On October 22, 2008, I was sitting in a popular session at the MarketingProfs Digital Mixer, hosted by the legendary CC Chapman. CC’s topic focused on the corporate use of online video — something I recapped in a cleverly-named post: CC Chapman on Online Video
At the end of the session, a woman asked how a pharmaceutical company like the one she worked for could use online video. She understood how it could be used for business-to-consumer applications. She understood how companies who sold business-to-business could use it. Her question was how to use video in an industry that was regulated by the Food and Drug administration (FDA).
As a New Media Evangelist who helps companies tell their stories online, I run into this question constantly. If it’s not the FDA and the pharmaceutical industry, it’s FINRA for the financial industry, or the FTC for publicly traded companies.
So I went on a quest. My goal was to find a company who works in a regulated industry yet was using New/Social Media successfully. What I found was more than I could have expected.
I found Johnson & Johnson, a 123 year old, $64 billion holding company that had not only been using YouTube successfully, but that it had two blogs, Kilmer House and JNJ BTW, a Twitter account, and was experimenting with a Facebook Group. And as I studied the series of events that transpired to enable this success, I stumbled upon a road map that any company can use to develop its Social Media strategy.
Here I present the results of my research in my latest e-book:
Johnson & Johnson Does New Media
The e-book is licensed under Creative Commons, so please feel free to pass it around!



Congratulations on another outstanding study. There is a ton of cross over information here that directly applies to my field, financial services. Your perspectives and insights help open new media possibilities in areas that once seemed off limits.
Rob
@shorespeak
Rob Shore
June 15, 2009
[...] JnJ does new media,talk about blogging comment [...]
Time to swap your avatar! | Marketing Over Coffee Marketing Podcast
June 17, 2009
Great post, Ron! This is all really helpful information. I thought J&J’s use of the YouTube channel was quite compelling (and refreshing that it wasn’t just being used to push products).
Ginger
Ginger
June 22, 2009
[...] Orange County new media consultant Ron Ploof (@ronploof) recently published released a free e-book (HERE) on how Johnson & Johnson — a 123-year-old multinational under FDA regulations — [...]
Only the foolish ignore online conversations - Lansner on Real Estate - OCRegister.com
June 28, 2009
Do Executives Really Read Blogs?…
A few weeks ago I was talking with a former colleague about social media (or new media or web 2.0 or social networking or whatever you call it). He is now VP of sales at one of the companies in our industry and is contemplating starting a blog or doing…
harry ... the ASIC guy
June 29, 2009
Great work Ron. I had the study forwarded to me by a customer I’m working with here in Australia. So it’s definitely making the rounds!
Richard Giles
July 8, 2009
Good stuff
pharmiweb
August 26, 2009
Good stuff
pharmiweb
August 26, 2009
[...] the end of my discussion with Ron, he also talks about his latest whitepaper: “Johnson & Johnson Does New Media.” The report, which was published earlier today, details some of the imaginative ways that [...]
Ron Ploof on the Business of Storytelling | LiveWorld SocialVoice Blog
June 22, 2010
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI