Emphasizing Authenticity and Quality in Storytelling: Insights from MediaPost’s Brand Insider Summit

The 2023 Brand Insider Summit for Pharma & Health introduced media and communications experts to insightful conversations and networking opportunities. Spectrum’s EVP, Paid Media, Chad Childress, participated in the “Telling Better Stories: Breakthrough Creative” panel where guests discussed how to tell compelling stories that break through the noise.

During the discussion, Chad walked attendees through a successful client campaign with a fiercely authentic approach. This leading herbal supplement brand faced major challenges in a competitive industry and aimed to establish itself as a credible beacon.

Chad stressed that by understanding both the brand and the values of their target audience, the team bonded them together with authentic stories from renowned journalists, authors and entrepreneurs in the integrated health space. Through multi-channel paid media campaigns, the team natively inserted content into relevant conversations, leading audiences to product discovery while preparing for the future in the face of cookie deprecation. The strategic paid media approach achieved remarkable results from the brand’s online platform.

Additional Key Takeaways from the Summit:

• The healthcare industry continues to evolve to prioritize patient experiences, embrace new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and engage consumers with personalized and impactful marketing strategies.
• Companies should emphasize a patient-first approach and find new strategies to engage patients empathetically and build trust, particularly when discussing complex topics.
• Speakers reiterated the importance of aligning brands with patient experiences and employee experiences, along with diligent journey mapping.
• Conversations touched on the continuous evolving demands of healthcare consumers, which call for more personalized approaches.
• Sessions showcased social-first marketing strategies and how they can empower influencers to create authentic content, which could be repurposed for paid social advertising while respecting differences in formats and audience.
• No surprise here: AI will be a part of healthcare’s evolution. Approaches such as using conversational AI to enable intent-driven conversations with customers across channels 24/7 will be introduced more widely and can help determine engagement strategies.
• Pharma, healthcare providers and over-the-counter companies can move beyond typical boilerplate messaging and visual tropes in healthcare advertising creative by effectively breaking through the noise and monotony of marketing, fostering engaging and impactful storytelling.