Our annual Season’s Greetings calendar is back and it starts today! We invite you to participate, and we hope you enjoy it as much this year as in previous years.

How does it work?

In the days leading up to 24 December 2020, click on the 24 windows and answer any (or all) of the puzzles for a chance to win one of 10 splendid prizes.

Our puzzle theme this year is healthcare and humanity trends, and there are three types of puzzle: anagrams, no vowels and initials.

When you know the answers, simple email your entries to us. You can do this on the day of the puzzle or retrospectively until December 24 2020.

In the second week of January we’ll draw 10 lucky winners at random from all the entries we receive. Only one entry can be received per puzzle, however the more puzzles you submit entries for across December, the more chances you have of winning a prize (T&Cs apply).

The puzzle competitions close on Thursday 24 December 2020 at 23.59 (GMT) and are open to clients and contacts of The Planning Shop.

The winners, as well as the answers to the puzzles, will be announced on our website in the second week of January 2021.

Don’t forget to check the calendar every day if you enjoy the puzzles!

Thank you for your support during 2020! Here’s to 2021!

We’re pleased to announce the arrival of three new team members at The Planning Shop. Meet Veronica Moore, Dawn Farber and Nicky Kearney!

Veronica Moore
Senior Research Executive

Following a degree in Marketing and Biology at Fairfield University, Connecticut, Veronica joined McCann Echo, as a project manager. During her time there she worked on a variety of brands in different therapy areas. After some time at Echo, Veronica worked in project management at a small firm focused on the recruitment, retention and engagement of patients for clinical trials. She’s now excited to bring her experience to THE PLANNING SHOP and focus on another aspect of the pharmaceutical marketing process, whilst developing her research skills.

Veronica lives in Boston with her boyfriend and puppy, Minot. She enjoys yoga, running, and orange theory fitness. She also loves to spend time with her family, relaxing on a beach and travelling (in a COVID-free world).

Dawn Farber
Research Manager

Dawn has been a market researcher for 20 years, concentrating primarily on quantitative research. She first developed an interest in market research in college at UMASS Dartmouth, when she took a market research class to help a small local business. She became hooked on research, and straight out of college secured her first research job.

Dawn’s experience in market research includes consumer packaged goods, financial services, healthcare, and pharmaceutical research – always on the supplier side.

For fun, Dawn likes to travel with her husband, nieces and nephews. Favourite places have been Disney World, Hawaii and Aruba. Dawn also likes to read, exercise and knit (we’ll be putting our requests in for blankets, scarves and hats this Winter!). Dawn teaches group fitness classes at the local gym and likes to walk and hike.

Nicky Kearney
Research Director

Nicky has a deep, heartfelt passion for learning about people, and learning from people. This insatiable curiosity has served her work well.

Nicky started her career working in the advertising sales sides of radio, TV and print and then moved into a boutique firm where research, strategy and implementation were all intertwined. While she has worked with clients in the public sector (on projects such as transit for people with disabilities), B2B and B2C (ask her about ice cream in-home use tests!), her love is healthcare in all varieties. In fact, Nicky started volunteering with patients in Recreational Therapy when she was 14, and continued volunteering with her local hospice until a few years ago.

On a personal note, Nicky and her husband care for their moms (both in their late 80’s), foster Boston Terriers and help a family of 16 refugees in their area. They love to cook, attend live music (during non-pandemic times), nap, hike and read… not always in that order.

Welcome to the team Veronica, Dawn and Nicky! It’s great to have you here.

Watch our latest webinar to hear Michael Dumigan, Global Brand Consultant, at The Planning Shop talk to Dominic Tyer, Interim Managing Editor at Pharmaphorum, about the importance of emotional empathy in driving brand equity, and how the pandemic has forged pharmaceutical brands into better shape. It’s a great listen!

Let us know what you think of the issues discussed.

You can also read the full article that accompanies the webinar here.

The pandemic forges pharmaceutical brands into better shape

By Michael Dumigan, Global Brand Consultant, The Planning Shop

Day by day it becomes clearer that some brands are coming through the
pandemic in better shape than ever. These are the brands that have
clearly demonstrated emotional intelligence, that have shown emotional empathy to their target audience. They understand the current, heightened emotional state of their customers and respond to it in ways that show they give a damn.

Sometimes it is just about style and tone: like a mother’s soothing words to a
crying child that create immediate comfort and calm. Sometimes they go further, and like that same mother applying a soothing balm to a grazed knee, show by their action that they care.

The emotional wave of the moment is all about reliability, the calm in the
storm, the trusted friend. Think of the sourdough craze or the social media
frenzy around banana bread: in these times of unprecedented uncertainty in relation to life’s fundamentals – health and livelihood – we are reaching out for the warmth of a well-worn comfort blanket.

Simple kindness is one such comfort blanket. Something we want to receive
and something we want to give. Each of us is touched by the countless acts of community kindness being shown to the vulnerable. We see the dedication of healthcare workers – or of the shelf-filler in our local store – and we are moved to thank them and to make our own contribution.

Non-pharma brands leading by example

Something was broken before Covid-19 came along. The 2019 Edelman Global Trust Barometer showed levels of mistrust in business to be stratospheric, at their highest point ever. Government and the media didn’t fare any better. Of these three societal pillars, it is, perhaps surprisingly, business that has stepped up to the plate most assuredly in 2020 – led by some of the world’s strongest brands.

Brands are contributing in myriad different, relevant and engaging ways. T-Mobile went into partnership with Verizon, AT&T, and iHeartMedia to give 40,000 phone chargers to hospitals, putting frightened, isolated patients back in touch with loved ones. Verizon also donated $2.5 million to small businesses to support the Local Initiatives Support Corporation and has offered special prices for nurses and teachers. These are acts of kindness appropriate to both the brands and the situation.

Kindness starts with colleagues. Starbucks extended its mental health benefits for members of the team. In partnership with Lyra Health, Starbucks offer personalized, confidential mental health care, free in-person or video sessions, and access to a provider network of mental health therapists and coaches. Microsoft keeps on paying support staff who earn an hourly wage even when there’s nothing much for them to do.

The pandemic is global, so let’s take a quick peak at some beautiful
examples from around the globe.

• In the Philippines, Coca-Cola handed over its precious advertising space to support the Covid-19 relief and response efforts of local
  communities.

• Bacardi switched production from its famous rum to
  ethanol so that hand sanitiser could be manufactured in bulk. Louis
  Vuitton did much the same thing in France.

• PepsiCo and partners have provided one million meals a week to rural children in need across the US and Puerto Rico.

• LinkedIn threw open many of its learning courses for free.

• Nickelodeon launched a free site to keep kids out of their parents’ hair.

• In Britain, the venerable BBC launched BBC Bitesize to help parents home-school children. They even launched virtual church services, presumably so those parents could pray for the schools to reopen!

• New York Magazine, the New York Times and The Economist
  amongst many other news organisation knocked down their paywalls for COVID-19-related coverage to keep readers informed in a rapidly changing and often confusing environment.

• At Delta Airlines, the CEO ripped up his pay-check for the year to try and diminish layoffs. 

• Bank of America halted foreclosure sales, evictions and repossessions.

• CVS facilitated COVID-19 testing in secure areas of parking lots at select stores. Individuals tested haven’t had to leave their car or step into the store.

Big pharma surprises itself

The pharmaceutical industry, often depicted as public enemy number one, has (with a gargantuan leap into the future), seemed to catch the public mood and respond appropriately. There is a scale difference in this transformation.

Look at the Harris pole quoted in Fierceparma on 2nd September: when asked about all pharma companies in general, regardless of whether they are working on a vaccine, 71% overall said the pharma industry is a trustworthy source. The highest-ranked sources in the poll were local doctors and nurses, trusted by 88% on average. The well-known hospitals and scientist categories tied for second at 84%. Still, pharma has come a long way over the course of the pandemic.

In 2017 Pfizer was one of the top ten US donors of charitable aid, to the tune of a staggering $210million (or 1.7% or profits) according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, yet still, the organisation doesn’t even appear on the 2019 Axios Harris poll of top 100 reputation ranking. In 2018 the research firm Reputation Institute ranked Pfizer’s reputation at rock bottom on a list of 22 pharma companies – and none of them ranked highly against other sectors!

The data isn’t public yet but today Pfizer holds its head up high and talks
about reputation openly and assuredly: clearly confident that there has been a change and that there is more to come. How did that happen? Pfizer has shown remarkable emotional intelligence at a corporate brand level.

The change is local and global. To take one local example, in the UK Pfizer
is working with the National Schools Partnership to make its Superbugs and
Vaccines education program suitable for home learning. Over at corporate HQ, the ambition is as big as it gets, of the moon-shot order in fact, when it comes to defeating Covid-19. Pfizer has four different mRNA platform vaccines in play against one-another: a radical new approach for them. Their chief, Albert Bourla, quoted in Forbes magazine in May, made the new way of thinking and working crystal clear to his team:

“Think in different terms…Think you have an open cheque book…Think
that we will do things in parallel, not sequential. Think you need to build
manufacturing of a vaccine before you know what’s working. If it doesn’t, let
me worry about it and we will write it off and throw it out.” 

He was clearly impressed with the way his team responded to the challenge, saying:

“How fast we moved is not something you could expect from big, powerful
Pharma. This is speed that you would envy in an entrepreneurial founder-based biotech.” 

Sharing is caring

From the beginning, Bourla openly authorised having discussions and sharing proprietary information with rival firms. A brave move in the often closeted, secretive world of big pharma. Bourla made Pfizer’s manufacturing capabilities available to small biotech concerns and is in talks to make large quantities of other companies’ Covid-19 drug candidates. 

One Pfizer brand getting plenty of attention is Xeljanz, their blockbuster
anti-JAK rheumatoid arthritis pill that could damp down the massive immune response that overwhelms some Covid-19 patients. Pfizer is supporting a Xeljanz trial in Italian Covid-19 patients, as well as a U.S. trial that will test a different arthritis medicine, an experimental drug that targets the Irak-4 protein, against the virus.

It is not just Pfizer though: we’ve simply highlighted them because of the
low levels of trust the wider community has had in their brand, and because they’re now a great example of what the industry is doing to rebuild brand trust. There are many other mega pharmaceutical companies in the kill-Covid game: Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi, AstraZeneca, GSK and Roche included.

Here’s a mini roundup:

• Speed of development and partnership are characteristic of many players, ahead of the race is Moderna (working with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) with a trial under the aptly titled ‘Operation Warp Speed’ now in Phase 3.
• AstraZeneca has joined forces with GSK and Sanofi to play a socially responsible role in the search for a vaccine and its rapid production. More quietly, AZ has donated nine million face masks to struggling nations.
• GSK is scouring its portfolio of brands for ones that might impact COVID-19 patient treatment. They’re also investing heavily in trials of the best candidates.
• Eli Lilly is supporting diabetes patients who are encouraged to call the Lilly Diabetes Solution Center, where they can talk through their options with advisers (including switching to generics).
• In our own small way, at THE PLANNING SHOP, we are supporting the Hemophilia TalkShop online community as they support one-another in these unprecedented times. The RAM (Rare Advocacy Movement) Living with Rare Disease online community is another
  heart-warming example where patients are turning out to be a great comfort and source of solace to each other.

There is one final example that convincingly tells us that trust has become
immensely important to pharma companies: Chinese clinicians are using an AbbVie HIV treatment to address coronavirus-related pneumonia. Kaletra (also known as Aluvia) contains anti-viral components that block virus replication. Although not yet approved as a treatment for coronavirus, Kaletra has shown efficacy across multiple trial cases.

AbbVie has donated $1.5 million worth of Kaletra to China for use as an
experimental treatment option.

Kaletra is vital to AbbVie’s commercial success, yet the Company has given
up some of the brand’s commercial potential by announcing in April that it
wouldn’t defend patent rights to Kaletra. In the event that Kaletra does prove effective against COVID-19, the move would allow competitors to create additional supply to satisfy demand that AbbVie alone can’t meet. That is an astonishing move of generosity that can only inspire admiration and trust.

There are emotions other than comfort and trust

The pandemic has given brands, including pharmaceutical brands, the
opportunity to demonstrate emotional empathy by responding to the need for confidence and trust with clear demonstrations of caring. The power of emotional connection has never been clearer. For the moment, the successful brands are the ones that understand the universal emotional tide of the moment. In the future, these brands will need to strive for a differentiating emotional connection.

This is a big ask. There are very few pharma brands not built with an emotional component, but that component rarely has foundations anywhere near as deep as the functional core claim. The generic nature and lack of ownability of the emotional component is clear, if you recognise these four emotional foundations, then you know the problem:

• Confidence
• Reassurance
• Satisfaction
• Empowerment.

To capitalize on the opportunity, pharma brands will need to embrace the growing evidence base of human science behind understanding emotion, and they will have to invest in growing their knowledge.

Acclaimed academics such as Professor Lisa Feldman-Barrett are seeing their work on emotion as a learnt, not innate, trait, become more widely understood, and this is something we’ve been fascinated by at The Planning Shop. So much so, that we’ve built our new brand creation Thought Model to help our clients build brands with equally strong functional and emotional foundations.

The importance of understanding emotion is creating an exciting new world. The growing ability to understand emotions and to better empathize with customers is revealing new opportunities for brands. There is a growing realisation of the role a brand should play in shaping emotions and impacting deeper with audiences. Perhaps for the first time ever, pharma is well ahead of other sectors in this understanding. The Planning Shop is daily growing our knowledge and evidence base on how to build an Emotional Brand.

Some brands are coming through the pandemic in better shape than ever
because they are showing themselves to be in tune with the times. The next
generation of emotionally intelligent brands need to learn from this and start to write the tunes of the future.

If you’d like to talk to Michael about this article, please get
in touch!

We’re excited to announce five new joiners at The Planning Shop who will be working across our UK and US teams. Please join us in welcoming Julia Ingram, Stephanie Seeliger, Paola Gutierrez, Tamara Moubazbaz and Tim Browne!

Find out more about our new team members below. 

Julia Ingram
Senior Research Executive

Julia started her career working at a CRO, where she conducted qualitative research in various therapeutic areas and developed patient-completed questionnaires for use in clinical trials. She then moved directly into the clinical space, supervising research coordinators in oncology trials. Julia is excited to return to the qualitative space and dive into the marketing side of the industry. 

Julia’s interest in healthcare began at Emory University, where she majored in Anthropology and Human Biology and minored in Predictive Health. She is passionate about patient-centered research and bringing the patient perspective to pharmaceutical clients and is thrilled to support these companies as they work to change patient lives.

In her free time, Julia enjoys baking, crocheting, and exploring the theatre and art scene in NYC with her family and friends.

Stephanie Seeliger
Senior Research Executive

You’ll find Stephanie asking a lot of “why” and using a combination of head and heart to seek out the answer. Getting into market research after graduate school, she’s learned the benefit of asking strategic questions and gathering data to better understand human thinking and behaviour.

With previous experience in both qualitative and quantitative research projects for primarily media, CPG and higher education clients, she looks forward to learning about and executing pharmaceutical and healthcare research.

Stephanie’s education background includes a BS in journalism from Suffolk University (Boston, MA) and MS in clinical psychology from Rivier University (Nashua, NH).

She’s currently living in the greater Boston area with her partner and their beagle, Marty. In her spare time, she stays active, with three half marathons under her belt! She also enjoys training of all kinds (spin, lifting, yoga, anything!). To relax, Stephanie paints and occasionally writes or plays music with old friends.

Paola Gutierrez
Senior Research Executive

Paola’s education background includes BAs in Marketing and International Business from Loyola University Chicago and an MBA from the Quinlan School of Business.

Prior to joining TPS, Paola held the position of Executive Researcher at Shapiro + Raj and was a Market Research Intern at Edelman Intelligence.

Driven by curiosity, Paola tries to approach every challenge with fresh eyes and an eager mind. Building on her experience, she is excited to continue helping pharmaceutical companies uncover actionable insights and to keep learning about what drives human behavior and decision making.

While originally from El Paso, Texas, Paola is currently living in Chicago with her partner. During her spare time, she enjoys playing board games, trying out new restaurants, and travelling home to see her family. 

Tamara Moubazbaz
Research Director

Tamara has always been curious about what drives human behaviour, and this curiosity led her to market research 18 years ago after obtaining a Psychology degree. In that time, she has worked in Toronto, New York, Geneva and London. Her career has spanned many sectors, from Healthcare, to CPG, Media, Financial, Tech and Sport. She has also spent a few years on the other side of the business as a client. As a quantie she loves to translate numbers into compelling stories for her clients.

Outside of work, Tamara loves live music, baking and eating. In her pre-pandemic life, she would frequently go to gigs, practice yoga, and check out the latest restaurant openings. These days she is launching a side business of doggie cakes (pupcups), and bonding with her six month old cockapoo Alfie.  

Tim Browne
Head of EU Research

Tim joins us from RAPP Dubai where he was Head of Planning. Recent projects include leading brand positioning development for Marhaba (Emirates Group) and MG in the GCC, which involved running workshops, creating positioning concepts, refining these through qualitative research and proving the lead concept in quantitative research. 

As a research specialist Tim covers both Qualitative and Quantitative techniques. Tim passionately believes in the power of consumer and cultural insights to help solve business problems and uncover business opportunities.

Tim has worked with a number of pharmaceutical companies during his career, including with GSK on respiratory, Leo Pharma on dermatology and Reckitt Benckiser and Pfizer on pain management. He has worked at McCann Health and was a team leader at Millward Brown.

They came, they saw, they conquered! And they raised over $3500!

A massive WELL DONE to our team of TPS TRYers (Rob Banyard, Nick Ross, Fabrice Dussol, and Alex Kalmanofsky and her husband Johnny) who completed challenges at the weekend to raise funds for the Conquer Cancer Foundation!

From the rolling hills of Surrey in the UK, to the streets, parks and coastline of New York, they covered 366km between them, either cycling, walking or running. Or a combination of all three.

What is a TRY? The concept of the TRY was developed by Burning Survivors, a community of cancer survivors living and taking care of themselves the best they can, and then supporting each other when help is needed, wishing to live life to the fullest, and be brave and fearless while always keeping the larger community in mind.

A TRY is any physical feat a person trains for, push themselves to do, that raises money for their favourite cancer-related non-profit organization. For some, it can be a triathlon or climbing a mountain. While for others walking a 5k or even around the block is as much as they can do.

“About 130km / 80miles / 5ish hours into my bike ride I was ready to sit down at the side of the road and give up. I told a friend who had been sending me motivational GIFs all day and she told me to think about why I signed up for this. Remember there are so many cancer patients who have no choice but to keep going when things seem impossible. People who can’t choose the easy way out. It’s a great motivator as we have to do everything we can to support them and help change things for the better” – Rob Banyard

Congratulations team – you met your goals! An amazing feat and we’re all immensely proud of you!

The sponsorship monies ($3547) will now be donated to the Conquer Cancer Foundation. (If you’d still like to donate… you can! Just click here.)

A team from The Planning Shop has joined forces from across the globe to create a TRY to support the Conquer Cancer Foundation.

What is a TRY? The concept of the TRY was developed by Burning Survivors, a community of cancer survivors living and taking care of themselves the best they can, and then supporting each other when help is needed, wishing to live life to the fullest, and be brave and fearless while always keeping the larger community in mind.

A TRY is any physical feat a person trains for, push themselves to do, that raises money for their favourite cancer-related non-profit organization. For some, it can be a triathlon or climbing a mountain. While for others walking a 5k or even around the block is as much as they can do.

As a cancer survivor herself, Alex Kalmanofsky, head of the Patient Center of Excellence at THE PLANNING SHOP, decided to embark on a TRY, and recruit a team of TRY’ers from the Company as her teammates. The TRYs include cycling and walking longer distances than the team members would normally do. As an example, Alex herself has embarked on a duathlon of cycling and walking, and on the official TRY day (16 August) she will attempt to walk 10k, then cycle 20k, and then walk a further 5k.

How do the TRYs support the Conquer Cancer Foundation?

Team members are being sponsored to complete their TRYs, and all monies raised will be donated to the Conquer Cancer Foundation.

Cancer doctors created the Conquer Cancer Foundation to seek dramatic advances in the prevention, treatment and cures of cancer, working to conquer cancer worldwide by supporting breakthrough research and sharing cutting-edge cancer information with patients and caregivers.

Countdown begins

As 16 August is just around the bend, the team of TPS TRYers have been gearing up for their challenges. If you’d like to support them – and raise funds for Conquer Cancer – please click here to donate and conquer!

Good luck Team Alex!

We’re pleased to announce the appointment of Rebecca Rehder to the role of Global President at The Planning Shop, leading our organization across the UK and US. 

Rebecca comes to THE PLANNING SHOP with expertise in branding and strategy and a rich history in market research.  During her career in advertising, she has worked in both account management and strategy roles where market research was a critical tool to inform strategy.  Rebecca brings experience in both healthcare and consumer brands.

Prior to starting a brand strategy consultancy, Rebecca had executive leadership dual roles of SVP, Brand Strategy and EVP, Client Services at GSW/Syneos Health. She was the strategy lead on new business, oncology franchises and all patient initiatives.  Rebecca opened the US office of The Future Laboratory, a London-based trend and innovation consultancy where she helped major CPG companies to revitalize struggling brands through cultural foresight, market intelligence, consumer insight and brand strategy. Previously, Rebecca was at DDB where she grew from management supervisor in the client services team to Group Business Director.

“I am delighted to welcome Rebecca to lead THE PLANNING SHOP. Her branding and strategy expertise and senior leadership capabilities will help us to further develop our talented team and brand. We are fortunate to have someone of Rebecca’s caliber and expertise and look forward to her many contributions” said Marlene De La Cruz, Global President of the Adelphi in Research Franchise.

The Planning Shop is part of Adelphi Group, a member of Omnicom Health Group in the DAS Group of Companies, a division of Omnicom Group Inc.

ABOUT ADELPHI GROUP

Adelphi Group is a leading healthcare marketing services group, For over thirty years, the Adelphi Group has successfully supported the development, launch and marketing of pharmaceutical brands in most therapeutic areas. 

ABOUT OMNICOM HEALTH GROUP

Omnicom Health Group is the largest healthcare marketing and communications group in the world. With more than 3200 talented specialists dedicated exclusively to health, it has the expertise, insight, creativity, and scale to engage customers across the entire healthcare ecosystem.

The Planning Shop is a great place to work, especially if you’re looking for a company where you can grow, excel and push forward in your career.

Three recent examples of career progression include the promotions of Luana Kaderabek, Jeff DiDaniels and Sophia Cavalcanti.

Here are the details:

Luana Kaderabek

Luana has recently been promoted to the position of Innovation and Research Manager.

She joined The Planning Shop in 2018 and is a highly valued member of the team, as well as a fearless force in driving innovation and culture.

Luana is an excellent innovation lead and project manager; she’s very proactive and extremely committed; and she has a flare for analysis. She also brings fresh ideas to every project to help reveal the insights that matter.

Finally, Luana boldly works to infuse The Planning Shop with our TPS culture tenants of Kindness, Openness, Collaborative Mindsets and Honesty.

Jeff DiDaniels

Jeff DiDaniels, based in our US office, has recently been promoted from Associate Director to Research Director.

He joined TPS in 2017 and has quickly grown to become a sought-after project leader and consultant, able to provide leadership on complicated projects and across therapy areas. He is also known for using his keen intellect to deliver outstanding service and innovative solutions to our clients.

Clients and colleagues alike consider Jeff a true insight partner; someone who can understand their strategic challenges and who is not afraid to gently challenge and question when he sees opportunity to shape the success of the project. 

Jeff has also shown tremendous business acumen across a range of accounts, working to not only build strong individual client relationships but also helping to open doors through his involvement in a number of strategic pitches.

Sophia Cavalcanti

Sophia joined The Planning Shop in August 2015 as Analysis Manager and moved to the Field Management Team in 2016. Since that time, she has gained a great deal of experience managing complex projects. Because of this she has recently been promoted to Field Manager.

We are very pleased to announce this promotion for Sophia as she is a pleasure to work with, she always manages to keep calm in stressful situations and she always has a smile to share with everyone.

She also fits into the company very well, representing our TPS values. Plus, she’s kind, supportive and dedicated.

Please join us in congratulating Luana, Jeff and Sophia on these well-deserved promotions. Well done to all three!

We may be in the midst of a global pandemic, but that hasn’t stopped us from growing our team over the last few months. 15 new people from January to May, and two extra additions this month… Welcome to the fold Alex and Elizabeth. We’re glad to have you with us!

Find out more about our new team members below.

Alexandra Bonello – Research Director

Alex considers herself a “curious nerd” which is why she loves what she does for a living! She has spent more than a decade working with pharmaceutical and healthcare clients to provide actionable insights to support brands across dozens of therapeutic areas around the globe. Alex loves the challenge of large or complex studies and believes that every engagement brings something new. Above all else, she believes it’s an honour to support the brands that change and save patient lives. 

Alex’s background includes an equal mix of qualitative and quantitative experience across a variety of methodologies, with an emphasis on emotional insights, journey, segmentation and persona development.

Alex is passionate about the presentation of insights and loves to flex her creative muscles to design innovative, beautiful, and clearly articulated stories.

With a degree in Psychology with a concentration in Business from Albion College, Alex brings a mix of social sciences and strategy to The Planning Shop. 

In her spare time, you can find Alex having a dance party with her husband and toddler, binge watching the latest and greatest new shows, or starting a new home renovation project.

Elizabeth George – Research Director

As a qualitative moderator and strategist, Liz has always been passionate about helping pharmaceutical brands understand their audiences with empathy and connecting authentically. Liz’s ability to manage both medically complex and emotionally complex conversations with HCPs and patients alike has always been strongly valued by her clients. 

With extensive experience in oncology and a broad spectrum of therapeutic areas, she has supported dozens of brands as they prepare for trials, launch, new indications, and post-launch challenges.  

In addition to her decade of research experience, Liz has a history of strategic communications roles, including her time at NASA Johnson Space Center, in the nonprofit sector, and with other government entities.

Liz’s undergraduate degree in Psychology at the University of Mary Hardin Baylor offered a theoretical foundation into behaviour and thought models, which influenced her pursuit of a Masters in Advertising at the University of Texas.

In her graduate research, Liz focused heavily on health literacy and health communication strategies. 

Having lived and travelled abroad extensively, Liz and her family enjoy exploring new locations, and are committed to doing and eating whatever the locals may enjoy. As a military family, and having moved ten times in ten years, Liz often jokes that the nomadic life means she calls Disney World her “home” and she tries to get there as often as she can.

Both Alex and Liz will be based in our US office.