"The 2024 Checklist for Better Creativity in Healthcare Marketing"
Bastion Brands Executive Creative Director Bruce Williams looks at the essentials of building better human connections in healthcare advertising.
What will 2024 bring to the way we view creativity in marketing? And how can we make sure we are ‘pulling all the right triggers’ in producing communications that not only resonate but make a behaviour-changing impact on our audience?
With the world still facing uncertain times ahead, it’s never been more vital to show healthy respect to and comprehensive understanding of the state of mind of our audience. Add in a heightened sense of ‘political correctness’ and you start getting a feeling for how creativity could be compromised.
But that’s nothing new in pharma marketing. Working within strict medical guidelines and restrictions have always been boundaries for healthcare marketing creativity – and yet the quality of work still reaches new heights each year…
2024 should be no exception – as long as we follow some tried and tested rules – and continue to push the emotional outcomes higher up the scale in supporting the science and core claims of the services and medicines we promote.
FOCUS ON THE OUTCOME
Your drug may be able to do this or cure that. It may perform XX% better than your competitor. It may increase life for patients over 80 for an extra 6 years. Your science is incredible!
Of course, it is vital, but what does all that science mean in human terms? Rather than focus on the data, focus instead on the patient – and how their life has improved as a result of your innovative medicines.
For example, having a drug that gives cancer patients an extra year of life is wonderful to give to people… but showing what that patient did in that extra year of life is a thousand times more compelling.
BE AUTHENTIC, AND INCLUSIVE
People can always spot fake and HCPs and patients are no exception.
So where possible, use actual patients (and therefore create photo assets that are unique to your brand). This approach resonates much more with target audiences, with the key focus on their story and how your brand has enabled a transformation or change within the individual.
Audiences react well to inclusivity, and brands that are consistently committed to diversity.
This ties back to a desire from consumers for brands to go beyond the tokenistic: to the authentic. If done well, you reach a level of relatability that will resonate greater with the Australian consumer.
FOCUS ON POSITIVITY
In terms of creative execution, it’s often hard to evaluate where your brand needs to stand. Do you focus on the problem – a bit like using ‘scare tactics’ to highlight a need – or the solution?
If we are honest, most of us don’t want to be reminded of the ‘bad’: we want to focus on the ‘good’.
We work with many clients whose brand identity prohibits the use of imagery that shows people with ‘frowns’ or ‘negative expressions’. Even the use of words with negative connotations is not permissible.
And while it is a restriction that can hinder the creative process, it also reminds us of the results we all hope for – that outcome of ‘getting better’. So why focus on showing conditions and ailments Doctors and specialists live with daily? They get enough of that in their practices, journals and med ed seminars.
In healthcare marketing, the right balance of positivity and compassion – brought to life with emotionally engaging stories – is a better balance to connect with your audience.
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We are always interested in hearing from great people dedicated to making a career in pharmaceutical communications. If you’re ready to make a positive impact with Bastion Brands, get in touch today.