Tag: Healthcare

Australia – The South Australian government has released a decision to ban advertising related to junk food on public transport, including buses, trams, and trains. The decision will take effect on July 1 this year, and follows similar policies in London, Amsterdam, and the Australian Capital Territory.

The decision, done by the Malinauskas Labor Government, notes the government’s commitment to reduce children’s exposure to unhealthy food and drink advertising on assets it manages and owns. 

Data from Cancer Council SA shows that almost 80% of food and drink advertisements on South Australian buses promote unhealthy food and drinks.

For this initiative, Preventive Health SA, in partnership with the Department for Infrastructure and Transport, are leading the implementation of this policy which aims to reduce exposure to unhealthy food and drink marketing which is associated with a reduction in the purchase of these products.

“Each year, big brands spend millions of dollars on catchy slogans and appealing ads to encourage South Australian children to consume more highly processed foods containing high fat, high salt and high sugar. Banning these ads in some of the key places they are seen regularly – especially by children – is a sensible step towards a healthier South Australia,” MP Chris Picton stated.

Meanwhile, Marina Bowshall, CEO at Preventive Health SA, commented, “Unhealthy diets continue to be a leading public health risk. Reducing exposure to unhealthy food and drink marketing, promotion, and sponsorship, especially children’s exposure, is a focus for Preventive Health SA and is a key priority within the National Obesity Strategy 2022-2032.”

In response to this implementation, the Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) and the Outdoor Media Association (OMA) have both slammed the ban, claiming the implementation will be ineffective and doesn’t necessarily address the complex and deeply embedded root causes of obesity.

Josh Faulks, CEO at AANA, said, “Experience from around the world indicates that similar advertising bans have not been effective in reducing obesity rates. Considering the anticipated impact on both the community and the industry, it is crucial that the South Australian government provide evidence demonstrating where such measures have successfully reduced obesity worldwide.”

Faulks also cited a Nielsen study which stated that around 65% of Australians felt that additional restrictions are unnecessary and 74% want health education and subsidies for healthy food over additional bans.

Singapore – Prudential has forged a partnership with Google Cloud, utilising MedLM—Google’s specialised foundation models for healthcare—to enhance the accuracy and efficiency of its medical insurance claims process.

Among the first insurance providers globally to implement MedLM, Prudential is harnessing this technology—typically used by healthcare organisations—to create solutions that improve the experiences of healthcare providers and their patients.

Beginning in Singapore and Malaysia, Prudential will deploy MedLM to analyse documents submitted with health insurance claims, including diagnostic reports, prescriptions, and invoices. MedLM enhances human decision-making by accurately extracting and coding relevant information from these documents, significantly reducing the risk of errors associated with manual data entry. This technology enables faster and more precise claims processing.

This partnership comes after Prudential’s proof-of-concept tests, which demonstrated that using MedLM doubled the automation rate of claim reviews and assessments. This improvement increased the accuracy of claims decisions, enabling Prudential to process more claims quickly while enhancing the customer experience.

“Prudential’s early tests with MedLM demonstrate that generative AI can play a major role in efficiently tackling the growing volume of health insurance claims, resulting in more frictionless processing and a faster turnaround time for customers,” said Arjan Toor, CEO for Health at Prudential plc. 

“We’re proud to pioneer this innovative approach to using MedLM to support our operational efficiency as we continue to expand our health insurance offering while delivering our mission to be the most trusted health partner for customers in Asia and Africa,” added Toor. 

Prudential will implement MedLM for selected medical insurance claims in Singapore and Malaysia over the next 3-4 months, evaluating the AI’s analysis against existing decision-making processes. This approach aims to identify ways MedLM can boost productivity and offer valuable insights to claims assessors while ensuring a “human in the loop” at critical decision points.

“In a fragmented and often confusing healthcare landscape, data and AI are enabling us to provide care beyond coverage for our customers. Our strategic partnership with Google Cloud has given us a valuable first-mover advantage in adopting generative AI to improve the customer experience at an important moment of truth. This is just the first step in using generative AI to deliver seamless, digitally enabled healthcare experiences at every step of our customers’ health journey, from the point of diagnosis through treatment, recovery, and prevention,” Toor further explained. 

Karan Bajwa, vice president of Google Cloud in Asia Pacific, said, “Prudential has taken a truly innovative approach by adapting MedLM’s advanced healthcare and medical-specific capabilities to one of its core business processes. This collaboration exemplifies how our strategic partnership with Prudential can empower its workforce to drive confident decision-making, improve the overall experience for policy holders, and create meaningful innovation in healthcare and finance.”

New York, USA – Global communications firm Burson has announced the launch of ‘Decipher Health,’ its new cognitive artificial intelligence (AI) offering designed to optimize communications impact and stakeholder engagement across patient, advocate, healthcare provider, health decision makers and analyst communities. 

This is the third AI offering of its kind from Burson and a key addition to the growing capability within PR Studio in WPP Open, WPP’s intelligent marketing operating system powered by AI.

‘Decipher Health’ by Burson has trained cognitive AI models on a broad spectrum of disease areas, including general health, oncology, neurology, diabetes, respiratory, and sexual health. It integrates predictive believability and virality indicators. The result is a robust framework for forecasting the potential impact of different types of content across healthcare-focused audience segments that is based on observable, repeatable data. 

Moreover, the solution–created in partnership with cognitive AI company Limbik–makes predictions about communications impact by determining an audience’s level of commitment to a particular topic and the believability of online content related to that topic. 

As part of WPP Open, ‘Decipher Health’ will be made available to all WPP healthcare clients and is the latest innovation for Health@WPP.

In addition to message testing, ‘Decipher Health’ tracks the impact of a variety of global macro themes that can affect the healthcare system, including: The economy; drug costs, pricing and access; supply chain; DEI; sustainability; elections; reproductive rights; women’s health and armed conflict.

Chad Latz, chief innovation officer at Burson, said, “The volume of information in the healthcare space can be both daunting and riddled with inaccuracies for people who are searching for material on a particular disease or therapeutic area. We created this capability to predict with near certainty the potential for impact – including credibility and engagement – that content can have on a wide range of healthcare-specific audiences. This ensures we can help our clients cut through with communications and marketing that build their reputations, but also deliver valuable and effective resources across the patient journey.”

Meanwhile, Brenna Terry, global chair for healthcare at Burson, commented, “What makes this such an extraordinary tool is the depth of our audience modeling. Our patient audience is segmented beyond typical demographics to include a wide range of social determinants that can make people more – or less – likely to be susceptible to a disease and receptive to information. Drilling down to such a precise level ensures that we reach the right people at the right time with precisely the right content.”

She added, “Decipher Health allow us to analyze gaps in message uptake among different critical healthcare stakeholders. What resonates with a patient is different than what will make an impact with a physician or an analyst. With WPP Open, we can forecast what works well with each audience and then develop compelling content that facilitates high-impact communications with all stakeholder groups. We now have instant market research right at our fingertips.” 

Singapore – A new global study from WE Communications recently found how corporate reputation and disease-specific leadership significantly influence physicians’ prescribing choices when medicines are otherwise similar, with key findings including: 81% of physicians say reputation affects their perception of medicine value.

In said study, it highlighted that majority of physicians agree that disease-specific leadership (59%) and corporate reputation (58%) are very or extremely influential on which medicine they choose to prescribe. 

Of the four biggest drivers of corporate reputation, physicians see ‘reliability and credibility’ as the most important, ahead of ‘trust,’ ‘transparency and communication’ and ‘innovation.’

The report detailed how physicians view a company’s reputation on different levels. At the highest level, it is the strength of the company’s reputation. At the next level, it is the depth of the company’s reputation in a specific disease area, and then at the foundational level, it is the reputation of specific brands.

“Companies that invest in building their above-brand, disease-specific reputation will be able to speak beyond specific treatments and paint a more holistic, highly valued picture of their commitment to a therapeutic area — one that may prove influential in tipping the scales in favor of their treatments,” said Stephanie Marchesi, president of WE Global Health.

Top drivers for corporate reputation amongst physicians

The report found that 62% of physicians described ‘reliability and credibility’ as “confidence in product quality and efficacy.” Brands should emphasise evidence-based outcomes, quality control and transparency about clinical trials. Moreover, more than half (53%) of physicians believe that when companies demonstrate a long-term commitment to patients and well-being, this helps earn physicians’ trust. Storytelling should focus on ethical drug development practices, safety record and patient support programs. 

‘Transparency and communication’ is also a driver for corporate reputation, with the study highlighting transparency in clinical research (39%) and clear communication with stakeholders (31%) as top priorities. For younger physicians, transparency in clinical research is especially important, so communications should reflect openness about challenges and successes. 

Lastly, around 47% of respondents say that being a leader in R&D innovation is one of the top actions that pharma/biotech companies can do to improve their reputation. Highlighting commitment to advancing healthcare through innovative solutions will resonate with physicians, particularly with the increased adoption of artificial intelligence in drug development, care management and patient access. 

“Reputation can make the difference between a physician writing a script for your treatment or not,” Marchesi said.

Meanwhile, Emma Hussey, head of health, Australia, at WE Communications said, “Our research shows that advocating for access to medicine and taking a patient-centric view is good for patients, reputation and business. It’s time for the industry to better tell that story.”

How to properly build positive corporate reputation

To begin with, the report showed that brands should evaluate the strength of their company’s reputation at the corporate and brand level, as well as understand which areas of reputation are working well for them and which areas need bolstering.

Moreover, brands must educate their internal stakeholders about the power of reputation–in this context as a physician influencer and bottom-line business driver.

The report also highlighted that brands should consider leading with their innovation story if the company needs to improve its reputation, adding that innovation is the fourth most important lever of reputation in the eyes of prescribers.

It also shed light on the importance of stakeholders and viewed in the context of the healthcare industry, to not just view them as customers, but also as allies. Physicians are willing to partner, lock arms and act in the interest of patients and industry.

Another recommendation from the report is for brands to highlight both the scientific and patient journey from molecule to medicine, embracing opportunities along the way to showcase pioneering approaches to drug discovery, delivery, clinical trials, data collection, patient access and education — especially in areas with underserved medical needs.

The biggest takeaway for communications and marketing pros is to be deliberate in evaluating the strength of their reputation at each level, so they know where to focus to fully leverage the power of reputation as a lever to influence prescribing behaviours.

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Corporate reputation in the healthcare industry offers valuable lessons for marketing and communication professionals aiming to strengthen their own brand reputations. In healthcare, trust, transparency, and consistency are essential in building credibility with patients and stakeholders—principles that apply across industries. Marketing professionals can learn from healthcare’s focus on delivering clear, honest communication and demonstrating social responsibility, which enhances public perception. 

By prioritising customer engagement, addressing concerns promptly, and maintaining ethical practices, brands can build a strong, lasting reputation. Understanding how reputation management in a highly regulated, trust-dependent field like healthcare operates provides a blueprint for fostering brand loyalty and long-term success.

Singapore – BBDO Singapore and MOH Holdings have partnered with Livewire to launch a Fortnite Creative experience as part of the ‘The Power of Care’ integrated campaign.

In this industry-first partnership, the ‘Power of Care’ experience will have ‘healing’ as its ultimate power. The game will have players partner with each other as they traverse the customary map of Singapore, avoiding hazards and healing each other to complete the course.

The custom map used in the game is also one of the first maps to globally utilise the Unreal Engine for Fortnite to create precise 3D models and sculptures to recreate the iconic Marina Bay cityscape.

Some local, high-profile gaming influencers like Supercatkei have also jumped on board with the campaign, sharing their gameplay experiences and personal healthcare stories with their followers.

BBDO Singapore and MOH Holdings experience inside Fortnite Creative is part of their efforts to forward the ‘Power of Care’ campaign, which aims to cultivate a newfound appreciation for the healthcare profession as a career choice. The campaign spotlights everyday heroes such as nurses and allied health professionals working across acute and community care settings to transform and empower lives.

The Power of Care integrated campaign also includes brand film, outdoor, and digital with social and on-ground activations.

The film shows the transformative power of care in life’s most vulnerable moments. Meanwhile, the series of out-of-home (OOH) visuals pays tribute to healthcare professionals and their unwavering dedication and commitment to their profession.

The ‘Humans of Power’ series and the ‘The Care Identity’ digital activation, on the other hand, focus more on the raw human-centric stories of healthcare workers, highlighting both well-known and lesser-known roles within the sector.

Also part of the campaign, MOHH introduced an immersive roadshow activation, ‘The Care Adventure’, to bookend the campaign. The roadshow activation engages visitors, particularly students, with interactive games that also give them a look into the world of healthcare professionals.

Speaking on the campaign, Gareth Leeding, chief innovation officer at Livewire, said, “What’s incredibly exciting about this experience is that for the first time, we’re flipping the rules of Fortnite Creative on its head, proving that gaming can be for good. The recreation of Singapore is mind-blowing. It really does demonstrate the power of UEFN to immerse players in both story and experience.”

Tay Guan Hin, creative chairman at BBDO Singapore, also shared, “We’re thrilled to bring a fresh perspective through this campaign—one that honours our healthcare professionals and their spirit of care and collaboration. Through all this, we’re not just celebrating healthcare professionals; we’re inspiring a new generation to consider the profound impact they can have in this industry.”

The traditional method of pharma or healthcare marketing has typically been a face-to-face meeting with the HCP or medical professional where the medical representative (MR) visits and introduces a new brand or a product to the doctor. Utilising any alternate channel was not really thought of as this face-to-face method was delivering for the pharma companies. However, like all other industries, the pharma industry also has been impacted by the digital disruption and therefore has seen an increased adaption of use of different kinds of digital modes for their business, including for their marketing to the HCP. 

This has got further accelerated during the last couple of years, especially during the lockdown period. The pharma marketers are now trying the figure out the most optimum method of using digital means to connect and engage with HCPs across multiple channels.

Individual channels like digital or face-to-face marketing or other means are no longer thought of in isolation. What has caught the fancy of marketers in today’s world is the ability to do omnichannel marketing and this has also impacted pharma marketing. 

Omnichannel marketing is seen as a powerful approach to orchestrate and optimise various marketing efforts across different channels and across multiple stakeholders. As such, omnichannel is becoming the next big trend and a typical way forward to meet the integrated needs of pharma companies. What omnichannel marketing calls for is a shift to promotional and communication strategies that address the integrated needs of multiple stakeholders. This employs the simultaneous orchestration in channels across personal, nonpersonal and media and addresses the needs of various stakeholders, consumers, patients, healthcare professionals (HCPs), etc instead of the current fragmented and siloed approach. 

Omnichannel medical content does not exist in some parallel universe. Many industries have launched large-scale omnichannel content transformations years ago, and its consumers are still experiencing the benefits. All the marketing personnel within the pharma, healthcare, medical, and all patient-facing and medical-professional-facing marketing sectors have seen first-hand the effects of digital disruption on business as usual. It is not easy building long-term relationships with today’s patients; moreover, it is not just about building relationships, it is also about engagement and loyalty in a world where targeted audiences are fragmented. 

So how do we make every customer feel that they have a personalised experience? Just as mentioned above, the answer lies in the omnichannel content. Instead of just delivering content on different platforms, omnichannel requires an increased focus on optimising marketing communications for the entire patient journey, across all possible channels, in a cohesive manner.

When it comes to utilising digital for pharma marketing, it is not just about the brand using the marketing channels which are digital in nature, but to also empower the on-field sales representative with latest promotional materials and communications which come from a digital backend, and which are personalised for the healthcare professional that the sales representative is meeting. 

The key driver to omnichannel marketing arises from the benefits to be held in adopting either a patient-centred approach when it comes to direct communication to the patients or a health care professionals-centred approach. when it comes to prescription products which require HCP influence.

Currently, all the major pharma companies are creating content for each channel. They first build content for an eDetailer. And then for their website and then for emails. Then again for other channels such as self-detailing systems. While content from one channel can get repurposed for use in another, this process is not as easy as it should be. Adaptations are often needed, and multiple medico-legal reviews are required. The process is not very efficient and, consequently, is often cumbersome and slow. These issues have hampered many companies’ efforts to fully embrace omnichannel marketing.

A well-defined omnichannel content strategy is a win-win for patients, the HCPs and healthcare marketers and is the perfect prescription. Patients will be happier and have a better experience because they are receiving the benefits they need, and marketers are satisfied as they are able to attract and retain more patients along with the HCPs. 

Omnichannel content marketing is an opportunity and it is essentially about making the selected channels work together for maximum benefit. Most of the patients will prefer an integrated approach as healthcare marketing is all about the patients. Having omnichannel content strategy in your marketing arsenal will enhance your chances of success.

To sum it up, the use of omnichannel marketing is the perfect remedy for the pharma companies. Use of omnichannel content and marketing enables pharma companies to smartly engage with customers, patients, and doctors across the combination of multiple channels for optimum results. Omnichannel content will speed up the whole process and make life easier for all stakeholders.

This article is written by Sanjay Mehta, executive sponsor at Wunderman Thompson Health India.

Singapore – Creative agency Ogilvy Health together with Verticurl, a global marketing agency, Oracle, an American multinational computer technology corporation, and the Asia Pacific Medical Technology Association (APACMed) has released a new whitepaper, ‘Patient-Centric Marketing: Leveraging empathy and data to improve care’, to illustrate how the health industry and patients alike stand to benefit from digital healthcare.

Driven in part by the pandemic, many patients start their own care journeys online, generating a vast amount of personal data in the process. Because more and more patients begin their healthcare journeys online. Around 50% of patients will utilise digital health tools, and that percentage rises to 91% of patients who said they would use digital health services if the expenses were covered by a corporation or insurance provider. Using data to improve healthcare means that there is a lot of room for improvement in the field. Digital disruptors are already looking at these options in order to give better service, more personalised care, and better results.

The Ogilvy Heath paper identifies the three major action points for all healthcare brands to accelerate their move towards a patient-centric mindset, first is listening  to understand patient needs and define values. Next is sharing to improve access to valuable information. Regardless of age, over 80% of consumers investigate their diagnosis online, and Lastly, is to serve and create the tools, or partner with toolmakers to deliver improved care outcomes. A combination of empathy and data-driven analysis can help you find new ways to improve the care experience for patients, and this can lead to better outcomes. New services that improve patient outcomes will then be offered.

The whitepaper also noted that healthcare brands must reposition themselves as direct-to-patient marketers enabled and guided by personalization. Personalisation is enabling and guiding healthcare firms to recast themselves as direct-to-patient marketers. Engaging with patients online can lead to a greater understanding of their requirements by collecting data in a transparent, trusting, and mutually beneficial connection. 

In addition, the whitepaper said that by sharing valuable information and assisting people in receiving better care, brands with health expertise may develop meaningful relationships with patients. Health marketing does not have to be one-sided; it may now include the strategies and needs of numerous stakeholders at the same time.

Pierre Robinet, president for Asia at Ogilvy Health, said that marketing has a huge role to play in delivering truly patient-centric outcomes.

“And it starts by redefining the engagement strategy with all stakeholders contributing to the care journey, starting with the patient and looking beyond the healthcare professional, Robinet said. 

Waheed Bidiwale, chief strategy officer at Verticurl, shared, “It is more possible than you think to be patient-centric, you can operationalize that empathy, and bring it to life with technology,” 

If done correctly, patient-centric marketing programmes can increase access to care for patients, address the right physicians at the right time with information and solutions that make a real difference to the patient, while empowering sales forces with relevant patient insights.

India – India’s healthcare retail chain Zeno Health has awarded its mainline and digital creative duties to Dentsu Impact India, the creative agency from the India division of dentsu international. Dentsu Impact won the account following a multi-agency pitch that involved several other leading agencies. 

Zeno Health, which was formerly Generico is one of the fastest-growing pharmacy chain brands in India that focuses on generic medicines and is available across more than 80 stores in Mumbai alone. With this win, Dentsu Impact aims to build a strong foothold for Zeno Health in the progressively growing retail and online pharmacy space across the country. The agency will kickstart the association with the launch of a massive campaign for Zeno Health in Mumbai. 

Both Dentsu Impact’s president Amit Wadhwa and Managing Partner and National Creative Director, Anupama Ramaswamy, expressed excitement for the partnership. 

“The rise of online pharmacies in the healthcare segment has been phenomenal. We are excited to partner with Zeno Health, an omnichannel player in this segment whose focus is to build a holistic healthcare environment that is accessible and affordable to all. We are looking forward to creating some great work, together,” said Wadhwa. 

Meanwhile, Zeno Health’s Founder Siddharth Gadia, commented, “We are beginning the brand creation journey for Zeno Health and we cannot imagine a better partner than Dentsu Impact to unveil this journey to the world. We look forward to creating an impeccable consumer healthcare brand, together.”