To the healthcare marketing community at large:

Part 1

We know there are pharma-sponsored campaigns that don’t just check off the multicultural box by translating copy into Spanish or by including a few token ethnic people in photography.

There are relationship marketing programs out there that use data to segment messaging, align channel weight with individual channel affinity, and even build predictive models that prompt next best action based on real-time customer behavior. 

Yet, sometimes we scratch our heads on Awards judging day and say, “Where are those programs?”

In a couple of months, the 2019 MM&M Awards will be open for business. Now is the time to begin securing client approval (we’ve heard pharma can be a little slow to green-light these things). We want you to enter your best creative, the kind that can help a product break through in a crowded category like diabetes or MS, or that powerfully conveys the need to diagnose orphan disease. 

To quote one of our judges, Bruce Grant, of TransPharm Consulting, “Real commercial success comes not from keeping supposedly (but not actually) ‘proprietary’ ideas and techniques secret but in propagating best practices throughout the industry by sharing them. The rising tide that lifts all boats lifts higher than the ‘proprietary’ tide in a private lock.

“Don’t hide your light under a bushel. Submit the real stuff. The killer ideas. The campaigns that really moved the needle using state-of-the-art strategies and tactics.”

Mark certain information as confidential if you feel you need to, but do submit the work. And make sure to tie it to data that demonstrate the effectiveness of the campaign, media, or agency that’s up for contention – not just media impressions, but metrics like revenue, switching or adherence rates, TRx/NRx or some other data set. Go ahead, be creative in how you measure success. Jurors will be all the more impressed.

If you have questions on any of the above or suggestions for how we can improve, don’t hesitate to reach out to me or to anyone on the MM&M events staff. Be sure to sign up for our webcast early next year, Awards Uncovered, where we’ll share more tips for how to win an award. And stay tuned for the 2019 entry kit and more communication about the upcoming program.

Part 2

At MM&M we know the work that you do helps HCPs make wise decisions and helps patients live better lives. We take seriously our editorial mission to empower biopharma commercial and marketing leaders, both brand and agency, to seize this opportunity. Can there be a more noble goal than helping marketers improve health outcomes?

That’s why I was so pleased to see improvements made in the overall quality of the finalists and winners of this year’s MM&M Awards. Judges paid the Golds and Silvers some noteworthy compliments, including, “This looks nothing like a pharma ad.” High praise, indeed, and a sign the bar is being raised in creativity. 

We’d like to think we played a small part. That desire to help move the needle on creative continues, even as we’ve sought to expand the program and keep it relevant to the tech-infused face of healthcare marketing.

Having added several new categories — like clinical development marketing, data/analytics, and emerging media — there’s been a natural shift in the quality of submissions. In some cases, work is still in that baby steps phase. It’s why I’m calling on the entire community to submit better awards entries (see Part 1).

Perhaps because there are suddenly a number of new categories on our program where the work is still maturing, or perhaps because the industry continues to face challenges doing Gold-level work in traditional areas like multicultural marketing, over the past couple of years our judges have voiced a strong desire for us to move away from simply awarding Gold to the best of the bunch.

We’ve always taken their advice seriously, and here too we decided to give them even more decision-making clout. In the past, even if the scores for Gold-level work in a given category would have been lower compared to the Gold winners in other categories, we would always try to ensure each category awarded a Gold and a Silver. (It was helpful for industry to know that, “This was Gold level work in 2018,” for instance.)

A couple of years ago, however, we started noting in our entry kit the ability of jurors to withhold a Gold, where they feel it’s appropriate. This year they actually exercised that discretion, and earlier this month on Awards night there were actually two categories where only Silvers were given.

I understand that some disagreed with our jurors’ decisions, and perhaps with the way we coordinated this part of the presentation. We had only the best intentions, yet even the best laid plans can cause unintended consequences. 

We are currently revisiting our “non-winner” policy. In the lead-up to this year’s ceremony, all affected parties were notified of the situation, on multiple occasions, but at the very least, we will endeavor to improve the way this is communicated going forward.

As the leader in the space, we must be sensitive to all voices and continue to act with integrity and take our industry role seriously. We feel the more flexible approach is consistent with our brand mission, tied as it is to the power of healthcare communications.

Moreover, multiple jurors, finalists, and attendees have told us that this is the way to go. The industry collectively wants to improve, and wants MM&M to help shepherd their evolution. Thus we will make every effort to continue recognizing pharma-sponsored branded and non-branded creative work, the kind that face many regulatory barriers, and will do all we can to encourage healthcare creative’s upward trajectory. 

Even as we introduce new categories, the standard for winning an award from MM&M remains. Be creative and be effective, and do it within the prevailing regulatory boundaries. 

It’s my sincere hope that that formula, which has served this program well through its first 15 years, will serve it for at least the next 15.