It had been a long time since I’d gone on Bristol-Myers’ site. So it was a pleasant surprise when, a few moments after typing www.bms.com into my browser, an interesting voice began speaking to me.
BMS features a patient story front-and-center – but not merely a picture with words. A video kicked right off and, in the span of a few seconds, I was engaged in a brief account of someone overcoming rheumatoid arthritis.
Now I normally dislike video or audio firing off as soon as I get onto a website. Actually, “resent” is a more accurate term. But in this case, I was drawn in. This little vignette was done just right.
And, BMS puts to use some reasonably good taglines. Your will. Our Medicines. Together we can fight serious diseases. Together we can prevail. Instead of just using some sterile self-referential tagline about health, BMS tries to create a sense of connection.
The rest of the site design is just OK. The use of white space is reasonable, and the navigational elements are pretty typical of a major pharma company. If anything, it’s too crowded – and that “TMI” (too much information) motif continues as you get into the submenus. Sometimes, you can throw so many links at visitors that it is hard to feel comfortable – like being in a party with 50 people packed into one room. The relatively simple graphical design of the home page gets cluttered once you move deeper into the site – a jumble of graphics and colors begins to intrude.
Nonetheless, I’m going to give Bristol one high mark – for nailing the use of video and using storytelling to immediately grab attention. While the rest of the site doesn’t stand out, that element is the best “hook” yet I’ve seen on a pharma home page.
Prior website reviews:
