Creating communications excellence

Impact by its definition hits hard and differently. To say it’s important for creativity in healthcare is an understatement – it’s not important, it’s necessary.

The adage says ‘you don’t have anything if you don’t have your health’. So we need to be forced to deal with our healthcare. To change behaviour, seek help and manage what ails us. But this can sound like nagging, can’t it?
That’s where creative comes in. Not AI-generated creative (content that, at present, can be tenuous, unsourced or lifted), but creativity that forges a meaningful human connection and speaks to people in a language they understand.

That comprehension is a particularly important piece because we need to translate science, break down data and say why it all matters. Let’s champion more lay language summaries, attention-getting headlines – and fewer CEO quotes that start with “we are delighted to announce...”. With such important and necessary things to say, it’s time to break through.

We live in a world that has finally realised the importance of representation and inclusion, so we also must ensure we cater to all people – not just the educated and lucky – with content that reflects any race or creed, gender choices, socioeconomic strata and geography. And crucially, content that rings true with the people who live with the conditions who we seek to help. Healthcare can be filled with some pretty grim realities; when the outcomes are not so good it doesn’t make anyone less heroic. We require true, patient-driven insight, not observation from a point of healthy privilege, to portray the realities of disease and its management – the kind that makes people sit up and say “this is me”. Impactful creative cannot rely on sanitised, standardised language and imagery. It cannot avoid that which is difficult.

So let’s hear it for the Blood Normals of the world, for the Emma Work Colleague of the Future campaign and to LEO Pharma for portraying what atopic dermatitis looks like around the world. This is impactful creative that makes a genuine difference to peoples’ lives. Work that makes us proud, as clients, teams and as people who need health solutions.

Amanda Moulson is Executive Director at Virgo Health