9 вересня, 2025
How Systemic Thinking and Resilience Became the New Currency of Pharmaceutical Marketing
Цей текст також доступний українською мовою
In pharmaceutical event marketing, choosing an agency is not merely a matter of budget or portfolio. It’s a reflection of how a company thinks, delegates, builds partnership, and evaluates trust.
The Ukrainian pharmaceutical event marketing market is represented by dozens of agencies – from highly specialized studios to large-scale service operators. In recent years, crises, pandemics, full-scale war, staffing shifts, and chronic budget pressure have triggered a natural phase of market selection. Market players were no longer evaluated by brand visibility or the number of flashy case studies. Instead, they were evaluated by their resilience and adaptability, adapt to new realities, maintain quality, and scale without losing operational control. These traits have become the new criteria for agency viability in the pharmaceutical segment.
The pharmaceutical event market can be broadly divided into four types of agencies, each with its own strengths, limitations, and level of strategic maturity:
1. “The One-Client Company”
This is a niche highly specialized agency with a compact team, working exclusively with a single brand or key personality. Its operations often hinge on one manager or founder, creating risks of personalized management. Capacity is limited, scaling is virtually impossible, and deep entanglement with the client leads to loss of independence, conflicts of interest, and operational vulnerability. While this format may be effective for short-term projects, it cannot withstand systemic pressure or strategic load.
2. “The Boutique Agency”
Creative, agile, and energetic, this type of agency excels at delivering unconventional ideas and quickly adapting to client needs. Its strength lies in talented managers, but its weakness is the lack of structured processes, specialization, and long-term strategy. During peak workloads or when key personnel change, this model becomes unstable, which can negatively impact service quality and client trust.
3. “The Systemic Agency”
A rare but strategically vital type of companies. These agencies operate with a clear organizational structure, functional distribution, automated workflows (often powered by proprietary software), deep expertise, interchangeable teams, and sufficient working capital for financial flexibility. They offer stability, scalability, legal transparency, and strategic partnership. These are the companies setting new standards in the pharma event market.
4. “Transitional Models”
These are agencies undergoing transformation — evolving from boutique toward system-level operators. They combine traits from multiple archetypes, experiment with formats, and seek a balance between creativity and structure. Their effectiveness depends on their ability to adapt, learn, and invest in internal maturity.
Clients in the pharmaceutical market often face a strategically important, yet polarized choice:
either build a small, flexible “pocket” agency tailored to their needs, gaining maximum control over processes but risking limited capacity, emotional volatility among managers, lack of clear principles, cash flow constraints, and weak systemic structure;
or choose a systemic, more expensive partner with clearly defined standards, internal policies, independent expertise, high load resistance, and the ability for long-term cooperation and scaling.
Most clients in the pharmaceutical sector undergo an evolutionary journey: from simple solutions to complex strategies. Shifting contractors through tenders, painful missteps, disappointments, and reassessment of expectations all contribute to a new level of demand quality. This process is not merely a reaction to external pressures, but a clear indicator of a company’s internal maturity: its ability to think strategically, invest in trust, delegate responsibility, and build partnership, rather than simply purchase a service.
The editorial team of «Health of Ukraine» spoke with one of the leading system-based agencies in the segment — NSBM — to explore how their value is shaped, what underpins their approach, and why some clients choose to invest in long-term collaboration for years, without tenders or interruptions.
NSBM is one of the few system-based agencies that doesn’t just deliver tasks — it transforms the very model of an event, from format to impact. Its story illustrates how internal strategy, methodology, and resilience can become a compelling argument for long-term collaboration.
Back in 2007, NSBM was a typical event agency with a strong portfolio and confident market presence. But in 2008, the company began a deep internal transformation, sparked by one of its partners, Volodymyr Rogoznyi, graduating from the Kyiv-Mohyla Business School. It was within that environment of strategic discourse, complex questions, and managerial challenges that a new vision of the event emerged — not as an entertainment product, but as a tool for influencing physician behavior, knowledge, and decision-making.
This marked a turning point. The company not only changed its name — New Standard of Business Meetings — but redefined its core mission. Events ceased to be formal formats or shows; they became part of a systemic stakeholder engagement strategy, with clear architecture, scenario modeling, evidence-based content, legal transparency, and strategic intent. Through dialogue, trial and error, and internal debate, NSBM gradually evolved into a structured organization with its own methodology, project-based approach, and a focused commitment to the pharmaceutical sector.
This wasn't marketing positioning – it was an internal change in mindset. NSBM not only updated its slogan and visual identity, but also rethought the very nature of the event. Each gathering became part of a systemic stakeholder engagement strategy: scenario modeling, event design, deliberate speaker selection, tailored formats for each track, a focus on evidence-based content, and risk management. The event ceased to be a point of contact, it became a tool for driving behavioral change. NSBM never issued manifestos or declared revolutions, but partners gradually began to feel the difference: in the details, in the processes, in the outcomes.
The company grew organically. It developed proprietary software, implemented an ERP system that integrates all core business processes into a unified digital platform, and automated project and financial management workflows. A stable team of managers emerged — autonomous yet synchronized, free from dependence on individual personalities. Reward systems, internal entrepreneurial accountability, and knowledge management frameworks were introduced. For the first time, clients began working with NSBM for years without tenders — not out of loyalty, but because of predictability, transparency, and strategic trust.
In 2020, NSBM faced a catastrophic collapse of the offline event market. But instead of pausing or retreating, the company launched a bold new initiative — OpenLikar. The idea was simple: if a doctor can’t attend an event, the knowledge must come to the doctor. The execution, however, was complex: technical infrastructure, medical content, partnership agreements, accreditation, and integration with professional communities. This wasn’t just a crisis response — it marked a new phase of evolution.
Under the strategic leadership of Volodymyr Rogoznyi, top managers Nataliia Dubova, Ivanna Siladi, Liudmyla Maslova, and Iryna Kravets became architects of change in a new domain: digital medical education. A team came together not to react, but to create a new reality. The founders secured resources, built a technical core, designed a content model, and guided OpenLikar from startup to a sustainable operator of digital medical learning. The platform was self-funded until it became self-sustaining in 2024 – without grants, donors, or compromises.
Nowadays, OpenLikar serves over 40,000 subscribed physicians, maintains dozens of strategic partnerships with leading medical institutions, and offers its own accreditation and integration system. It features intelligent personalization, hybrid formats, AI-powered tools, and automated certification. And now, it’s evolving into a full-fledged SaaS product — a subscription-based digital solution accessed via browser — with ambitions for international scale and a mission to reshape the very model of professional medical education.
OpenLikar is more than just an educational platform — it’s a practical tool that supports physicians in their daily work. It provides fast and convenient access to up-to-date professional resources, webinars, courses, and clinical guidelines. This enables healthcare professionals to continuously update their knowledge, make informed decisions, and improve the quality of care they deliver.
At the same time, OpenLikar stands as a powerful example of corporate social responsibility. The platform ensures equal access to education for doctors across all regions of Ukraine, regardless of workplace or specialty. This approach aligns with sustainable development goals, contributing to the long-term growth of the medical sector, strengthening the healthcare system, and investing in human capital.
The platform with the largest hematology community base
OpenLikar brings together the largest audience of hematologists and related specialists in Ukraine, fostering continuous exchange of knowledge and clinical experience. Each year, the platform hosts conferences in various formats — from large-scale multi-day events to highly specialized scientific-practical meetings. All events are delivered as turnkey solutions: from program development and speaker selection to technical support and CME accreditation. A dedicated focus has emerged around hematology consiliums — expert-led sessions designed to analyze complex clinical cases, develop joint decisions, and implement modern approaches into everyday practice.
Ukraine’s First Podcast on Plasma Donation
In partnership with leading industry representatives, OpenLikar launched Ukraine’s first dedicated podcast on plasma donation. The series explores key topics such as safety protocols, donation stages, social significance, and cutting-edge plasma processing technologies. Available on major international platforms — including Spotify and Apple Music — the podcast ensures broad access for both the medical community and the general public.
Cross-sector Forum on Health Issues
OpenLikar hosted a strategic forum that brought together representatives from the medical community, civil society organizations, government institutions, and expert networks. The event served as a platform to discuss healthcare priorities, develop joint initiatives, and sign memoranda of cooperation. It fostered partnerships capable of delivering cross-sector projects with long-term impact.
Educational Tour at a Manufacturing Facility with Clinical Case Integration
OpenLikar organized a two-day educational tour at a modern manufacturing facility. The program included an overview of production technologies and hands-on sessions focused on clinical case analysis. This format allowed participants to bridge theoretical knowledge with practical experience, while building professional connections across regions and medical specialties.
The story of NSBM is not about being the first, the loudest, or the most expensive. It’s about choosing to do what’s right even when it’s harder. It’s about persistence — not loud, but deeply systemic. And about ambition — not merely to organize events, but to change how doctors learn, how pharma communicates, and how professional respect looks within the medical community.
Stop experimenting. Choose a partnership that scales with you.
https://www.youtube.com/@openlikarchanel/streams
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