Christian Orry Andersen has 25 years of experience in marketing, having worked for some of the most influential agencies, brands, and companies. His role at Danish biotechnology firm Novonesis is to make the world of biosolutions accessible to all, via its brand marketing campaigns.
At Novonesis, a global leader in biological solutions, we faced a unique challenge: rebranding two legacy names, Christian Hansen and Novozymes, into a single, cohesive entity. It wasn't just a new logo or a catchy name. It was about fundamentally shifting how we communicated our complex work to the world.
We operate in a niche, B2B space, creating biological solutions. That means utilising enzymes and microorganisms to sustainably improve consumer and industrial products. Now, enzymes and microbes aren't exactly everyday conversations for most people. But, we're in everything, from food to washing powder, in over 160 countries.
We needed a new way to talk to people; to make our science more accessible and boost awareness for our company. We achieved that, and then some. Our YouTube ad went absolutely viral, being viewed over 6 million times. That's more than we could've ever predicted for a niche video about biosolutions.
Beyond the B2B bubble: Reaching a wider audience
Our main goal was to reach potential clients, legislators, and journalists — the usual B2B targets. But we also felt an underlying need to show everyone that biosolutions are good and that we can look at biology to solve some of the world's biggest problems.
The crucial element was figuring out how to tell our story. There is an inherent complexity to the scientific aspect of our work and, in all honesty, it’s not everyone's cup of tea.
We knew we didn’t want to romanticise our work; we needed to be authentic. So, alongside our media agency Publicis, we set out to answer the question: "How do we make complex science accessible, without oversimplifying it?"
Making the niche fascinating: The power of storytelling
The answer lay in humanising our work. We asked fermentation specialist David Zilber, a former bestselling author of The Noma Guide to Fermentation and judge on Top Chef Canada, now a Novonesis employee. His relatable, engaging personality, as the narrator of our "What is a biosolution?" video was just right:
The idea was to avoid a typical corporate talking-head style video and instead have a passionate expert explaining our work in a way anyone could understand. The video showed how our solutions help in real life, like washing clothes at lower temperatures or keeping food fresh longer.
This is where YouTube became our unexpected ally. People watch what interests them, with the line between ads and content blurring more every day. In our case this meant creating a video that felt more like a mini-documentary than an ad for Novonesis.
Our three-minute video, initially launched as a skippable ad. It saw average watch times exceeding two minutes and, incredibly, it was viewed over 6 million times on YouTube alone. I was honestly surprised that so many people watched it, and for that long, given it was an ad.
Embrace accessibility: Bridging the knowledge gap
Using YouTube's targeting capabilities, viewers who had watched over 75% of the first video were shown a second — "Welcome to Novonesis" — followed by “A Biosolution for (almost) everything”. Each of these built on the previous one.
With millions of views on these videos too, we knew people were consuming the content because they were interested in it, not as an ad. We targeted smartly, yes, but the content itself resonated. It wasn't a hard sell; it was just… interesting. People stumbled upon it, perhaps after watching something else, and thought, "Hey, this is actually pretty cool”.
It sparked curiosity and initiated a conversation about the potential of biosolutions.
This wasn't just about views. After launch, there was also an increase in Google searches for our new brand name — something we consistently measure against our legacy company names — which the video certainly played a role in helping us achieve.
We wanted to move beyond technical jargon and illustrate the real-world impact of biosolutions, for example there are solutions that can help climate change. We wanted to positively influence journalists, legislators, and, ultimately, consumers.
What all marketers can learn from one viral video
For marketers in sectors like ours with complex stories to tell, here's what I’ve learned:
- Think beyond B2B: Cultivate a broader understanding and love of your industry.
- Make the niche fascinating: Nothing is too technical or "boring" with compelling content.
- Embrace accessibility: Translate complex topics into relatable narratives.
Starting with zero followers and views just a year ago, we’ve shown you don't need to be a consumer brand to connect with a broad audience.
If you have a compelling story, told authentically and simply, people will listen.
