Agency 100 Studio Session | Propeller: Driving a New Digital Revolution: Making innovation actionable

Mark I’ll give you two here.

Mmm agency 100 Studio sessions

propeller. Okay, we’re rolling.

Hi, this is Marcus. I’m editor at large for mmm and I’m super excited for you to plug into this episode of a 100 Studio sessions a new podcast series, which gives members of the mmm agency 100 list and opportunity to Riff on what sets them apart.

In this episode we’re focusing on the agency propeller a well-regarded digital agency and it’s approached to digital Innovation. I’m delighted to be joined by Charlie flaks founder and president in addition to propellers digital strategy. We’re going to be talking about its integration with an Omnicom health group that were more than a year post to acquisition and perhaps whether Charlie’s musical tastes have shifted during that time.

Charlie welcome to mm&m Studio sessions.

Thank you so much. I’m so happy to be part of this.

Absolutely. That’s great too have you in studio? So let’s just start out talking about your heritage a little bit, you know propeller was built on being a digitally native agency and digitally Progressive. What does strategy and digital Innovation look like today your shop.

the fact that we were founded on digital and and that’s part of our heritage when we were founded on digital digital was

an add-on digital was you know marketing and digital and now digital is

the essence of marketing especially in healthcare, especially in hcpa where we tend to do a lot of our Focus digital is as much part of the ecosystem as any other modality, so

Digital is not only evolved a propeller and our approach to in our strategic approach as not only evolved but the importance of digital in the overall marketing mix.

Has just continued to grow and grow and grow because truly there is no separation or from marketing and digital marketing digital is marketing.

so how have we evolved right how have we changed our approach that so when you think about the idea of strategy strategy was another one of those things that was this brand strategy, there’s content strategy and then there is digital strategy and

I really believe those days are over.

Our client our clients client meaning their customer. They don’t experience things in silos. They don’t say oh this is

my digital experience. This is my traditional experience. This is no they experience their human beings and they experience everything in real time. So we’ve done is we’ve evolved our approach to strategy to be about what we call experience strategy and it encompasses everything from content strategy to Brand strategy to digital or channel strategy and it’s it’s one approach. It’s an approach that is honestly something we say all the time is extremely people-centric. It’s keeping the customer at the center and not keeping the modality or what you want to achieve selfishly what you want to achieve. No, it’s the customers at the center. It’s a people first approach and that that people first approaches part of our internal culture and it’s huge part of our external culture in how we communicate with our clients customers or hcps and patients.

In other words. That’s what you have in mind. You know when you’re approach work. It’s kind of like a rallying point.

Yeah. I mean you have to make it not with any of this stuff. We’re marketing.

Communicating the human beings it has to be about their point of view their experience. And when we segment these different types of strategy, it becomes a little bit narcissistic. It’s about like well, I’m focused on the brand or I’m focused on content or I’m focused on digital and channel But ultimately they all ladder up. It’s one big closed loop focused on the experience of the customer,

right and we saw that, you know you ux work account for about four or five percent of Billings last year and a 100 overall but you know digital work on both the hcp and consumer side. Once again was was the number one and two line share of the revenue last year. We looked at where the revenues coming from. So I think the agency really fell back on its digital bonifies last year and you know agencies like years that have that, you know digital Heritage, you know, that that’s where the agencies that didn’t start off that way are kind of catching up and that in that regard trying to anyway.

Yeah, I mean again,

Because we’re no longer in a world where and again it goes back to this idea that you’re not keeping the customer focused if you’re thinking about the channel or the modality the reality is we consume both, you know, not even just talking about from a marketing standpoint or a healthcare marketing standpoint. We as consumers consume.

Almost all of our content digitally.

So if there’d be a real discrepancy in how we treat our customer our clients customer.

And how we actually consume content if we try to say, oh well guess what? They they like everything in paper.

Another human beings there are elements that maybe are still they where they still leverage traditional modalities, but the realities of human beings we are fully in an integrated digital world. And so it makes perfect sense that that’s where that’s where the spend is. That’s where the content’s being created.

Right? Good point. Let’s talk about your approach to innovation in healthcare obviously working in a highly regulated industry with very conservatively oriented clients. But but you know being a digital agency part of that your job is to safely escort them. If you will Shepherd the brands into the Innovation area, we’ll talk about your approach there. If you will

work during the summer and after the summer becomes everyone’s favorite time of year in healthcare marketing which is business planning season, right and in business planning season, it’s

You’re all about yes, you have few of your tactics your strategic imperatives, but everyone wants to see what’s the coolest thing. What’s the most you know, like the newest Tech we start hearing more than we even want to the words Ai and metaverse and web 3 and we hear all that cool stuff, right and that is really really important.

But none of it matters if it doesn’t drive business none of it matters if it is an actionable and achievable and while our you know, our marketers love to hear the Big Ideas, we love to present the Big Ideas right as an industry.

At the end of the day, we have to stay focused on driving the business driving the commercial initiatives the Strategic comparatives. That is our job.

So how do we contribute to that at propeller? Well what one major way of contributes we bring Innovation that’s actionable Innovation that is new. It is fresh but it’s doable and it’s achievable and that has been that’s been our mantra for years but it starting 2023. That’s actually what that’s the direction we gave to the whole organization which was hey we’re about taking the newest the coolest because we are in another digital Revolution. We are we’re out of that web too. We’re entering the new world, but we’re in a digital Revolution but we but to make it meaningful and actionable is huge. Right like we saw even a couple years ago.

Let’s just use metaverse was another one that people were starting to play with that.

But what we saw was there some cool manifestations of it.

But did they drive the business? Did they resonate with the customer? Probably not yet where we are seeing an meaningful and actionable leap is certain executions of AI the baby steps of AI are becoming meaningful and actionable and the executions are resonating with the customers,

right? Okay. Yeah. It’s definitely, you know taking it’s rightful place in the Legion of lingo in our in our interviews, but but you’re saying you’re saying some real actionable examples of that.

And on the market on the marketing side. Can you elaborate on that a tad more

right now? We’re in a place with AI where?

Fun and exciting stuff that when we just as consumers are just regular people go and play there’s some fun stuff you can do with like generative AI right and we play with that.

From a regulatory perspective and just realistic perspective some of that generative AI we’re not ready for in healthcare marketing space but there are then other forms where we can leverage AI to give like the next best answer the next best message and that’s where we’re seeing some of the AI be really tangible and actionable in the healthcare space and we’re currently doing that the really cool project using interesting bit of tech story file and we’ve created with our client. It’s an hcp to http website where we had a kol give 500 different answers.

and

while we recorded the audio a digital human is going to be the one who’s actually delivering those answers on that website and this 500 different answers are going to be based on the question either written or spoken by the hcp visiting the website and those answers though are going to be fed and delivered based off of AI and that’s a really cool almost like a baby step approach to leveraging AI in a healthcare space and that’s that’s something we’re super super excited about

sure and this is also part of your approach to Innovation. But to Legal really most likely involved every step of the way on that right

a hundred percent. That’s actually a great point. I think in order to make any sort of new tech or innovation actionable. You have to bring all the partners in right you as an agency have we have big eyes and a big appetite for this stuff and the the marketers do as well but making sure that you bring the entire ecosystem of healthcare.

Getting which includes, you know, medical legal and Regulatory on that journey is huge and it’s the only way it’s going to go from that idea on that piece of paper to actual reality and and hopefully then being delivered to the customer and and having a meaningful impact

and as I’m sure listeners are always very sort of impressed when they hear these Innovation examples being deployed in the industry because it’s like they know what it takes having legal involved and like, you know, swaying all the concerns answering all the questions. It’s it’s not easy but it’s you know, it’s it’s you’re doing your job. You

want to deliver something cool. You want to deliver Innovation, but again not

Not at the sacrifice of the business. That’s not the point, right? You don’t want to put anyone at risk you want to put patience hcps the brands at risk, that’s not the point. But if you can do it in a way that you know is gonna have a commercial impact and it’s going to keep everyone safe and happy that’s

in your media clients customer where they’re where they are because they’re using those Technologies in their everyday lives. Anyway,

well, yes and that’s where historically even even in the past even in the you know, whatever was Innovation six seven years ago. One of the the issues was that we tried to like the technology wasn’t there meaning they let’s just go something like AR right AR and VR like the goggle technology wasn’t there yet. We

Propeller included wanted everyone to have a VR experience and it just it just the tech wasn’t there. So that was an example and we’ve learned our lessons where we didn’t necessarily meet the customer where they were we asked for them to do too much and what’s exciting about this your actionable Innovation is we’re taking an account. What tech do they have? What habits do they already?

Do and we’re gonna meet them there with the technology or meet them there with the Innovation. That’s a huge part of having a successful kind of tack or innovation enabled commercial opportunity.

Sure. Let’s talk about culture a little bit Switching gears here, you know being an Innovative agency talk about how you sort of prime your your staffers and your clients on, you know increase in their appetite for Innovation as well as how you make this part of your culture and to not make Innovation and scary thing but quite the opposite.

Yeah, so I think that the last thing you said is a huge point. It can’t be scary, right?

You know Everyone likes to say hey, we have a culture of innovation or you should feel free to innovate but you know a new idea coming from me or even a new idea coming from our head of strategy our head of innovation that’s important. But at the end of the day each individual working on a business needs to feed that Innovation. So the first step to meet them comfortable feeding that Innovation is to make you feel safe innovation has to feel safe. No idea is a bad idea. Right? No leap is a bad leap again, whether it gets executed on or actually it’s delivering the client, you know, we’ll see but you have to feel safe and Away people can feel safe is they have to be part of that Journey?

So what we’ve done from a strategy and Innovation, that’s actually a new team at propeller. If it’s we have our experience strategy, but our strategy Innovation, which is tasked with actually bringing.

Innovation and how you would execute on it to the teams but it’s not one-way communication. It’s two ways. So not only do we bring the interesting new tech to the teams. And I mean like our writing teams are design teams our Dev teams our strategy teams, but we also do intake meetings where we then have our strategy and Innovation team meet with the leads meet with anyone working on the business and understand. Okay. What do you want to see? What tools can we create to make, you know, your client more open and you know receptive to an innovation idea and it starts there because as I said before with the experience strategy, it’s about keeping the customer at the center and even internally when you have a people first culture

for the Innovation strategy team

the everyday employee. Is that customer?

Because if we’re not feeding them with the ideas, they want to hear or The Cools they need they’re never going to carry the Innovation through and then that same thing goes for our entire End customer our client and their customer. We need to continue to educate them. We need to continue to illustrate not just with the idea is but how it can be done how it can be executed and then also as the point you brought up before well including the other stakeholders in the process, you know showing them that hey this can be done because if we bring you know medical legal and Regulatory on the journey with us something this will get made great things will happen.

Right right. We’ll be on that Awards Podium, you know,

if that’s if that’s if that’s their motivation. Yeah, we’ll be on the awards for you. Share will go up. You patience will be better all those things

RX will be lifted.

Exactly.

Yes. Https will be, you know more empathe.

To what their patients are going through and be more open to you know, trying a product for instance, you know.

That’s at the end of the day like you say, you know, the The Innovation is pushing forward in science. It’s not stopping even though there was a biotech downturn and everything last year and these complex sophisticated, you know, Gene therapies selling Gene therapies or monoclonal antibodies need to be gracefully, you know, effectively communicated. It’s a different stakeholders that’s not going to stop and that’s for you. You

know, that that’s not changing and and what’s important is when we talk about Innovation from again digital communication perspective and a marketing perspective. We need to make sure that what we’re driving to is hey, we’re using this Innovation to better communicate this incredible advancement in therapy, right? We’re not doing it to make people like excited about the technology. That’s not look do we all have that in us a little bit being like we want to have the coolest thing at the convention of course, but ultimately if you if you use if you’re North Star is that we’re gonna use this

Biology, and it will better drive our commercial outcome. It will better serve the patients in the hcps. We’re communicating to

Then you’re fine. Then you’re fine because that’s making an actionable that’s making it relevant and that’s making it meaningful which is

right,

which is critical

that that’s an interesting Twist on the people first strategy. You know, you’re that’s your approach to running. The business is keeping that that end user in mind at all times, right? That’s that’s the people first

the people first and it’s it’s the end user when you’re talking about Innovation It’s The End user when you’re talking about our clients customer It’s The End user when you’re talking about everyday work, you know, like like everyone has experiences. So, yes, we talk about experience strategy when we’re talking about in hcp or a patient when we’re talking about a client also an employee.

It’s it’s all an experience. You know, when you turn on your computer when you look at your phone, when you go through the process every part of your day is an experience as a human as an employee as again a caregiver,

right?

You can’t forget that and that that mentality of just thinking about each individual person’s experience is a people first approach. Yeah, it could be applied to anything. It doesn’t have to just stick with

A client

right? Yeah, I’ve read an article recently the rise of the corporate customer experience manager, right corporations are hiring their own.

Yeah

their internal, you know staff.

It’s great point

it just you say that because it’s huge like I would say as we went through covid and we you know, we can coming out of it and all that stuff. The number one bit of positive feedback that we’ve gotten is about our onboarding process.

And how wow, you know, it’s really good to see that even though we’re remote we get our swag. We you know, no very clearly on day one who we’re meeting with. We very clearly understand how much time we’re gonna have for onboarding on a disease state or a brand.

That all that is is just empathizing with the employee experience which is no different than empathizing with the customer experience.

Yeah, treating them like a customer. Yeah.

Great, let’s just finish up asking you about how the experience has been in terms of the integration with income health group, which you joined in February 2023. What’s the experience been like? You know, what are you excited for next?

Yeah. I mean, the experience has been overwhelmingly positive. You know, I’ll be very Frank. It’s a big change for someone like me, you know, I started the company 17 and a half years ago 16 of them solely independent, but it’s overwhelmingly been positive.

You know being part of a holding company is different. There’s certain certain.

You know Financial things that hey I wasn’t used to doing I didn’t understand. But again, it’s all part of my further education, which I think is been great. And then there’s other things that I just didn’t even know we didn’t have right. So just give you an example like

furthering our education Learning and Development always trying to be a better version of ourselves. If we wanted to do that before at the old propeller. That was like someone going. Hey, you know, you mind if I run it, you know $30 charge for this LinkedIn course, right? And now we have all these amazing assets that our fingertips which again goes back to the people first culture because it’s saying we recognize that you’re an employee and you’re here for the better the company but we also recognize that we have an obligation to you to ensure that you’re continuing to evolve who you are as as a professional that you’re continuing to get. You know again first quenched when it comes to your your education and that was something I always encourage but didn’t necessarily have the resources

and

with being part of omnity comes specifically a company that has invested so much in I’m coming University and all educational programs that

Huge thing that I’m seeing positive and then the other thing again not knowing what I didn’t have is we always put an emphasis on data at propeller and using data to inform our decisions. Obviously, we’re digitally native but not knowing what it’s like to have the world’s largest.

and most comprehensive Healthcare data platform

I was definitely missing something for for years and where we’re at right now is really at propeller is we have it. We love it. We see what’s there. We’re at that stage now of integrating into our experience strategy. So saying okay, not only do we have this data. But now how do we take it and propellerify it? Right? What does that mean? That means making it usable and actionable digestible and really having a commercial benefit to our customers.

Yeah. I mean, you’ve been 16 years as you said outside of a holding company It’s gotta be fun to look around and say well look at all the resources I have now, but I remember back in 2016 17 talking about that customer data file when that was kind of in the works.

Yeah,

so that’s come to fruition.

Yeah. Oh it’s very much come to for us. It’s incredible. It’s incredible resources and incredible team behind it. But where we think we can add that propeller value is saying okay. We have this now, let’s how

You make it real and integrated in every single thing you do, right? It’s a great resource people pull it for pitches people pull it to give client, you know, when client requests specific information, but how do we now make it part of that actionable Innovation and part of every element of our working culture and that’s that’s kind of one of our big tasks one of our big, you know, self-appointed asks for 2023

and in the back end too if it helps, you know, what your customers are doing, then you can measure the effectiveness of changes in Behavior after a campaign goes out in the wild that kind

of a hundred percent and I think the next again like I’m always thinking about what’s what’s next when it comes to this and then the next phase is changing that shift that where we don’t just look at the effectiveness of something we did but we use all of this to inform what we’re going to do. That’s the next phase because

yeah.

Yes, we will always need to measure you should always be measuring you should always have metrics against Effectiveness, especially when you want to spend

The client’s money appropriately.

But if we can get a head start on that and inform our decision making with that data.

Well, then we’re a step ahead because that when we measure that Effectiveness, it should be infinitely better that it would have been if we didn’t start within four informed by data,

right? Absolutely.

All right. Now the that everybody’s been waiting for this being the a100 studio sessions Charlie. What’s the last song?

Well, the favorite my favorite part of my day is driving my seven year old daughter to school every morning and I have to say this morning the last song I listened to was Juice by lizzo.

And while it might not be totally appropriate, you know, I download the clean version.

It wasn’t juice box. It’s not

definitely not use flex.

Okay? All right. Okay. I have not familiar with that one, but you know check it out after this podcast.

All right to that end also as as you progress in the mission, and in the people first strategy and making people feel comfortable with Innovation. Hope we can do this again.

I would love to this is awesome. Thank you so much.

Absolutely. My pleasure. Okay, that was a great conversation come back for another one. This has been Marcus goits for Charlie Flats. We’ll see you next time on mmm Studio sessions.