Recap: Fostering Efficiency and Creativity in a Regulated World
Lexi Olson, Associate Director, Brand Strategy, Shockwave Medical (A Johnson & Johnson MedTech Company)
In highly regulated industries, compliance requirements can often feel at odds with creativity and speed. In this practical and energizing session, Lexi Olson shared how Shockwave Medical successfully transformed its creative operations—reducing email chaos, accelerating approvals, and empowering teams—without compromising innovation.
As a two-time Lytho customer, Lexi brought firsthand experience from both healthcare and medtech environments. At Shockwave, a fast-growing organization recently acquired by Johnson & Johnson MedTech, her team needed a scalable system that could maintain structure while preserving the scrappy creativity that defined their brand team.
From “email jail” to streamlined workflow
Before implementing Lytho, Shockwave’s review process relied heavily on email—resulting in version confusion, delayed feedback, and unclear approvals. As the brand team doubled in size and marketing expanded beyond 80 team members, the need for collaborative efficiency became critical.
Lexi outlined a strategic, phased rollout approach:
- Phase 1: Launch with the core creative team to define workflows and review processes.
- Phase 2: Expand to a process-oriented product marketing team to pressure-test adoption.
- Phase 3: Roll out to the broader marketing organization.
- Phase 4: Introduce regulatory, legal, and medical affairs reviewers.
- Phase 5: Launch Brand Center and Tempo during a major brand refresh to reinforce adoption and brand stewardship.
This structured expansion ensured buy-in, minimized disruption, and created sustainable adoption.
Enabling marketing to self-serve — without losing control
One of the most impactful changes was empowering marketers to run certain projects independently. Instead of routing everything through the brand team, select users were given structured project environments where they could create proofs and manage approvals—while still maintaining guardrails through defined permissions and standardized workflows.
This approach:
- Reduced bottlenecks for the internal agency model
- Increased accountability across marketing
- Preserved brand and regulatory compliance
How Lytho drives “approved as-is” status for healthcare
Lexi shared practical tactics that helped Shockwave reach “approved-as-is” faster:
1. Define Roles & Permissions Early
Limit visibility and capabilities to what each role truly needs. Simplifying the user experience improves adoption and reduces training complexity.
2. Tailor Training by Audience
Train stakeholder groups separately using relevant examples. Clearly communicate the “What’s In It For Me” (WIFM) to drive engagement. Host office hours and provide customized documentation to reinforce learning.
3. Standardize Proof Templates
Create structured templates that require key regulatory details (audience, geography, distribution, claims support) upfront. This reduces back-and-forth and accelerates final compliance approvals.
4. Use Smart, Tiered Review Routes
Leverage templates—but don’t over-automate. Customize routes by project type, geography, or product line. Features like “one-of-two required” reviewers helped streamline regulatory sign-off.
5. Assign a Project Quarterback
For large campaigns or launches, designate a single team lead to consolidate feedback before it enters the system. This eliminated conflicting direction and improved accountability.
6. Be Proactive Before Submitting for Review
Add contextual comments, link citations directly in proofs, and use markup tools to guide reviewers. The clearer the setup, the fewer revisions required.
7. Centralize Communication
Use shared proof links and project notes to reduce status-check emails and keep discussions visible to all stakeholders.
Shockwave avoids compliance surprises with Lytho
Operating in medical device marketing requires final approval in a separate compliance system. By completing collaborative reviews in Lytho first, Shockwave significantly reduced rejections and surprises at the final stage.
The results over the past six months show:
- Fewer proof versions
- Faster approvals
- Reduced regulatory rejections
- More time for creative work
As one designer shared, having everything centralized “gives back headspace to be more creative.”
Efficient workflows help streamline compliance for this medical device company
Efficiency doesn’t have to equal compromise. With intentional setup — clear roles, smart routing, proactive collaboration, and phased adoption — creative teams in regulated industries can move faster, reduce friction, and protect what matters most: their ability to innovate.
Lexi closed with a challenge:
If your workflow had a soundtrack, what would it sound like? And if it’s not energizing your team, maybe it’s time to change the track.
Learn more about how Lytho supports compliance and governance for healthcare or book time to chat with us about your specific needs.