Agency 100 Studio Session | RevHealth: The 4 active pillars of agency strategy

Bless you. I’ll give you a cue here.

Mmm agency 100 Studio sessions rev Health.

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Hi, this is lesabusak and I’m a senior reporter at mmm. I’m super excited for you to plug into this episode of the a100 studio sessions a new podcast series that 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 rev health and the four main elements of the agency strategy model brand strategy medical strategy access strategy and omnichannel strategy.

The pharmaceutical and biotic landscape is changing strategy is advancing quickly with nuances based on category needs the maturity of the brands being serviced and markets that value distinct Solutions. I’m happy to be joined today by Jeff Farina Executive Vice President of strategy at rep Health Peter Holmberg Executive Vice President Market access Chris Coleman Executive Vice President digital and Valerie Chao Executive Vice President Chief medical strategist, and they’re all here to delve into rev Health strategy model and it’s four pillars that address client needs.

So Jeff, I want to start with you. The market has certainly gone through quite a metamorphosis in the past three years. What role does brand planning play in a changing hcp communication landscape.

So I actually think that it goes back longer than just the past three years, although obviously the pandemic has accelerated change to me it goes back to when the number of information sources through with chair customers whether they be

Healthcare Providers patients and caregivers or payers are able to get information.

And also the fact that people’s attention spans have become dramatically shortened.

Either just because of the way they consume information now or all of the different time pressures on them. The analogy. I always use is if the 20th century was about

being squirted with the hose to get information. This century is about jumping into a pool a most immersion is is total an instantaneous opinions and facts and ideas and concepts are coming at you from all angles at all times for the entire time that you’re in the pool and from our end what this has done is it’s made it a lot easier for our clients and the agencies that support them to sort of lose the brand narrative.

Because instead of you know, one or two extended conversations about a brand perhaps with the sales rep or perhaps taking the time to read a review article in journal or attend a lecture at a convention people are getting pieces of that story from a number of different sources. And if you don’t plan for this in advance, it’s very difficult to get a coherent story to our audiences given all of the different places. They’re picking up parts of that that story

Strategy, you know in my opinion is about marshalling all the resources that we need right up front. We will become engaged with the brand and that’s why my colleagues are here as well because I I consider that access strategy medical strategy and omnichannel strategy are every bit as important as brand strategy in this day and age so that the four of us and the people that support us are involved with brands from the day. We become involved with Brands so that we map out a sense from day one of exactly how to optimize the delivery of the narrative for whatever brand we’re supported. Yeah, Jeff. I think you’ve got a couple of really good points

there and I think one of the biggest changes that we’ve seen especially post covid is there’s a complete inclusion of how we consume brands with the brand when we begin to look across how most of the consumer and Healthcare professional experiences are it is a very complex.

System of being passively and actively engaged in both digital.

Traditional mediums and in real life again. It’s part of seeing this huge bell curve of the adoption of telemedicine into the pandemic post-pandemic. It’s still an engagement model but it is one that I think is for terms like the pendulum has swung back a little bit to where the healthcare professional in office is become the engagement point which makes point of care even more relevant. We talk about the inclusion of social media how we Target and discover patients how we Target and discover Healthcare professionals. It is a really complex ecosystem of where we’re finding the audience the value of the brand.

And the value of the touch point that we’re having at any given point of either whether the analogy is the marketing funnel a journey or any of the other devices we use in order to plot that out and that’s why the inclusion of these these four pillars is so important because it is not just inclusive of the brand. It’s also inclusive of the cost and access model the medical engagement model and all of the various touch points digital or traditional that we’re using in order to reach those those key those key audience members. The other thing that I didn’t mention

but should have is I think we’re all aware of the incredibly rapid Pace with which technology and medical science are changing that also plays into the need to have a coherent brand strategy and stick to it from the beginning. I mean, I was giving an eternal talk the other day and one of the statistics I used was

50% of people with metastatic melanoma are now alive five years after diagnosis. This is something that

a decade ago when this was an absolute death sense was unprecedented.

So

that to me is just one example of sort of the change that we have to not just assimilate but also to communicate how do we change the whole way people think about diseases from you know, potential death sentence to something that you can live with for the rest of your life and this this has changed every aspect of communication and that’s just one example. I think it’s a really good

segue to talk about the second point.

Yeah, and that one is how does the scientific narrative play into brand strategy? So I’ll take

this one. I think having that solid scientific narrative. It’s critical to both not only formulating the brand strategy but to effectively communicating it as well with our audiences and at rev Health. We’ve been still this idea of a science first approach. So where we have that in-depth knowledge of the disease state in the brand, but we consider that as table Stakes when it comes to pharmaceutical marketing medications themselves, they’re becoming more and more complicated. We’re looking for ways to treat an aid patients and more individualized ways. Right? We’re Precision medicine. That’s your ideal goal. That’s your gold standard that everyone is chasing and then also looking at more often we’re looking at these rare disease populations as well. So everything is becoming more complicated. Everything is very complex as far as being able to understand who are these patients? What are what are Physicians looking at? So

So understanding, the science is absolutely key. But as far as separating the great and memorable brands that we’ve come to know from the others, you know, it’s cultivation of that poignant scientific narrative. So where we draw on the wealth of knowledge that we’ve developed in a space and then we layer on our understanding of what our audience’s mindset is. What are they thinking then we’re able to draw out what are those clinically meaningful pieces of evidence and not just have a massive data, right? So pulling out those key pieces of information to actually weave a meaningful story. And so these narratives they have to be founded on scientific evidence for sure for credibility right making sure that our clients are able to really go out there and have that have that credible source of information and they are representing themselves in the best way possible and it should speak to audiences in a way that immediately focuses on a recognizable need that the brand can know effectively deliver on and I think going back to what Jeff had just mentioned you know with

Everything continuously evolving as far as the science is concerned how the landscape can continuously evolve. It was really important that we keep a pulse on all of these changes so we can evolve the brand narrative and as well as the strategy as as time moves

on.

Now with cost swings. So heavily in the US Healthcare Market, what are some of the changing strategies that Brands need to be aware of moving forward?

Yeah. Thanks Russia. I think you know the discussion is more about value and less about cost these days. I think that there’s your values Define in a number of different ways based on the stakeholder who with whom you’re speaking I think safety and efficacy as well or you just pointed out that’s table Stakes. These drugs have gotta work. They have got a you know, cause less harm and more good. And so I think every stakeholder involved in the equation is concerned about the safety the efficacy of the drug, but beyond that I think when you’re talking about patience, they’re looking at potentially the out-of-pocket burden for looking at quality of life. They’re looking at ways which this these drugs and medications are going to help them and their caregivers lead a better longer life. If you’re looking at the hcp their first concern first and foremost, of course is always

Found you know, how well is this drug work in comparison to my previous standard of care or the rest of the Market Basket? And when and where should I be using this drug, but from a value standpoint. They’re also very concerned with what is the burden going to be on my office? If I prescribe this drug, how easy is it for for the patient to receive this drug? And am I going to be able to be sure that they stay on the drug for Meaningful period of time, so they’re looking at other elements of the drug beyond that just safety and efficacy to truly Define its value and then payers, of course, they are they’re very concerned of the price. Yes, but they’re also looking at the predictability of the cost of this drug and for this patient through the course of their therapy and through the course of their lives, so they’re looking not just that what is this going to cost today? But help me predict what this will cost me in the future. And so that to them is a great value and they’re looking to

Understand that better. Ideally, we’re coming to Market with not just that information. But also some of the cost offsets that a pair would realize and appreciate.

In which we can defer medical costs or hospitalizations or other concomitant use of other therapies. Those are all questions that are expected of the brand when they come to Market to have that kind of discussion. So, you know, when we talk about cost I really believe that the discussion has shifted more to value and that value has got to be defined by whom you’re speaking to and then how we convey that and where we convey that I think Chris you could probably touch on that a great deal in terms of different channels that are available to us.

Yeah. I think it’s an exciting time to reach this audience because like every other audience in the spectrum of communication whether or not it be clinical and making sure that the science messaging is relevant from a brand experience which affects an umbrella over the entire group that finally being able to identify these audiences and engage them as they are a decision maker as they had been previously but really addressing this such with the value proposition that is enticing that meets their needs as a participating audience member.

And being able to use data in order to shape the access that audience and make it approachable. We’re moving away from this model of it being truly account driven, which it had been for so long and for us to have really relevant digital tools that are accessible that are cost-effective for Brands to be able to produce in market and franchise levels to be able to produce and market and also making sure that we’re able to do so in a compelling way that has an intuitive user experience. Our audiences are just like every other category of professional at this point overburdened by the number of tasks that they have to do in a day the burdens of understanding a changing landscape because it is rapidly progressing relative to the frequency at what should evolves and the decision-making process that need to get and everyone wants an easy button. And this is where Brands can truly play and provide a value to all of these audiences and part of the reason why you know, the four of us have come together in order to to create the pillars inside of the organization because there’s a huge unlock and being able to address the needs.

Not just in what is going to satiate each of our individual audiences. But where do the Venn diagram of those audiences overlap so we can able so we’re able to support the patient.

Now, how do these four pillars of strategy that you’ve pinpointed brand strategy medical strategy access strategy and omnitonal strategy. How do all those integrate into? Rev Health’s workflow and culture?

Yeah. I can’t show you this visually, but basically when I was asked to start a brand strategy group at riff health, I sketched out this model. It’s a triangle with brand strategy at the center and the apexes of the triangle are medical strategy Omni channel strategy and access strategy and I’m a big believer in if it ain’t broke. Don’t fix it. We already had a medical strategy function at rev Health. We already had an omnis channel strategy function and although knew where we already had an access.

Strategy function. So I see the way that we all work together as brand strategy has certain specific functions both with the client and internally one is to develop a comprehensive set of strategic tools for the entire agency and ensure that all of the client facing people at the agency are understand those tools on our consistent in how they apply them to all the brands. They work on oversee the Insight mining process and the working with the creative team to develop and validate foundational elements for each brand whether they be visual elements or the core story in the narrative for the brand to work with Chris’s team as far as measuring what we do. Can we further optimize commercial initiatives in a way that you know provides, you know more bang for the buck do messages need to be titrated because obviously every client today wants to know, you know,

The ROI on what your your proposing brand strategy is going to have a leadership role in all of our new business efforts.

And finally, you know part of part of the job. I think that’s very important is analysis of a lot of these trends that are occurring in the healthcare space whether they be medical or clinical Trends technology Trends or Trends in the way that Health Care is delivered IE changes in CMS policy things like that because

Our clients suffer from the same issues as our customers and that is they’re just so many so many hours in the day and there’s not enough time to keep current on every development that affects the brands that you know that they market and they need help with that and I I think they are looking more more to agencies to help them. So that’s my sort of long-winded way of saying that I believe brand strategy has specific functions, but it also functions as a conductor or if you like sports analogies the point guard on an NBA team in terms of making sure that

All of the brands we support receive comprehensive strategic support that involves not just brand strategy, but medical strategy access strategy and Omni channel strategy and involves them from the day. We we become you know that we that we that we start to interact with that brand whether it’s in a new business pitch or a launch or an existing brand that moves to us from another agency.

So it’s a model that’s based on the idea that these four pillars are equally important.

But brand strategy has the extra roll of making sure to advocate for the other three groups so that they’re involved exactly when they need to be for as long as they need to be. Yeah Jeff I would I add there, you know,

you’ve done a masterful job always guiding this strategic vision for us and I think one of the key elements that we have here at rev is that we’re not just partnering with our clients. We’re not just there for the brand Team but we have a really Keen focus on on their customers, right understanding what it is that a pay or needs or an hcp and nurse a doctor and medical assistant the patients the caregivers and understanding what it is. They they need so we can best develop strategy and messages that are relevant to each of those audiences each of those stakeholders because they’ve got to be communicated with different depths of Science and content relative to the scientific platform the valve spoke about earlier, but also talk about the

Economics that may be of interest in the practice and of course at the pair level and then some of the Practical elements that patients and caregivers care about and I think what we’ve always helped our clients with is being focused on that end user who’s going to be hearing this message in a way that’s going to allow for conversations between them when we’re not present to be really relevant and to resonate and be very productive so that they’re all working off of a similar platform of data of Science of messaging so that they are able to make a prescribing decision and help articulate the reasons why they need to stay on the therapy for for the period of time that and prescribed so I think you know integrating it in a manner in what you described but also doing so so it’s integrated on the end user side. That’s really one of the areas where I think rev has always had a keen focus and really been very very effective.

Now finally how to all of these disciplines of strategy enhance client engagement.

Well again, I think I think this gets back to the fact that

although the good news for all of our customers is that there are more touch points that allow them to interact with Brands. I think the bad news for our clients is that it enables just because of that it enables the the brand narrative to become more fragmented.

So I think that the key thing that we do for all of our clients is make sure that we understand the story that the full story of the blame the brand how to talk to hcps. What do they want out of the brand how to talk to Consumers and patience and caregivers and what they want out of the brand how to talk to payers and what they want out of the brand. I think all of that has to be mapped out by, you know, working with our clients up front to the best of our ability because only then can we we assess and understand which channels to use to provide which parts of the brand narrative to which audience at which particular time. It’s it’s a much more complicated process than it ever was when when it was easy to say. Well we’ll just arm the sales force with material acts and and they’re gonna they’re gonna carry the ball for us.

Again, it’s it’s incredibly easy to lose sight of that overall narrative unless you have all of these aspects of strategy working with you as a client to ensure that that doesn’t happen and not just look at it from the perspective of today. But how are things going to change a year from now five years from now as technology changes and also as new information about the brand becomes available, so I get to me that’s that’s really what we offer to clients and why it’s so exciting to have to be able to create this structure, you know, almost from the ground up.

Yeah. I also think our clients needs and wants change dramatically based on their architecture. Um, you know worked with Val on those those clients that are specially weighted inside of their clinical development and working through the messaging because as much as we want to talk about targeting a specific audience and using the best resources we have in order to reach them across multiple channels if that

Epic Narrative of the scientific messaging doesn’t resonate and isn’t meaningful in the marketplace or is it informed by an overall brand experience or isn’t accessible we’re not dealing with the client’s business problems in multiple dimensions. And I think the what’s exciting about practicing in the area, especially beneath the strategy monitor is that it is truly in life is truly is intellectual of exercise one that requires looking at the client’s problems in multiple Dimensions thinking through the immediate needs and then those long-term needs Jeff brought up technology as a pathway to look forward. There’s also Marketplace the appetite for for specific clinical needs the appetite for the access dialogue, which is several factors, including you know end costs to our our end audience well to payers and the patients and how the healthcare professionals gonna be affected by that. It’s such a complex narrative and one that makes work inside of the category. So exciting and one in particular that

Explaining this kind of strategic offering to our clients exciting a lot of fun.

Great. Well, thank you all so much for joining us today and for providing your expertise on these four pillars of strategy and we have one final question before we close today.

This being the agency 100 Studio sessions podcast. We’ve been asking all of our guests this question and it is what is the last song you listen to?

That song that I listened to.

okay, I’ll tell you the last song that I listened to and that was a song by one of my

favorite songwriters and probably one of the most underrated musicians and especially guitar players in music. And that’s the song Wall of Death by Richard Thompson.

All right. Nice.

I was listening to Queen on the way down and Don’t Stop Me Now was the song now I last heard and it’s always a good way to start it any day, but it’s actually a Monday.

motivational one

for sure.

I just took my two little girls to the movie theater for the first time this weekend. So we went and watched The Little Mermaid so naturally the last song that we listened to in the car was part of your

world. So oh

kicking a little old school I have

A Shake It Up by The Cars.

There you go.

These are all good. Good songs.

Only

choices

great question.

Yeah. Well, thank you again so much.

Thank you.

Thank you.