Innovation Week at FCB Health focuses on tech advances in healthcare advertising
FCB Health Network held its annual Innovation Week from May 7-9, 2019. Here’s a topline summary for anyone who missed the event.
Branding Trends
Dynamic branding is a revolution against static branding. A good example is MTV in its early days, whose logo had different colors, patterns, and effects. AOL, London Olympics, and MIT Media Lab are other examples. Simplicity is another prevailing trend. Early logos from companies like Apple, Canon, Ford, Nokia, Shell, and Levi’s were quite complicated and have been simplified over time. Apple, Chanel, Walt Disney, and Heineken are examples where the name has been dropped altogether from the logo and a symbol stands alone. Netflix adopted audio branding, Uber adopted motion design, and Casper adopted a specific illustration style to further differentiate their brands. Some brands (Cole Haan, Burberry, Lord & Taylor) have taken an approach to branding known as blanding, where designs are simplified to the point where they seem generic. Sonos and Viceland are held up as good examples of this trend. 
Progressive Design
Speakers at the event say we have to make sure that our design decisions are based on actual user metrics. Progressive design also means that user metrics will inform all future iterations. Digital product design should never be considered “one-and-done.” Following some basic Agile principles leads to greater efficiencies in production, while utilizing rapid prototyping and testing tools enables us to “fail fast” – before we get into the development phase. Experience Design (XD) is the bridge between many other capabilities across an agency, such as Creative and Technology. The tools used in progressive design will greatly increase efficiencies throughout the entire digital workflow, leading to flawless execution.
Bringing the Customer to Life at Scale
Our data-driven journeys power effective/empathetic marketing initiatives by combining insights from real-world behavior with relevant information sources, according to event speakers. Leveraging big data, we define disease-specific audience profiles across the treatment journey. Based on significant moments in the journey, we tie customers’ needs and behaviors to tactical opportunities via engagement mapping. The insights derived empower agency teams and clients to make key business decisions that impact how, where, and when they should communicate to their target audiences with brand messages and experiences. Measure all tactics with a closed-loop system that ensures continuously optimized behavior-change focused strategies and tactics.
Harnessing the Power of Audience Addressability
Addressability is the ability to send ads only to the people within your target audience. Addressability works by solving two problems: 1) how to identify a device and 2) how to match that device to a person. Facebook and Google have created a duopoly in the addressable market by making it very easy to advertise inside their walled gardens in a one-to-one capacity. In looking at the technical layer of addressability, there are two ways to identify users – through unauthenticated or authenticated targeting. Authenticated is generally better because it allows you to find the user across any device and browser they log into.
There are also two ways to match data to users – deterministically and probabilistically. The ideal methodology is to use both approaches together, because it allows for an accurate footprint with an expanded reach. Drawbridge and LiveRamp are two key vendors in the space that can work in harmony to activate an addressable HCP campaign.
Creating Personalized Brand Experiences for Prospects, Patients, and Prescribers
Creating a personalized experience delivers outstanding return on marketing investment (ROMI). Agency case studies ranged from $4 to $1 ROMI for the lowest personalization levels to $13 to $1 for the highest. Personalizing the experience encompasses both owned media (CRM) and paid media, where we can target specific messages based on a person’s profile. Critical success factors are creating business rules for message sequencing and engagement triggers, and getting buy-in on a streamlined submission process from your medical/legal/regulatory group.
Harnessing Emerging Tech to Tell Your Story
New technologies certainly have a wow factor, but what is the best way to effectively leverage these for our brands? We explored advances in augmented reality, immersive media, and virtual humans, and discussed how these new technologies can be best used to tell universal healthcare stories of science, patients, and data.
The Patient Story Reinvented 
This case study shared the innovative ways one dermatology brand educated physicians on the burdens of two dermatological conditions. The solutions included an interactive virtual patient exam (using a digitally scanned human), an immersive film taking viewers through a year of treatment, and heartbreaking animated patient stories driven by the patients’ own voices.
Virtual Reality, Real Outcomes
The opportunity for virtual reality (VR) in pharmaceutical marketing is improving health outcomes. The key to building a successful experience is to focus on the end user. An intuitive interface, controller selection, duration, and venue are important considerations. Sales of VR headsets are steadily climbing. By the end of 2019, the global installed base is expected to reach 40 million. Viewers spend a long time in the experience. For a recent show, the average viewing time was 6.5 minutes.
Robots in the Studio: Visual Engineering
Renowned photographer and cinematographer Steve Giralt discussed his evolution from traditional tabletop product photographer to a “visual engineer” utilizing advanced robotics. Giralt shared behind-the-scenes footage showing how the integration of robotically controlled ultra-slow-motion cameras, objects, and lights can deliver unforgettable imagery.
Virtual Production
Marc Rowley, CEO of the virtual production company LiveCGI, discussed the emerging field of live virtual production – in which all sets, cameras, and actors are replaced with real-time computer-generated imagery. The presentation included a live demonstration of the technology, with a volunteer from the audience putting on a performance-capture suit and bringing a virtual character to life on stage. Learn more about LiveCGI and their offering at livecgi.com.
The Power of Sound
Scott Hopeck from iHeartMedia discussed how the exponential adoption of smart speakers is driving a “resurgence in sound.” Research on how the brain perceives sound has shown that we all build a mental picture of the sounds we hear – the ultimate in “personalization.” Healthcare brands can take advantage of sound through radio and podcasting. Learn more about iHeartMedia and their offering at iheartmedia.com.
Power of Platforms: Facebook, Veeva, and Google
Facebook in 2019 is focusing on meaningful interactions between family and friends, new policies to tackle inauthentic activity, more transparency and streamlined settings to control your data, and new tools to help advertisers control where their ads are seen. Facebook users scroll through more than 300 feet of content on average per day which is equivalent to the height of the Statue of Liberty. They are consuming content quickly.
The first three seconds of a mobile video are the most critical to capture a person’s attention and deliver your main message. Twenty-three million businesses are using Instagram stories, and one-third of the most viewed stories are from businesses. Instagram Stories supports display of ISI through split-screen or a floating box. Carousel ads allow for three cards/45 seconds of content, which is useful for branded communications.
Facebook is focusing on many broader aspects of healthcare: Amber Alerts, safety checks, blood donations, and monetary donations to nonprofits and causes.
Veeva Systems says it has moved beyond the traditional face-to-face linear sales call with Intelligent Engagement. “Utilizing Veeva’s AI platform Andi, we can now get the right message, at the right time, to our customers,” management says.
According to Veeva, with sales teams having less face-to-face time with HCPs these days, there has been significant growth with the Veeva Engage Meeting platform. Veeva has more than 30 customers, in more than 40 countries, that have adopted Engage Meeting, with an average call duration of 14 minutes.
There are five primary Veeva Commercial Cloud products: Multichannel CRM, OpenData, Align, Events Management, and Network. Multichannel CRM includes Veeva CLM (iRep), Approved Email, and Engage Meetings. Veeva has native support for augmented reality directly within Veeva CLM, which supports Apple ARKit version 1.5.
Veeva’s certification process has historically been for technology teams, but Veeva recently revamped its certification process and encourages all team members to go through it.
According to Google, we have, on average, 2,617 interactions each day with our phones. There were 200 billion health-related searches in 2018, and 86 percent of patients research treatment options online after their initial diagnosis, not before or when they first get sick. Sixty-six percent of searches are conducted on mobile, and certain conditions such as emergency contraception pass the 90 percent mark. The more personal the search, the more likely a user will use their phone.
Twenty percent of searches in 2018 were by voice, and that number will grow to 50 percent in 2020.
Digital interactions per connected patient per day was 218 in 2015, is 400 today, and will grow to 4,800 by 2025.
What types of videos do people want to see from pharma companies on YouTube? Polls have shown that it’s advice from doctors, real patients, general info, lifestyle tips for dealing with the disease, and compelling stories. Note that no one said a TV commercial.
Google has discovered that 5 percent to 35 percent of ROI is from targeting and 50 percent to 80 percent of ROI is from creative. Targeting is important, but focus on great creative.
Consumer Voice Assistant Adoption: Trends and Implications for Healthcare
According to FCB Health, adoption of voice assistants and voice-enabled devices has greatly increased over the years. With AI, more users will be turning to their smart assistant for information, instead of their PC. “It’s no surprise that Amazon and Google are battling for the top spot, but Apple is still a contender considering their reach through mobile devices,” management says.
Amazon is rolling out HIPAA-compliant skills, starting with Boston Children’s Hospital, Livongo, Swedish Express, Atrium Hospital Systems, Cigna, and Express Scripts. Although the program is invite-only at the moment, it presents the true beginnings of healthcare services via voice.
The explosive growth of voice-enabled technology creates a new opportunity to meet customers where they are. By 2021, Voicebot.ai predicts there will be more smart speakers than tablets in the United States. There is strategic alignment between what voice can do and what clients want to do: improve patient outcomes, improve patient experiences, improve clinician experiences, and reduce costs within the system.
According to FCB Health executives, the greatest value agencies can bring to the table is their ability to surface true unmet needs, based on insights, that can be addressed using this technology. “This is our competitive advantage: the ability to connect the dots between the potential of the tech and the value for the specific therapeutic area or use case,” management says.
“Don’t be the person in the brainstorm who blurts out “Let’s do an Alexa skill!” Rather, be the person who says, “Can we use Alexa to… help speed differential diagnosis? Support disease management? Optimize the call plan?” The more specific you can be, the better,” FCB Health executives say.
FCB Health is offering complimentary Voice Discovery sessions for clients who are interested in exploring how voice can address their business needs.
FCB Health Network has developed strategic partnerships with key players in the industry, such as Amazon and Microsoft, “giving us priority access to their newest technology offerings,” management says. For more information, please contact [email protected].
