Healthcare brands can take inspiration from the creativity of other sectors: Amar Urhekar

With patents expiring and generic medication on the rise, how seriously are healthcare companies investing in brand building?

The healthcare industry is changing at such a speed it’s not funny. Everything we see in the FMCG sector that didn’t used to exist in healthcare is becoming real. It’s happening in leaps and bounds because the pressure is so high to keep market share and expand over and above geographies. It’s becoming a marketing game now more than ever.

What can the pharmaceutical industry learn from festivals like this?

From a Cannes perspective, the opportunity to learn is unlimited. I don’t refer to it as the pharmaceutical industry, but think of it in broader health and wellness terms. The industry should seek inspiration by coming to Cannes and talking to marketers who are not necessarily from the same sector. Marketing to consumers is an inevitable change that is happening, but I’m talking about all types of consumers; there is no one type that healthcare looks at. They can be patients, doctors or regional bodies. We need to consider how we can understand them better, what new research we can implement.

Previously, healthcare took a very simplistic worldview when it came to reaching out to stakeholders. The need for pricing etc. continues, but the larger economic context has changed. Budgets are not as big as they used to be and selling points need to be communicated better. With the onslaught of generics becoming much tougher, it’s a question of how we communicate better. Patients are now deciding what they are prepared to pay. It’s not just about producing, it’s about what value companies can bring to patients—better compliance management, better diagnostics, better service overall—that is where the landscape is changing. It’s exciting, but it also brings in a great deal of anxiety because it’s a change that the industry has not experienced before.

We have been working with Cannes Lions to launch the Health Lions next year. It’s a big development for the healthcare communications industry. It will be a slow burn [with clients], but my feeling is that we will get a good response. Over the past few years, clients have started visiting Cannes on their own initiative to see what’s happening and learn from other industries.

There are still many restrictions around direct communication with patients. How is the sector overcoming this?

Let’s say for example that in China there are lots of senior patients who are at risk of stroke. There could be many reasons. So a healthcare company is marketing stroke medication. What can they offer above the drug itself? They could look at offering a ‘stroke manager’—a nurse or paramedic whose job is to ensure the patient has taken their medicine on time and knows who to call in the event of an emergency. That kind of service is not there yet. This is just a random example to illustrate that it’s more about services than scientific benefits; we are not selling science.

Service is a major theme in marketing today. How much crossover is there between healthcare and other consumer sectors?

There is a high level of knowledge sharing that can take place between the health industry and other evolved categories, but there is still a great deal to be done. You can’t usually implement something in totality, it has to be adapted to fit medical standards. But the principles [of marketing in other sectors] are what we need to learn from. We haven’t done this until now, or at least not with the intensity that it could be done.

What do you see as the biggest growth areas for the near future?

There are two factors that will govern the way the industry evolves over the next few years. Firstly, market access—how governments decide on pricing and reimbursement. That is a massive area. In Japan, which is still the world’s second-largest healthcare market, they are only just embracing health technology assessment (HTA) tools. Secondly, over-the-counter (OTC) products. More and more molecules are becoming OTC and require a whole new orientation from the consumer perspective, rather than targeting physicians.