Campaign’s Faces to Watch, Brand Edition 2021 – Sayali Kavalekar, Digital Communications Specialist – Middle East, Turkey, and Africa, Boehringer Ingelheim
Age: 29
Nominated by Khaled Hakim, Account Director – Socialize
Collectively and as a team, Sayali is one of our favourite clients. She is a very determined, passionate, and focused professional that has been a successful quest to bring her organization up to speed in leveraging of social and digital media channels to help her organization achieve their marketing objectives in the region. We highly commend her efforts day in and day out as over the years we saw her grow her role and function within her organization to take on a flagship position in ushering in different departments and business units in the region to explore the realm of social media communications in their marketing mixes. And beneath it all, Sayali is a true team player through and through and this sincerely extends beyond work and is genuine inside and out.
Bio
When Boehringer Ingelheim decided to establish its social media presence, we were among the first pharma companies in the region. Since then, I have led several patient-focused campaigns to grow our presence and build an engaged online community through our channels. I love how social media connects our organization with the patients, and it has significantly helped us understand them better! In the last four years since we launched, I have had the opportunity to lead on strategy, content, and drive campaigns that have helped us grow by surpassing industry standards.
One recent example is our first influencer collaboration campaign to support patients by helping them understand, prevent, and manage an emergency like a stroke.
Having had the opportunity to introduce social media in the organization and lead digital communications has helped me understand the power of social media in the pharmaceutical industry and beyond.
Guiding principles
Hard work, dedication, and being kind are three things that help me stay grounded and make me ready to adapt to the constantly evolving industry.
How has Covid-19 changed your job?
During the pandemic, digital became the only way we could continue connecting with the public and patients. As a pharmaceutical organization, we were responsible for ensuring continued support for our community by pausing our existing plans and sharing relevant and reliable information that can help them. That is when I realized we need to create a safe space for patients with pre-existing conditions as well as the general public to share their questions and get the trusted answers that they are looking for. Support, guidance, and just being there for our community who were constantly looking for practical advice became my top priority.
Side hustle
The pandemic gave me time to pause and think of self-development. I’ve reignited my passion to learn and read. Like many, I signed up for courses to enhance my knowledge to keep up with trends within the digital space. On a personal front, I got back to my books, and this really opened my mind to new possibilities, giving me endless food for thought!
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