CompliantCloud branding solidifies Odyssey VC as leader of digitally compliant solutions for life sciences

Totem empowers Odyssey VC brand success
Trade
(L-R) Colin Byrne, Totem with Oisín Curran, Odyssey VC

23 March 2022

In association with Odyssey VC

Irish provider of compliance and digital solutions Odyssey VC has collaborated with branding agency Totem to restructure, reposition and refresh its brands.

Through its work with the branding agency, Odyssey VC launched its CompliantCloud website, which has helped it secure its position as a leader of digitally compliant solutions for life sciences.

Pauline O’Riordan, Odyssey VC’s product manager said Covid was the spark that ignited a whole new way of being and doing business: “Covid-19 shone a light on Odyssey and how we operated. Our main business at the time was quite a physical business, in that we offered digital compliance services to the pharmaceutical industry – which meant putting people on site, with clients.

“But more than that, when we stepped back and looked at it, we realised we also developed our business in a very face to face, relationship led manner.

“Covid shut all that down – that ability to interface physically with people, that we’d so heavily relied on. It highlighted a need to pivot and really accelerate our digital business and product offering.”

A journey of discovery

When Odyssey first approached Totem, the company had already been on a journey of discovery internally. It had conducted a robust internal and external strategic market review, supported by Enterprise Ireland.

Totem’s brief was to take those insights and help Odyssey VC distil and translate them out to consumers, with an update of its website, and a refresh of the branding and website for its digital product offering, CompliantCloud.

CompliantCloud offered an innovative, fully qualified, cloud infrastructure that specifically met the complex compliance needs of the highly regulated life sciences sector.

Totem guided Odyssey VC through a series of workshops to help it identify where its brands should strategically be positioned in the market.

“The brand workshop process with Totem allowed us to share all the insights we’d gathered around the problems we existed to solve, who we existed to serve and where we saw ourselves in the future,” continued O’Riordan. “And then take them a step further. Their approach very much focuses on empathising with your end-user, and they allowed us to relook at ourselves with fresh eyes – from the outside in.

“Their process gave us the space and tools to condense all our insights. And it also shone on a light on the fact that our brand challenge was at a much more fundamental level.”

Finding the right structure

One of the key elements that came out of these initial brand positioning workshops, was that its brand architecture was not fit for purpose and needed to be reassessed before moving forward.

“Your brand, in the simplest terms, is your reputation,” said Colin Byrne, creative MD with Totem. “And when it came to developing the Odyssey VC brand we were starting from a phenomenal position. They already had an incredible reputation as the experts and leaders for digital compliance in the life science sector. They just needed help telling that story.

“The bigger challenge was the way they had structured their brands. With their key product, CompliantCloud, segmented as a standalone brand, relatively unconnected from the parent service business. 

“Which, when we delved into it and looked from their customers point of view, meant a lost opportunity to really leverage the incredible equity that existed within the Odyssey VC parent brand.”

Initially Odyssey VC thought those engaging with its services and buy its product were two quite different people, but that was no longer the case, explained O’Riordan: “When we asked what the essence of the development of the product was – it was the embedded knowledge and expertise that was in the business already as a service arm,

Totem helped us refresh the Odyssey VC brand and messaging, and let us relaunch CompliantCloud, firmly in its rightful place as a product, allowing us to fully leverage the reputation we had as a service business.

“And the whole process has given us that clarity and understanding that any intelligence we deliver in a digital solution going forward – really its credibility will come from the decades of knowledge we have on how to solve complex compliance problems on the services side.”

Positioned for global success

Odyssey VC first launched a refresh of its main website in Q4 2021, streamlining what they do into 15 key service solutions – each addressing a core customer need.

In March 2022, it relaunched its CompliantCloud website and brand with a new logo, tone of voice and messaging.

“I think one of the biggest things it’s given us as a team is an incredible sense of confidence and excitement about who we are, what we are doing as a company and what we can accomplish in the future,” said O’Riordan. “An absolute belief in our vision and what we can make possible for the life sciences industry.

“Not just for Irish based players, but ones globally. With opportunities to expand easily into markets our previous ways of working would have prevented – like Europe, America and Japan.”

“At Totem we exist to create success stories and empower ambitious organisations, like Odyssey VC, to achieve their dreams,” said Byrne. “This project was extra special for us, because it wasn’t just about transforming their brands. It was about empowering them, to digitally transform a whole industry. An industry that is so integral to all of our futures.”

Key words of advice

O’Riordan offered some words of advice for those interested in embarking on a similar journey: “For me, it’s about committing to the work. There is a really defined, structured and achievable process to branding. And as long as you are willing to ask yourselves some very tough questions – you will get that clarity you are looking for.”

“The branding process is not something to fear,” said Byrne. “You’re not expected to have any answers going into it. And it’s not something many people will have gone through – which is why we are there to guide teams every step of the way. “More than any learnt technical skills its qualities like openness, honesty and empathy that make branding projects like this, a success.”


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