Bringing Comfort and Understanding on the Human Side of Healthcare

Muse: What is your guiding philosophy or approach to creating health marketing that makes a difference for clients and the world at large?

Keith LaFerriere, Group Creative Director, Real Chemistry: Our focus is always on the human side of care—understanding what makes people tick and what challenges they face as they navigate their healthcare journey, so we can develop ideas that truly move them.

Imagine being diagnosed with a disease you’ve never heard of. How can our client’s product, service or brand bring comfort to people in those first anxiety-ridden moments and beyond? We connect with them as people, focusing on them—their concerns, fears and aspirations—so they can first understand what they are dealing with. This allows us to introduce the client’s product in a more approachable way.

Conversely, when we launch a new hormone-free birth-control product for the millions of women who’ve moved beyond hormonal birth control, how do we get them to discover it? By placing the value of the message on the solution itself, factoring in who it helps and how they might respond to it and choosing the right audience channels and media opportunities. All wrapped in a bold, authentic and inclusive approach that is regulatory compliant, eschews jargon and speaks to humans as humans.

Describe a recent campaign that embodied that approach.

Last year we launched the Cannes- and Clio-winning campaign “House Rules” for Evofem Biosciences’ Phexxi, the first contraceptive innovation in decades. Because it is non-hormonal and used on demand, it gives women greater control over their bodies. To reach our target audiences, we knew we needed to stand out and push category boundaries.

The bold, ambitious and disruptive campaign, which included social, video, web content and a 60-second commercial (developed by McCann Health), connected emotionally with our target to inspire her to re-evaluate her contraceptive choices. We asked Schitt’s Creek star Annie Murphy, a relatable, culturally relevant voice, to encourage our target to live by her own rules when it comes to birth control. When we meet Annie, she proudly proclaims, “Welcome to my vagina. In here, I make the rules.” Annie’s authentic story about her own negative experiences with hormonal birth control paired with her charming disposition was the perfect combination in creating a truly memorable and disruptive campaign.

“House Rules” was highly effective in reaching our target audiences and helped build brand awareness along with an increase in trial of Phexxi. AdAge hailed “House Rules” as one of the “10 Best Celebrity Ads of 2021.”

What excites you most about the future of health marketing, and how are you preparing for that future?

Honestly, there are a lot of things that excite me about the future. But in my mind, the holy grail in our industry is to be able to forge human connections between brands, consumers and caregivers. We forget sometimes how alone people feel when they’re dealing with a condition. You want to do work that makes it easier, makes them smile when they need it, allows them to learn without feeling like it’s work. To do that, you have to know your audience. Their hopes, their fears, their barriers, their interests. And every year that passes—with things like A.I.-powered insights—allows us to do that.