Don’t go for the easy option – step up, break out, stand out

"It’s a bit … well, safe, isn’t it?” … that withering judgment none of us wants to hear about our work.

Because for all the richness of our sector, there’s that creeping threat of something becoming just a bit too stiff, too obvious. You can almost see the sun drop below the horizon, the stock photo of a carefree couple walking hand-in-hand along the beach.

Calls for healthcare marcomms to be more inspired (and therefore more effective) are nothing new, but the pandemic increased the stakes exponentially and only underlined the need for originality in cutting through the noise.

Today, we can layer on a bleak economic environment, in which diminished headcount and budgets make it even tougher to gain support for a bold campaign and drive it through the various stages of approval.

The truth, of course, is that all these factors make the need for real creativity all the more urgent. A single-minded idea, brilliantly executed (and not necessarily expensively) will always represent amazing value in changing minds or changing lives.

For me, if we want creativity to break the inertia and make health more human, we mustn’t give in to the cynicism. A good team or agency will be one that balances deep pharma expertise with those who can see the wood for the trees and may approach the problem from a different perspective.

And it’s also about never forgetting that HCPs are people too; I don’t think I’ve ever seen a brief that hasn’t mentioned how time-poor they are, so why are facts so often our focus over those visceral, emotional shortcuts a great campaign always finds?

Ensuring the right message hits at the right time in newer channels like social has become a science in itself, but the creative challenge is essentially the same; to interrupt, inspire and even entertain.

Ours is a highly regulated world, of course, but solid strategic partnerships with clients should always seek to balance the chances of overstepping with another risk – that great work sinks without a trace, safely unseen and ineffective.

None of this is easy. But there are reasons to be cheerful (maybe not quite ‘running down the beach’ cheerful): we have the people, the passion, ideas and expertise to create life-changing work. And sometimes it’s in the most adverse circumstances that we all dig that much deeper.

Ian Ray is Group Creative Director at Evoke