GSK

GSK took a historic step-change - and RY was there to support it 💪

Radley Yeldar (RY) has been the creative communications agency of choice for GSK for more than a decade. So, when a big change in direction for the pharma giant saw them come to the agency for help, they were more than up for the challenge. A much-publicised separation – the result of rapidly changing global and industry context – meant GSK was refocusing its ambitions squarely on leading in R&D, innovation and advanced technologies. On the back of this historic step-change, GSK challenged RY with reinvigorating its digital estate and embedding a new, future-facing brand identity across its global platforms. GSK’s new digital estate needed to embody its new strategic direction.

The process wouldn’t be straightforward: timescales meant the website and new brand would need to be developed at speed and at the same time – and more than 150 internal stakeholders would need to be consulted along the way. With technology and innovation at the forefront of the ‘new’ GSK, RY knew the site needed to present a more immersive, dynamic and relevant user experience to a diverse range of audience sets. Having used Umbraco for 10 years already, GSK wanted to leverage the multi-site and extensive integration capabilities of the platform to deliver a dynamic and refreshed experience.

How RY made it happen ⚙🛠

Existing persona and survey data, together with SEO and analytics audits, painted a rich picture of the journey users take to get to, and travel through, the GSK site. This enabled RY to identify the key needs and barriers for all audience groups and develop a responsive, fluid site architecture that brings the most important content to the fore. 

Working together with GSK, RY designed a new, category-defining website that delivers fluid, dynamic experiences for users - across the globe and in multiple languages. Living, breathing design focuses on informing and engaging audiences through movement and echoes GSK’s constantly evolving, forward-looking and digitised nature. 

Key features include: a Netflix-style ‘outstanding people’ video hub; an interactive ‘behind the science’ online magazine that brings the R&D story to different audiences; and site interactivity and motion that brings palpable energy to every user experience. With Umbraco’s flexibility as the catalyst for these innovative features, GSK now has a powerful, seamless and secure digital presence.

A successful launch 🚀

The new corporate website, with a new narrative and tone of voice, received overwhelmingly positive feedback at launch. The site sits at the heart of GSK’s corporate communications and lives and breathes the organisation’s renewed strategy, culture, and the power of its purpose in action. With Umbraco as the underlying foundation, the site is set to deliver in the long-term and at scale.

With a full measurement framework and content governance in place, RY will continue evolving the site to keep it up to speed with both GSK’s ambitions and the fast-moving sector it operates in. Plans are already in place, for example, to upgrade the site to Umbraco 10 in the next year. Elsewhere, the establishment of a formalised design system means the site’s digital experience can be rolled out across local sites, digital products, and internal channels.