The Opportunity
Melbourne Genomics has developed a game-changing software platform that enables genomic data to inform precision healthcare for all Australians. When Portable was approached by Melbourne Genomics, the GenoVic platform was becoming more widely used in Victoria’s healthcare system due to its flexibility, adaptability and security.
Melbourne Genomics identified an opportunity to expand the use of GenoVic across Australia and then internationally. They strongly believed it to be worthy of further investment and iteration, with significant potential to support the rapid scale-up of genomic medicine and better outcomes for patients.
To make this happen, Melbourne Genomics engaged Portable to deliver a compelling story to the right people at the right level of detail.
Our Approach
We took a waterfall approach to the project and focused on collaborative discovery at the onset to ensure we gained a deep understanding of the solution and its potential.
The goal of the discovery phase was to develop key value propositions for the diverse audiences GenoVic was targeting.
This began with extensive collaboration with members of the client’s project team to map key stakeholders with the Melbourne Alliance group. The landscape of stakeholders was broad and, in addition to the Melbourne Genomics Team, included Board Members, medical laboratory scientists, clinicians, and industry experts who specialised in government policy, genomics, life science investment and digital health.
It became evident that a key challenge for Melbourne Genomics was how to effectively target their ‘pitch and value’ to such a diverse audience.
The discovery phase uncovered the primary needs of the different audiences. What was a key benefit for one group was not necessarily important to another. We set about articulating those diverse needs to lay the foundations for the rebrand and content strategy for the pitch deck.
Our team delved deeply into the ‘GenoVic’ system to further immerse ourselves in its capabilities and complexities. The system is expansive, highly secure, specialised, and difficult to articulate and ‘sell’ to the layperson.
Building the Brand
We were tasked with taking a successful Victorian brand and making it attractive to other states and territories. Going nationwide was important for a number of reasons.
The first challenge was that genomic data was being managed in very different and potentially insecure ways by laboratories across the country — in some cases even being stored and transported on flash drives.
The second was that if every state had its own genomic data platform, and none of them talked to each other, data would be siloed, efficiencies would be lost and the cost of genomic testing would increase.
Although GenoVic originated in Victoria with significant support from the Victorian Government, it was clear that the reference to 'Vic' had to go before other states could see the platform as their own.
Removing the reference to Victoria would also empower us to craft a compelling story which positioned the GenoVic system as the platform of choice for genomic data management.
We ran a series of workshops that interrogated the brand vision, its benefits, personality, target audience/s and appearance with the Melbourne Alliance team. The output from these workshops was that the new brand should reflect the values of being:
- Trustworthy
- Reliable
- Flexible
- Inclusive
- Defined and
- Accessible.
The brand personality was defined as being:
- progressive
- human-centred
- honest and
- innovative.
Following the brand exploration, we ran several naming workshops.
Presenting both a challenging and engaging opportunity, the project teams came together to generate and reflect on deviant, descriptive, neologistic and associative names. We used our own ideas and leaned into name generators to produce approximately 100 names.
An activity of market comparison, relevance and general ‘liking’ was undertaken and a short list of names was produced. The Melbourne Alliance team tested these names and ‘Genomical’ was created. This name was selected due to its nod to ‘big genomic data’, ‘magnitude’ and ‘infinite possibility’.
The supporting logo, wordmark, and brand style guide was produced and centred around the outcomes. A corporate and progressive logo was created that includes a conservative base colour palette with bright, optimistic use of colour to emphasise the favourable possibility the system can bring.
Defining the unique value propositions to help build a modular pitch deck.
Producing one ‘Pitch Deck’ to suit multiple audiences was challenging. The team approached this with creativity and decided to create a ‘build your own’ pitch to suit each specific audience segment, including:
- Policymakers
- healthcare organisations
- investors
- and patients.
We began by developing a series of value propositions, drawn from the data collected and synthesised from the stakeholder engagements and interviews with the Melbourne Genomics team. We defined the key value propositions that were essential for all audiences, and then broke the pitch deck down into value propositions specific to each audience.
The pitch deck was an invaluable base for the Melbourne Genomics team to continually evolve and refine, as they introduced Genomical to new potential customers, investors and stakeholders.
Along with the finalised pitch deck, we supplied the data from interviews performed (with permission) and the entire suite of value propositions from the data synthesis, creating opportunities for the Melbourne Genomics team to expand or edit the pitch deck efficiently, particularly when preparing for meeting with key stakeholders and very little lead times.
This ‘build your own’ style of pitch deck not only makes it possible for the Melbourne Genomics team to adapt key information to specific audiences, but also provides a baseline for future updates to include new system iterations, benefits and growth areas.
Designing infographics which effectively communicate complex ideas.
To support the value proposition, a series of infographics was required to help the Melbourne Genomics team explain complex value in easily digestible ways.
It was critical for the Melbourne Genomics team to communicate the value of the platform, its core capabilities and its impact on patient care, to people who were still unfamiliar with genomics.
Through extensive consultation with the Melbourne Genomics project team and key stakeholders, our team began an iterative approach to drafting a series of infographics which simplify explanations of the system.
After several iterations, the final outputs resulted in a series of infographics that demonstrate how the Genomical platform:
- Assists with precision healthcare
- Is adaptable across state borders
- Is part of a complex orchestration system
- Is interoperable
- Can be embedded into a global healthcare system
The infographics were successful in turning complex and technical information into a form that could be understood by lay and specialist audiences alike.
Outcomes
In May of 2023, the updated brand was successfully launched to the public.
At the end of this engagement, Melbourne Genomics had an extensive ‘pitch deck’ which spoke in both general terms for the layman and specific language which aligned with key audiences and stakeholders.
Our modular approach to communicating this complex system has helped support a unique and compelling ‘brand’ which reflects the endless possibilities that Melbourne Genomics hopes to bring to the genomics industry, both locally here in Australia and as part of a global rollout.
Zayne D’Crus, Communications and Engagement Manager
“We needed visual thinkers who could work respectfully with us to find core insights, turn them into compelling concepts, and equip us to speak simply about a complex product. Portable delivered on all counts.”
Project Team
- Ash Colcott, Experience Designer
- Willhemina Wahlin, Senior Design Strategist
- Sophie Turner, Lead Design Strategist
- Tess Waterhouse, Senior Digital Producer
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