Service Insight: Creative consumer communications and pharma
pharmafile | June 24, 2011 | Feature | Medical Communications | Service Insight, advertising, creativity, fmcg
SERVICE INSIGHT
I arrived in healthcare communications having spent 12 years as a creative PR consultant within the FMCG and technology industries, and I did so with a few preconceptions.
On more than one occasion former colleagues had asked why I was choosing to leave behind the largely regulation-free world of consumer brands for an industry constrained by codes, and often dealing in fairly dry and serious messages.
I was effectively being told that the pharmaceutical industry wasn’t the place for someone that has spent his career devising creative communications campaigns and selling ‘the big idea’.
I disagreed then and I still do now. The approach for this industry is no different than in any other sector. Yes, there are certain frameworks to work within and codes to adhere to, but that only makes what we do more of a challenge and certainly doesn’t need to stifle creativity.
I think I am part of a growing trend. Why? Because the needs of the pharmaceutical industry are changing.
All industries have woken up to a new world order where the consumer is king.
People are better informed, better educated, better connected and more importantly, they feel empowered.
In the three years since I made the switch, I have witnessed a blurring of the lines between the mainstream consumer and pharmaceutical worlds.
Traditional healthcare agencies have made senior hires from the consumer space and senior job titles have been changed to reflect a more consumer-facing focus.
Effective campaigns now need to deliver on multiple levels to multiple audiences – from the controllers holding the purse strings and the health professionals that care; to the patients that manage their conditions and the communities and families that support them.
Understanding the consumer has become central to creative communications and I would argue has a key role to play when communicating with more traditional healthcare audiences too.
Let’s not forget, healthcare professionals are also consumers and at times we would do well to remember there is a difference between the profession and the person.
The information might be complex and the message might be serious, but it doesn’t mean the delivery has to be dry.
From an agency perspective, diversity is the key. In our case we span the health spectrum, from pharmaceutical and OTC to public sector and health financial services. The advantage of working across such a broad client base is that we can easily call on a range of in-house experience as part of the creative process – and it is a process.
Stick a group of people in a room for long enough and they may well come up with a good creative solution, but more often than not they won’t. Effective idea generation requires good planning and even better facilitation.
As the world continues to change, so will the role that the pharmaceutical industry plays. It is not enough to simply roll out the old formulas because that’s the way it’s always been done.
Healthcare professionals will come under greater pressure from an increasingly informed public, and this industry can best serve them by demonstrating that it not only understands the public it is dealing with, but by creating communications programmes that help to give all stakeholders in health decision-making a voice.
From my own perspective – and I appreciate I am probably biased – I believe this can best be achieved by continuing to look at what ‘non-pharmaceutical’ communications professionals might bring to the table – approaches and perspectives that are uncoloured by preconceptions and baggage.
Blend this creative experience with your existing expertise and you will have an approach that is fit for the future and one that allows creativity to flourish, even if it is within the confines of a regulated industry.
Stuart Hehir is creative and digital director at Pegasus. For more infomation visit: www.pegasuspr.co.uk
For more information on Service Insight features contact InPharm’s sales team on +44 (0)1243 772 010 or email pharmafilesales@wiley.com
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