as
CML
earth,
which
is
a
good
innovation
approach
to
improve
their
effect
in
certain
business
area
to
expand
their
healthcare
business.
Dialog/
customer
engagement
management:
3
points
In
this
part,
we
want
to
find
the
reach
of
Novartis’
social
media
by
finding
out
how
many
users
Novartis
has
contacted
through
social
media.
The
official
page
face
book
demonstrates
that
5.52%
of
the
members
are
discussing
the
brand
(1122
talking/
20308
likes).
When
talking
about
Twitter,
there
are
30899
followers
on
Twitter,
the
context
on
Twitter
is
most
about
some
advertising
and
nearly
each
tweet
has
the
customer
comments
or
following,
but
Novartis
hardly
responded
to
the
17
http://www.novartis.com/newsroom/media-‐releases/en/2010/1463217.shtml
13
14. activity.
From
the
social
platforms
which
are
provided
by
Novartis,
we
know
that
the
number
of
users
connected
the
brand
through
social
media
is
huge,
but
the
data
shows
that
the
users
are
not
very
active
on
these
social
media.
Source:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Novartis/featured
Source:
http://www.facebook.com/novartis?ref=ts&fref=ts
Source:
https://twitter.com/novartis
Then
we
look
at
the
content
of
these
websites,
we
try
to
find
if
Novartis
has
a
visible
strategy
to
stimulating
participation
and
customer
engagement.
The
Facebook
website
includes
a
lot
of
pictures
that
introduce
the
company’s
product
and
the
R&D
achievement.
They
also
use
a
timeline
to
show
their
company,
so
the
customers
can
better
understand
the
history
of
the
company.
But
we
hardly
find
there
is
any
obvious
and
official
channel
that
Novartis
connect
with
their
customer
to
provide
some
useful
information
or
try
to
improve
the
enthusiasm
of
14
15. the
customer.
So
it
appears
that
Novartis
treats
social
media
as
a
platform
for
advertising
instead
of
stimulating
participation
and
customer
engagement.
Source:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dj8GD8kD76w&feature=plcp
Novartis
has
also
posted
some
advertising
videos
on
YouTube,
the
amount
of
the
viewers
is
large,
while
the
participators
is
small,
such
as
the
above
video
that
had
only
12
people
participating
in
this,
even
though
the
viewers
is
4572.
There
is
another
reason
that
the
users
are
not
so
active.
Novartis
forbids
customer
to
comment
on
the
video,
this
measure
inhibits
the
customers’
enthusiasm.
From
the
points
mentioned
above,
we
think
Novartis
really
did
something
to
attract
customer’s
attention,
but
it
seems
that
they
only
emphasize
the
introduction
and
display
of
the
company’s
product
while
ignoring
the
opportunity
to
build
a
connection
with
their
customer.
We
believe
there
is
a
lot
of
room
in
this
part,
and
if
they
take
advantage
of
the
customer
engagement,
the
company
will
be
benefit
a
lot.
All
in
all,
we
give
the
3
points
to
Novartis.
Sentiment/
advocacy
management:
4
points
In
this
sector,
we
will
focus
on
the
customer
satisfaction
about
Novartis
and
the
influence
from
word
of
mouth.
What
content
are
people
interacting
about?
How
rich
are
the
conversations?
How
many
different
people
are
engaging?
We
think
those
are
important
questions
for
us
to
keep
in
mind,
when
to
evaluate
the
customer
satisfaction
based
on
the
small
data
available
on
Novartis’s
social
media
platforms.
Customer/stakeholder
comments
about
Novartis
made
on
the
various
social
media
platforms
are
mostly
positive,
which
is
not
necessary
the
same
as
word
of
mouth.
However
there
were
only
limited
comments
online,
which
might
be
because
of
the
healthcare
industry
and
the
special
behavior
of
customers
as
patients,
and
for
the
unique
Novartis’
s
social
community
like
CML
earth
that
are
quite
popular
but
mainly
for
the
users
who
related
about
that
certain
healthcare
segment.
As
15
16. mentioned
earlier,
for
their
public
social
platform
there
is
only
little
percentage
among
the
total
number
of
customers
involved
to
talk
about
the
brand
or
products.
This
fact
could
indicate
that
a
lot
of
customers
were
patients,
on
one
hand
they
would
prefer
to
go
for
the
official
page
to
get
official
support
for
the
serious
health
issue
which
is
understandable
and
reasonable,
on
the
other
hand
that
after
recover
they
may
not
enthusiastic
to
talk
about
the
sadness
sickness
memory.
Using
Analytical
Tools
By
applying
the
friends.skuttle.com
analysis
for
Novartis,
we
get
the
following
characteristics:
Source:
friends.skyttle.com
1.
While
the
numbers
of
negative
posts
are
minimal
and
positive
posts
are
numerous,
the
sentiment
over
the
previous
3
months
has
significantly
decreased
2.
The
majority
of
posts
are
deemed
to
have
a
neutral
opinion
3.
Generally
posts
have
decreased
by
one
third
over
a
period
of
three
months
By
using
the
same
analytical
tool,
we
obtain
richer
information
about
Novartis
User
Behavior
as
follows:
16
17. Novartis
may
be
writing
about
fairly
“safe”
topics
but
their
user
engagement
has
decreased
significantly.
The
long
tail
is
interesting
too.
Some
72
different
users
are
interacting
with
the
Facebook
page
but
only
three
of
the
users
have
posted
more
than
10
posts.
The
majority
has
posted
less
than
twice.
To
sum
up,
we
give
Novartis
4
points
for
handling
both
negative
comments
and
stimulate
positive
conversations,
since
their
effort
seem
to
be
maintain
reputation
by
posting
safe
topics
in
a
neutral
way.
Support/
value:
6
points
In
this
part,
we
first
look
to
see
if
Novartis
has
offer
free
and
valuable
content
to
the
customer.
When
we
look
at
the
Novartis
homepage,
we
can
find
that
the
corporate
responsibility
is
to
improve
global
heath
by
reaching
more
patients.
The
company
has
provided
the
low
price
medicine
poor
people
particularly
in
the
developing
world
and
also
try
their
best
to
overcome
the
barriers
to
access
to
benefit
some
limited
available
person.
“To
make
a
meaningful
impact
in
solving
some
of
society’s
biggest
health
challenges,
Novartis
focuses
its
CSR
efforts
on
three
key
areas:
reaching
more
patients,
partnering
for
results
and
doing
business
responsibly.
These
areas
are
a
part
of
the
Novartis
business
strategy
and
underscore
our
purpose
of
caring
and
curing.”
-‐-‐
by
George
Gunn,
Head,
Corporate
Social
Responsibility
and
member,
Executive
Committee
of
Novartis18.
All
these
years,
Novartis
does
their
best
to
connect
with
their
patients.
Novartis
has
built
two
specialize
institutions:
The
Novartis
Vaccines
Institute
for
Global
Health
(NVGH)
and
The
Novartis
Institute
for
Tropical
Diseases
(NITD)
to
further
implement
their
policy
that
benefits
patients.
Form
2000,
Novartis
has
provided
free
treatment
for
leprosy
patients
worldwide.
In
2010,
37,000
patients
in
about
80
countries
received
Glivec
(it
is
a
Novartis
drug
for
CMLpatients)
or
Tasigna
(a
second-‐
generation
medicine
used
in
CML
patients)
through
their
global
patient
assistance
programs
and
through
the
support
of
more
than
1,000
physicians19.
Then
we
look
at
whether
Novartis
offers
some
useful
information
through
their
website.
We
found
that
through
the
widely
used
media
platforms,
not
owned
by
Novartis
(Facebook,
Twitter,
YouTube),
the
company
may
not
fully
participate
in
interaction
with
the
customers.
But
from
the
channels
above,
the
users
can
receive
information,
reply,
through
comments
&
posts
from
the
company.
18
http://www.novartis.com/corporate-‐responsibility/improving-‐health/index.shtml
19
http://www.novartis.com/corporate-‐responsibility
17
18. We
do
not
have
the
exact
percentage
of
users
who
receive
information,
reply
through
answers
or
make
posts
of
the
company,
but
we
did
know
that
Novartis’
efforts
to
achieve
the
goal
to
supply
some
help
through
the
Internet.
At
the
end
of
2009,
Novartis
has
participated
in
a
social
media
campaign
to
reach
the
online
CF
(cystic
fibrosis)
community.
The
results
are
quite
impressive,
and
a
lot
of
the
CF
patients
and
their
families
have
got
help
by
Novartis
through
the
Internet20.
For
these
reasons
mentioned
above,
we
think
that
on
the
one
hand,
Novartis
has
always
tried
their
best
to
offer
some
useful
information
to
the
patient
and
keep
to
achieving
their
corporate
responsibility.
On
the
other
hand,
Novartis
can
do
a
better
job
in
take
advantage
of
the
social
media
to
offer
some
help
to
customers,
so
we
consider
that
Novartis
deserves
6
points
in
this
area.
Innovation:
8
points
When
we
look
at
the
performance
of
Novartis
in
innovation,
we
first
noticed
that
when
entering
the
company’s
homepage,
there
are
some
pictures
introducing
the
company,
the
first
of
them
said
that:
“innovation
is
the
essence
of
the
mission
of
Novartis.”
So
we
think
innovation
accounts
a
lot
in
the
company’s
business.
Actually,
if
you
go
through
the
annual
report,
you
can
find
the
Novartis
mission
on
the
first
page
that
they
want
to
discover,
develop
and
successfully
market
innovative
products
to
prevent
and
cure
diseases,
to
easing
suffering
and
to
enhance
the
quality
of
life.
Next
step,
we
want
to
find
whether
the
company
has
asked
for
collaboration.
When
searching
the
Novartis
homepage,
you
can
find
the
collaboration
sector
in
the
homepage.
Like
the
picture
below,
collaboration
is
very
important
in
the
company’s
strategy.
Source:
http://www.novartis.com/about-‐novartis/collaborations/process.shtml
If
we
enter
in
the
NIBR
(Novartis
Institute
for
Biomedical
Research)
website,
we
can
see
that
Novartis
has
already
built
an
official
group
to
better
achieve
the
collaboration.
20
www.novartis.com/corporate-‐responsibility
18
19.
Source:
http://www.nibr.com/collaborations/index.shtml
Novartis
used
to
collaborate
with
patient
groups
in
online
communities
to
develop
new
drugs21.
Novartis
has
executed
a
public
relations
program
in
the
year
2007,
there
are
about
30,000
patient
participated
in
this
programme22.
The
feedback
is
pretty
good;
hundreds
of
people
were
interested
in
this
company
at
the
end
of
the
activity.
These
results
have
a
good
influence
on
Novartis’
social
influence.
In
order
to
encourage
this
activity,
Novartis
was
given
“the
best
innovation
award”
for
reward
the
media
effort23.
Think
about
all
these
efforts
Novartis
did,
and
the
success
they
have
achieved,
especially
that
they
put
the
innovation
as
their
long-‐lasting
mission.
We
consider
giving
a
high
score
of
8
in
this
sector.
Leadership:
7
points
We
are
looking
whether
people
have
shared
the
stories
about
Novartis
in
the
social
media.
We
have
found
that
Novartis
are
active
in
building
its
brand
awareness.
It
has
working
with
YouTube
videos
to
come
up
with
some
winners
to
promote
the
company’s
brand.
What’s
more,
Novartis
has
also
given
a
clear
direction
for
the
customer,
because
the
social
media
effect
on
YouTube
is
consistent
with
the
company’s
product.
On
the
website;
brandadvocat.com,
people
can
read
a
vivid
and
detailed
story
about
“why
Novartis
leadership
took
the
long
view?”
it
is
very
impressive24.
When
you
enter
the
Novartis
homepage,
you
can
find
that
the
company
introduces
its
innovative
products
with
a
large
selection
of
articles.
What’s
more,
from
the
“Video
stories”
people
can
learn
about
the
company
from
a
different
point
of
view.
The
videos
are
made
up
by
the
patients
who
were
cured
or
being
treated
by
the
medicines
and
vaccines
produced
by
Novartis.
21
http://www.novartis.com/
22
http://www.novartis.com/downloads/investors/reports/novartis-‐annual-‐report-‐2011-‐en.pdf
23
http://www.cliohealthcare.com/winners_media/2010/pr/pdf/401000796_1_supporting.pdf
24
http://www.brandadvocat.com/stories/novartis/
19
20.
There
are
lots
of
patients
who
share
their
stories
on
this
website,
and
people
can
share
or
e-‐mail
after
they
have
watched
the
video.
So
we
think
this
social
media
conversation
is
quite
influential
and
trustworthy.
But
looking
at
the
unofficial
websites,
almost
all
of
them
have
a
link
to
the
Novartis
brand
homepage
sites.
The
problem
is
that
there
are
hardly
any
discussions
with
their
customers.
Meanwhile,
we
found
Novartis
does
not
allow
users
to
comment
on
some
media
platforms,
so
these
measures
will
have
a
negative
effect
on
the
transparency
and
honesty
to
some
degree.
And
the
numbers
who
shared
the
posted
information
on
the
platforms
is
not
satisfactory.25
Linking
value/
community:
4
points
A
recent
Knowledge
Networks
survey
found
that
many
people
view
social
media
as
“social”
rather
than
“commercial.”
We
think
that
Novartis
has
not
done
well
enough
in
terms
of
making
the
brand
become
a
social
connector.
They
should
try
their
efforts
to
achieve
this
goal.
Because
we
should
never
forget
the
reason
“why
do
people
really
use
social
media?
àStay
in
touch”.
So
once
Novartis
can
make
use
of
this,
it
will
bring
it
numerous
advertising
effects,
thus
will
generate
greater
profits.
Through
their
website,
the
customer
can
share
their
experience
with
their
friends
through
the
above
social
media
platforms.
On
Facebook,
there
are
1122
out
of
20308
followers
talking
about
Novartis,
so
it
is
5.52%
percentage
of
users
sharing
experience
with
their
peers
and
use
this
brand-‐relate
social
media.
It
is
not
an
expected
data,
we
hope
Novartis
can
take
advantage
of
this
part
in
social
media
advertising,
because
the
friends’
experiences
“even
the
peers”
sharing
is
much
more
persuasive
than
the
company
publicizing26.
In
effect
the
Novartis
strategic
goal
of
putting
the
patient
at
the
center
can
be
effectively
facilitated
through
the
use
of
Social
media.
While
health
care
professional
and
patients
need
information
from
25
http://www.dtcperspectives.com/images/email/OTC%20Perspectives%201009%20web.pdf
26
http://www.facebook.com/novartis
20
21. Novartis
that
is
readily
accessible
and
trustworthy,
they
could
also
be
offered
the
opportunity
to
add
knowledge
to
that
process.
Baldwin
et
al
(2010)
see
the
clinical
trial
process
as
being
an
ideal
example
where
information
on
drug
effectiveness
could
be
shared
to
the
benefit
of
all
parties
using
social
media.
Stakeholder
(particularly
patient)
conversations
maybe
an
essential
part
in
this
process.
Nevertheless,
corporates
need
to
be
aware
of
ethical
issues
such
as
patient
confidentiality
and
accuracy
of
information
shared.
We
find
that
Novartis
creates
their
own
website
to
introduce
their
products
and
connect
to
the
users
for
some
feedback
instead
of
giving
some
social
media
authority
to
use
their
brand.
Thus
we
say
that
Novartis
prefers
managing
proprietary
brand
communities
directly
to
support
independent
brand
communities.
Weleda
Social
presence:
7
points
On
Weleda’s
main
webpage
there
is
no
mention
about
their
presence
on
social
media
or
any
integrated
links.
You
are
requested
to
select
a
specific
country
in
order
to
access
its
relating
website.
By
selecting
the
desired
country
from
the
main
page,
you
are
redirected
to
the
specific
website
which
presents
different
approaches
in
terms
of
social
media
integrated
links.
For
this
report
we
focused
the
analysis
on
the
American,
Swiss
and
Russian
webpages.
The
list
in
the
American
webpage
includes
the
most
popular
communication
platforms
such
as
Twitter,
Facebook,
YouTube,
Google+
and
Pinterest
which
is
a
clear
signal
that
the
Weleda’s
American
section
is
putting
lots
of
efforts
in
becoming
a
social
point
of
reference
for
the
community
and
not
only
a
seller.
They
also
created
their
own
Blog,
where
regularly
articles
about
new
products,
lines
or
events
are
published
and
where
users
can
interact
each
other.
The
list
in
the
Swiss
webpage
is
not
present
at
all,
which,
for
us,
is
quite
surprising
being
that
Weleda’s
headquarter
is
located
in
Basel.
After
a
more
detailed
research,
the
Weleda
Headquarter
in
Basel
made
us
clear
that
even
though
they
were
born
in
Switzerland,
the
main
market
is
USA
where
that
kind
of
clients
are
more
“social”
than
Europeans.
There
are
two
official
web
pages
of
Weleda
in
Russia.
One
of
them
consist
all
general
information
about
the
product,
and
another
one
created
especially
for
pregnant
women
or
women
with
newborn
babies.
Both
webpages
have
links
to
each
other.
Moreover,
among
the
most
popular
communication
platforms,
those
webpages
include
just
Facebook.
Also
Weleda
takes
active
participation
in
one
more
Facebook
group,
devoted
to
herbal
cosmetics.
We
think
here
is
also
important
to
notice
official
21
22. Weleda
webpage
in
Ukraine,
because
it
is
also
for
Russian-‐speaking
users.
Ukrainian
webpage
includes
the
official
group
in
Facebook
and
in
another
social
web,
Vkontakte
with
a
profile
of
around
180
million
users
all
over
the
world.
Also
Weleda
created
blog,
where
news
about
new
products
regularly
appears.
In
our
opinion
Weleda
is
perfectly
aware
of
the
value
of
social
platforms
and
the
importance
of
being
“social”
in
the
market,
but
it
is
focusing
all
“efforts”
on
the
markets
which
are
relevant
for
them,
like
for
example
USA.
A
“social
media”
policy
document
is
not
available
in
none
of
the
3
main
markets
websites.
Although
the
absence
of
such
a
document,
the
social
media
marketing
strategy
of
Weleda
focuses
the
power
of
social
media
on
its
relevant
markets.
In
support
of
that,
we
have
the
evidences
on
topsy.com
which
show
us
about
4500
mentions
for
the
American
market,
whereas
for
the
Swiss
market
only
500
mentions,
but
for
the
Russian
market
it
doesn’t
exceed
a
lot
-‐
there
are
around
560
mentions
at
the
moment.27
Finally
we
have
ranked
Weleda’s
social
presence
7
points,
due
to
the
high
awareness
of
the
value
of
social
platforms,
as
the
American
website
demonstrated,
but
the
social
presence
could
be
more
consistent
in
all
website
introducing
unique
guidelines,
getting
at
the
same
time
advantages
from
the
global
presence,
considering
the
fact
that
the
tendency
of
using
“social
media”
is
continuously
increasing.
Dialog/customer
engagement
management:
6
points
A
general
overview
about
the
3
analyzed
markets
is
now
set.
The
next
point
of
our
analysis
consists
in
analyzing
how
many
users
Weleda
reached.
According
to
the
Weleda’s
American
Twitter-‐profile,
the
majority
of
twitters
come
from
users
involved
in
the
healthcare
sector
(both
professionals
and
“addicted
health-‐care
products”
users).
The
Weleda’s
American
Facebook-‐profile
collects
more
than
43.000
“likes”
and
about
285
users
talk
about
it.
A
general
pattern
has
came
out
of
the
analysis:
Weleda
reacts
to
comments
only
when
it
comes
to
direct
requests2
and
to
very
positive
comments3,
whereas
for
comments
which
do
not
present
any
“extraordinary”
aspects28,
Weleda
is
not
responding
at
all.
27
http://topsy.com/s/weleda?allow_lang=de&window=d6
22
23.
Source:
Weleda’s
North
America
Facebook
profile
There
are
around
1454
“likes”
in
Russian
group,
and
just
74
users
talk
about
it.
Based
on
several
comments
in
the
groups
we
think
that
Weleda
created
a
dialog
with
its
customers,
but
in
private
messages,
so,
it
is
hard
to
evaluate.
We
suppose
that
lack
of
dialog
can
be
partly
caused
by
customers
itself,
who
create
unofficial
groups
in
social
webs
and
communicate
with
each
other.
Those
people,
who
know
more
information,
share
it
with
other
users
and
answer
their
questions.
That’s
why
some
users
of
Weleda
may
likely
follow
unofficial
groups
and
web
pages.
From
this
data,
Weleda
seems
that
it
is
following
its
main
“strategy”:
“Focus
only
on
what
is
very
important
or
relevant
to
them”.
It
seems
that
Weleda
wants
to
develop
a
dialogue
only
with
those
customers
who
are
actually
asking
for
something
(good
customer
service)
and
with
the
advocates,
which
are
already
satisfied
with
their
products,
but
can
strongly
increase
their
reputation.
North-‐
American
Weleda’s
Facebook-‐profile
management
actually
is
doing
better
than
its
current
colleagues
in
Russia,
where
the
number
of
groups’
followers
in
social
webs
is
relatively
small,
and
of
Switzerland,
which
are
not
present
at
all
in
the
Swiss
division.
In
sum
we
have
ranked
Weleda’s
dialog
with
customers
6
points,
as
we
will
argue,
that
Weleda
only
creates
limited
brand
awareness
according
to
the
countries
they
want
to
be
recognized
in
and
this
could
lead
to
an
inconsistency
of
the
brand
recognition
worldwide.
We
can
argue
furthermore
that
Weleda,
or
at
least,
the
American
Weleda’s
social
media
website
management
has
succeeded
in
engaging
customers
on
its
platforms,
but
Facebook
needs
more
attention
which
on
the
contrary
is
present
on
the
American
Weleda’s
23
24. Twitter,
since
every
comments
gets
a
reply,
it
doesn’t
actually
matter
the
nature,
a
great
point
not
to
let
the
website
static
and
this
therefore
the
dialogue
building
process.
In
our
opinion
Weleda
should
apply
the
Twitter
management
principles
also
to
Facebook.
Sentiment/advocacy
management:
4
points
The
next
point
of
our
analysis
consists
an
evaluation
of
the
customers’
satisfaction
about
Weleda,
based
on
Weleda’s
social
media
users’
comments.
Weleda’s
customers
are,
generally,
positively
commenting
on
the
social
media,
but
even
though
this
is
not
a
signal
of
a
good
management,
because
in
other
platforms
such
as
makeupalley.com,
are
fully
rich
in
negative
comments,
which
get
no
reply
and
this
can
be
easily
defined
as
bad
word-‐of-‐mouth.
As
stated
before,
Weleda’s
Facebook
and
Twitter
profile
present
a
huge
number
of
“liked”
or
“followers”
but
actually
the
activity
on
the
profiles
is
very
low,
which
is
quite
of
inconsistent
to
the
actual
number
of
users.
This
feeble
activity
could
hide
many
reasons
such
as:
1)
A
bad
communication
management/
customer
engagement;
2)
uninspiring
or
not
useful
website
to
the
relevant
audience
3)
the
current
customers
of
Weleda
don’t
use
Internet
and
are
not
therefore
“social”.
Usually,
negative
comments
on
online
platforms
like
Facebook
and
Blog
are
not
present
at
all.
We
assume
that
negative
complaints
are
directly
addressed
to
the
company;
and
we
mainly
noticed
that
complaints
are
addressed
to
products
in
products
reviews
websites,
where
unfortunately
the
company
is
not
present
at
all
and
cannot
interact
with
customers.
Therefore
it
would
be
highly
suggested
to
be
present
also
in
other
unofficial
platforms,
especially
in
the
biggest
beauty
products
review
websites.
In
regards
to
concerns
and
doubts
directly
addressed
to
the
company
we
have
evidence
that
the
reply
is
prompt
and
personally
designed
and
addressed.
29
We
assume
therefore
that
all
Weleda’s
division
management
privately
deals
with
negative
comments
or
questions.
Using
Analytical
Tools
By
applying
the
friends.skuttle.com
analysis
for
Weleda,
we
get
the
following
characteristics:
29
http://www.cookiesteaandmakeup.com/2012/10/02/news-‐alcool-‐nei-‐prodotti-‐weleda-‐alcuni-‐chiarimenti-‐dallazienda/
24
25.
Source:
friends.skyttle.com
Support/value:
5
points
In
the
following
section
we
will
try
to
evaluate
the
quality
of
the
contents
that
Weleda
offers
to
its
community.
Very
surprisingly
the
Swiss
website
offers
lot
of
valuable
contents
to
its
customers,
given
that
one
of
the
pillar
of
the
company
are
the
bio-‐elements
used
for
its
products,
Weleda
shows
many
videos
about
bio-‐
products
cultivations
and
the
natural
collection.
30
We
assume
that
this
aspect
hides
basically
two
main
points:
a)
to
convince
people
about
the
quality
of
the
products
they
use
b)
to
offer
a
valuable
range
of
contents
to
its
clientele
(in
this
case
about
the
quality
of
their
products).
As
the
American
platform
is
one
of
the
more
active,
they
are
engaged
in
many
ecofriendly
and
sustainable
social
projects,
just
to
name
the
main
projects.
Weleda
is
cooperating
together
with
New
Caledonia
involving
locals
in
the
extraction
process.
Long-‐term
fair-‐trade
arrangements
have
been
set
with
Uganda.
The
content
of
Russian
platforms
is
relatively
wide.
All
the
information
about
the
company,
its
product,
philosophy
and
so
on
presented
on
these
web
pages.
Despite
the
fact,
that
the
main
purpose
is
obviously
commercial,
the
platform
provides
free
customer
service
such
as
advice
about
how
to
take
care
about
the
babies
and
your
own
body.
The
information
may
be
quite
useful
not
just
for
30
http://www.weleda.ch/de/service/filme/
25
26. Weleda’s
consumers.
Customers
also
the
opportunity
to
ask
expert
online
and
receive
the
advice
about
how
to
take
care
and
how
to
use
cosmetics
in
a
proper
way.
By
default,
web
page
provides
also
the
answers
on
the
most
popular
questions.
There
is
no
opportunity
to
evaluate
what
percentage
of
users
receive
the
answers
and
required
services,
because
there
is
no
public
discussion
on
the
official
web
pages,
but
possibility
to
apply
to
the
company
in
a
private
way,
via
e-‐mail.
As
was
mentioned
earlier,
the
same
we
can
say
about
group
in
Facebook.
There
are
almost
no
questions
from
customers,
but
positive
comments
about
cosmetics
and
replies
to
Weleda’s
publications.
Facebook
group
organizes
quizzes
among
followers
and
publishes
main
news
regularly.
The
American
Weleda’s
YouTube
profile
is
the
channel
where
the
majority
of
visual
flow
information
is
stored.
It
offers
its
150
users
news
about
products
launches,
but
the
majority
of
the
videos
stored
concern
more
or
less
the
quality
of
their
products
and
the
real
natural
aspect
of
them,
starting
with
the
collection
process
until
the
production
chain
process.
The
Swiss
division
offers
more
or
less
the
same
quality
videos
but
quantitative
speaking
they
are
less.
Considering
the
social
platforms
in
which
Weleda
is
present;
the
Twitter-‐profile
contains
mostly
new
product
launches,
whereas
its
Blog
webpage
is
about
new
product
launches,
but
also
about
tips
and
facts
about
the
company.
In
other
words,
Weleda
seems
to
count
on
YouTube
and
its
blog
as
platforms
for
delivering
free
content
for
its
customers
and
not
only
for
commercial
purposes.
Where
Facebook
has
more
a
selling
and
commercial
aspect.
For
Facebook
and
Twitter,
we
could
generally
suggest
a
more
personalized
approach,
which
instead
is
more
present
on
the
blog.
Finally
we
rank
Weleda’s
additional
support/value
5
points,
since
they
give
many
valuable
content,
but
still
the
”selling”
aspect
is
strongly
present,
even
though
we
can
generally
say
that
a
more
“personalized
and
social”
outline
is
recognizable
in
the
official
website.
Innovation:
5
points
This
section
is
meant
to
analyze
if
Weleda
tends
to
collaborate
with
its
customers
or
partners
looking
forward
for
innovation
which
leads
consequently
to
new
products.
Through
Weleda’s
webpage
it
is
cleared
which
are
the
partners
and
their
role,
but
on
external
platforms31,
Weleda
is
that
product
developments
and
innovations
are
done
with
help
from
more
than
150
different
alliances
and
partnerships.
These
collaborations
bring
together
creative
and
31
http://www.fondsgoetheanum.ch/en/campaigns/medicine-‐therapy-‐and-‐healthcare/anthroposophical-‐medicine-‐
effective-‐efficient-‐functional.html
26
27. diversified
sources
of
knowledge
that
align
innovation
across
multiple
disciplines
like
biochemistry,
biology,
and
physics
and
engineering.
The
company
doesn’t
ask
for
collaboration
openly.
There
are
no
users
proposing
new
ideas
for
development
and
innovation.
At
least
on
official
platforms
and
open
access.
But
Weleda
is
open
for
dialog
and
collaboration
with
different
organization
and
initiative
groups,
which
are
inspiring
to
implement
ecological
projects.
Weleda
declares
about
its
ecological
approach
to
all
activities
and
tendency
to
reduce
the
influence
on
the
environment.
Even
though
Weleda
doesn’t
seem
engaged
in
involving
its
customers
in
innovation
research
or
suggestions,
some
customers
feel
free
to
give
their
own
suggestions32
(see
the
image
below)
In
the
end,
we
have
assigned
Weleda
5
points
regarding
their
innovation
level.
We
see
an
effort
in
trying
to
be
specialized
when
it
comes
to
innovation
and
research,
but
we
are
strongly
convinced
that
innovation
could
also
come
from
its
customers.
Leadership:
3
points
The
next
section
is
dedicated
to
the
evaluation
of
Weleda’s
efforts
in
creating
storytelling
and
their
weight
in
the
social
media
world.
Both
the
Weleda’s
American
Official
Website
and
the
YouTube
channel
are
rich
in
short
movies,
which
cover
different
themes:
their
philosophy,
some
launches
of
new
products
and
the
majority
of
the
videos
posted
on
these
platforms
try
to
explain
the
vision
of
the
company
and
the
working
process1.
The
movies
have
the
aspect
of
real-‐life
videos
and
deliver
the
idea
of
genuine
and
natural
raw
materials,
which
deliver
at
their
turn,
genuine
and
natural
products.
The
majority
of
the
videos
32
From
Weleda’s
North
America
Facebook
Profile
27