People don’t believe advertisers. Advertising is dead. It died when consumers lost engagement, understanding and definition of its purpose. Many consumer brands have changed – they’ve been resurrected from the old, tatty bodies and simple direct-to-consumer advertising technique they once inhabited. Well, at least some brands have. This has meant that the way they communicate with an audience and sell services and products has completely changed. For many brands they are confused about how to connect and advertise to this audience in the constantly evolving digital age. How do they use advertising techniques to connect successfully?

May be a watery metaphor, but this borders on fact. So much so that a study was done back in 2010, which was written by Michael Hulme of the Institute for Advanced Studies at Lancaster University, found that 95% of people indicated that they did not trust advertising. Less than a tenth (8%) trust what companies say about themselves and more than half (58%) agreed with the statement “companies are only interested in selling products and services to me, not necessarily the product or service that is right for me“. Perhaps most importantly, only 17% of respondents believe companies take what they say seriously. What does this mean? Beyond “digital”, we are in an era of unprecedented social change. The emergence of digital channels and internet-based social media has created a new world of communications. Many brands are struggling to understand, and more importantly locate themselves, within this new world. Does this mean we need to lie to the 95%? No, of course not, it means connected in a way that is honest. Traditional direct to consumer advertising is dead. Advertising now fits within a realm of strategic marketing.

Honesty. what does that even mean for advertising brands? Fundamentally, it means openness. But, beyond that, it means caring about ones actions and knowing, corporately, who you want to purchase your product or service and target them. People buy into beliefs and ideas that they can align their own lives with. Total transparency – for consumer products, yes, but also for professional services such as health, lifestyle and business. Reputation and relevance is now widely considered the most important factor in brand engagement. To gain this reputation, relevance and consumer engagement requires the understanding to connect with the consumer on an equal pegging. Social media is the most obvious manifestation of this, but it is merely a channel of the conversation that needs to be harnessed. After all, social media is a platform that enables companies to interact and engage, but platforms alone can’t force change. Fundamentally, companies are scared to change from traditional advertising techniques to more socially free strategies. For marketing managers, the loss of control is both daunting and places their careers on the line. It’s impossible to control the content, so don’t try.

All of this said, I think it’s easy to overstate social media’s virtues, and to be too cynical about companies and advertising in general. While it’s easy to conclude that traditional advertising is dead and that companies should be delivering their marketing messages on an individual level, the reality is that the mode and mediums aren’t the problem, it’s the honesty and value in the question itself. It just so happens people don’t believe honesty when it’s presented to them in a contrived manner.

Looking back, I feel it’s safe to think of 2011 as the year of the mobile website. Maybe not the year of its creation, nor of its content, but definitely for the expanses it may in both the consumer market and, more specifically, how it has engaged with healthcare markets.

As traditionally most marketing managers of pharmaceutical and healthcare companies (including public) are, to put it mildly, finding it difficult keeping up with advances in digital technology engagement, the potential of digital engagement evolving into the healthcare industry has for the last 5 years been difficult times. With 2011 proving to be a pinnacle turning point for consumer and public smartphone and app engagement, marketing managers have looked to agencies to help connect with people and harness the technology correctly – and agencies now look to mobile strategy at the heart of this promotion. They are able to do this as, at long last, marketing managers have realised that mobile platforms and digital engagement strategies are paramount for any brand. As techcrunch stated in January 2012: “Mobile maturity is one area, however, where brands and agencies are playing catch-up with consumer demand” – this is highlighted further in the healthcare industry, which seems to be playing perpetual catchup to the consumer world.

Why are marketing managers increasingly turning to mobile and digital engagement and, specially, why is this engagement the correct form? In the US, according to Manhattan Research 2011 Year in Review, a mobile presence for pharmaceutical products that is optimised for smartphones to engage the public is almost a requirement today – specifically, according to the statistics of 61 million consumers, people are twice as likely to use mobile devices and apps to connect with health related information. The latest healthtech research in the US shows that the future looks good for mobile health solutions, especially for companies buying into mobile apps. ABI Research recently released a report which predicts that the health mobile app market is on target to hit $400 million in revenue by 2016. That’s up from $120 million in 2010. In the UK, there is only a small population percentage difference of people with Smartphones (>1%), which can allow us to gauge the evolution of apps in the healthcare market. There is however a large difference in the healthcare/pharmaceutical expenditure per person on mobile engagement in comparison to the US, with a larger proportion of commercial healthcare/pharmaceutical enterprises.

Image Courtsey of Sam Walmsley from Bluelight.

As pharmaceutical companies compete from a wider market and aim to treat specific diseases in greater detail, the brand managers and marketers of these companies are continuing to revamp marketing campaigns to add specific benefits to consumers and patients, which will aid them and also offer end-user advantage. These strategies may include providing disease-specific education and information on managing diseases, or even running campaigns that feature the manufacturer as an advocate for patient health. In 2012 this will become even greater an issue as smartphone and apps evolve at a greater rate, and the pressure is (and should be) on the healthcare brands to keep up with emerging technology, which is no mean feat for an industry constantly trying to catch up on existing technology. Marty DeAngelo, vice president and director of interaction design at Digitas Health, believes that pharmaceutical companies are failing to capitalize on the rise of the mobile channel as a way to reach consumers and healthcare professionals. In a column over at MediaPost, DeAngelo claims that of the top 25 drug brands in 2010, only three had mobile websites as of December 2011. This shows a fundamental lack of understanding in mobile use cases, as well as the misunderstanding of how to convey information in a mobile context, and a fear of regulatory law and practice and the application of its context on the device.

Wider use of smartphones has also created a surge of demand for health and medical apps, with the report predicting that downloads will hit 44 million this year and 142 million by 2016.

Not only is the pressure on engaging with a consumers and patients, there is also increasing pressure on keep up-to-date with a new era of Healthcare professionals who, particularly Doctors, are becoming particularly tech savvy and increasingly demand engaging, useful, tools for their practice. The Doctors of old favouring pencils instead of computers are long-gone. The impact of this can be seen in the US, with just how successful a digital agency focussing on HCPs with Epocrates, who have won over nearly half of the nation’s doctors with its free smartphone apps that lets them look up information on drug dosing, interactions and insurance coverage while seeing a patient. The apps can select messages based on each doctor’s search and prescription histories, and the company has ambitious plans for expanded smartphone offerings. One possibility is a virtual sales rep that would help drug makers get their wares in front of physicians who decline to see human sales representatives.

A new report predicts that by 2016, 3 million patients around the world will be using smartphones as a hub to transmit data from remote health monitoring devices to reduce the burden of an aging population and unhealthy lifestyles. The report finds that cardiac monitoring technology is leading the field, largely because it may be covered by insurance plans. Management of diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) and other chronic conditions is also expected to rise.

The amount of health data is exploding in line with the growing adoption of health and medical apps, much of this thanks to the increasingly wearable, portable and user-friendly devices using smart sensors that can capture and transmit all kinds of biometric data.

many healthcare marketers face on a daily basis – meeting deadlines, incorporating new technologies, managing perceptions, and influencing behaviors all while ensuring personal growth.

As new technologies, platforms and devices expand the digital experience, flexibility is necessary for managing a fast-moving, changing environment.

The Experience:

• Don’t make the user think. Users should be able to find the information they want quickly and easily.
• Use rich media and videos whenever possible. It’s more engaging and less work for the visitor than reading.

In 2012 the landscape will continue to change as mobile and tablet users evolve. One thing that won’t change is the challenge of presenting relevant information in an intuitive experience.

Last but not least, 2012 is begging for brands to truly integrate mobile with commerce and CRM programs, and create new integrated experiences for in-store, at home and on-the-go.

Pharmaceutical companies are in trouble with ongoingpatent cliffs with a clear choice facing them. They can follow the path of the railroad industry which is the path most are on right now. Alternatively, they can follow the path IBM took when its future was similarly bleak. IBM demonstrated how it’s possible for a large company to shift from a product-centric culture to a customer and service centered company. It’s clear that pharma companies will succeed or fail based not on how many drugs they sell, but on how well their offerings improve health outcomes.

References

http://social.eyeforpharma.com/sales/special-report-mobile-apps-and-pharma

http://www.pixelsandpills.com/2012/01/02/case-mobile-healthcare/

http://techcrunch.com/2012/01/16/mobile-technology-is-transforming-the-health-industry-but-to-what-extent/

http://www.slideshare.net/sammielw/mobile-marketing-for-healthcare-and-pharmaceutical-eyeforpharma-presentation-sam-walmsley-bluelight

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/29/business/the-epocrates-app-provides-drug-information-and-drug-ads.html?pagewanted=all

http://mobihealthnews.com/15529/digitas-pharma-is-missing-mobile-opportunity/

http://www.stargroup1.com/blog/tips-creating-engaging-mobile-websites-pharma-marketers

http://infographiclist.com/2012/03/09/smartphone-and-app-growth-soars-infographic/

As you may be aware, November is a very special time for men. With more and more growing, or at least attempting to, it is a month of eclectic mixes of moustaches to fundraise and raise awareness of Prostate Cancer. This year I decided to take it serious and opted for the fair-haired horseshoe. You can see my Mospace page below, as well as donate if you are feeling generous, im humbled to have raised over £100 this year and next year I’m already planning doubling it!

http://mobro.co/georgeharvey

After two years working for the NHS, Im happy to write that I’ve now just joined Pan Advertising as a Designer. PAN is a leading UK healthcare advertising and communications agency and I’m excited at joining such an innovative agency, producing some creative work for healthcare clients.

Pan provides expertise to pharmaceutical and healthcare clients in Global and European branding, brand positioning, advertising and promotion. Working closely with clients to develop strategies that work across all elements of the communications mix targeted towards healthcare professionals and patients. These range from traditional offline elements to a range of the latest online digital solutions. To read more about pan, visit www.pancomms.com