A Healthy Challenge
By Zoe Zambakides, 16/02/2012
Listening to the news this morning two bulletins on healthcare reform and the rise of obesity, squashed in between a piece about Greek Debt and Banking, make me feel mildly anesthetised. Whether you’re in the business of Health or not, you won’t have escaped the (let’s be frank- quite depressing) news: we’re living longer, but not better, at an ever increasing cost to ourselves- and our governments; pharmaceutical companies are in a frenzy of restructuring, downsizing and merging – trying to work out their new model for doing business and how they can develop truly transformative medicines once again (that don’t cost $1.5bn to get to market!); governments are trying to grapple with huge public health agendas, like tackling the rise of preventable diseases which come at a crippling cost to the care system- that they can’t afford; and all against the backdrop of global financial meltdown and unavoidable austerity. These are not small issues- and they’re not going away.
I came to Healthcare nearly 6 years ago, from a world of marketing cars, crisps and customer services, where these issues seemed borderline- cataclysmic and everyone agreed that pretty radical action was needed. But as I look back– over half a decade later- lots of things have happened, but nothing seems to have really changed: both sides of the pond are struggling with health reform, Pharma has reached the peak year of patent expiries with very little to replace them, and nobody seems to have found any big solutions to our public health issues.
In all of this uncertainty I think that we can bank on two things at least: one, that the traditional way of thinking about these issues (and I include in this Innovation, Strategy, Business Design etc) is not – and will not – get anyone very far…at all: and two, that the organisations most likely to have a real impact on these issues will come from unexpected places- and will all most certainly- think like Challengers.
Fast Company recently published its list of ‘The World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies’, and whilst only a handful of them were in Health, those that were had one thing in common – they all had a Challenger mentality at their heart: whether it was taking the rules of one category (technology) and applying them to transplants (National Marrow Donor Program); or rejecting the Industry expectations about how to develop cancer therapies and looking for another way to treat patients (Genentech)- none of them have realised success through mimicking the industry giants.
At eatbigfish we’re in the business of building brands with beliefs – Challengers that seek to make a difference, by doing things differently. Over the last decade we’ve studied, and worked with, an amazing array of Challenger brands and businesses across all sectors. We’ve already enjoyed some real successes helping several Health companies (including Pharmaceuticals, Consumer Health and Food companies) apply this thinking, and whilst there are some critical differences to navigate – such as the regulatory environment in Pharma – it’s only served to demonstrate that a Challenger approach really can yield different results.
So from Pharmaceuticals to Public Health, Insurance Companies to Pharmacies, we’re taking our learnings from the world of Challenger, our insights about the market, and starting our quest to codify what great Challengers need to do differently, to make a difference in Health. If you’re in the business of Health, and looking to do the same, do get in touch.
To affect health in a serious way we need education and environmental design (walkable neighbourhoods that assist relationships to develop). My interpretation of the Status Syndrome is that autonomy is a factor of it’s own (what increases step-wise in the hierarchy is autonomy).
A sensible health care system (pretty much the opposite of the US one – which delivers about Cuba’s health status for multiples of the cost – I’m in Australia) doesn’t hurt either.
Healthcare is certainly dominated by big medical companies who directly and indirectly influence major governments and healthcare bodies like the FDA.
Allied to that is all the crap food we are convinced by the major food companies is wholesome and healthy.
Would it be coincidental if the poor diet and excercise choices are happily encouraged by the pharma/food conglomerates? Who really cares if you have a mild health condition that is perpetuated by poor diet choices when we can sell you a little pill that will control it – statins anyone?
Secondly the problem the health system faces is corrupt employees – middle management taking payroll for doing nothing, doctors fudging systems to collect extra payments or even direct cash back from industry
It ultimately comes down to individual choices
Healthcare is certainly dominated by big medical companies who directly and indirectly influence major governments and healthcare bodies like the FDA.
Allied to that is all the crap food we are convinced by the major food companies is wholesome and healthy.
Would it be coincidental if the poor diet and excercise choices are happily encouraged by the pharma/food conglomerates? Who really cares if you have a mild health condition that is perpetuated by poor diet choices when we can sell you a little pill that will control it – statins anyone?
Secondly the problem the health system faces is corrupt employees – middle management taking payroll for doing nothing, doctors fudging systems to collect extra payments or even direct cash back from industry partners or the holy grail in spine surgery in the US now where surgeons own the hospital and the implant distribution for the hospital?!
The real danger to a Challenger is that to take on the above is a huge task – everyone in the current set up has some skin in the game.
However as the public is increasingly engaged with their health and management of it that is where the opportunity lies. Mobile apps to monitor health etc are the beginning, but crowd sourcing, social media and the ever expanding amount of information available to the patient I believe will help take down this construct and deliver what healthcare should be about – better patient outcomes, not profit.
People will increasingly take control of their health, they will want the best service for the best price, unlike previous generations who would accept what the consultant tells them as gospel!
Good debut post Zoe. Very provocative
True innovation should probably be a bottom-up, decentralised, emergent thing, and consumers (aka people) have no greater vested interest than in their own well-being. So in the age of the empowered consumer bla bla bla it feels like there’s a bunch of potential for challengers to propagate change and innovation at the grassroots.
Challenger brands are certainly in a better position to do this than the old school institutions who chase outdated brand metrics by paying a fortune to push their advertising message in front of as many eyeballs as they can.
Thanks for your great responses guys.
Couldn’t agree more that nobody will win by trying to boil the ocean and that meaningful solutions/ideas will look at a much broader picture for inspiration: we think that projects like New York’s Active Design Guidelines (http://on.nyc.gov/9zp0u8) and VW’s FunTheory (http://bit.ly/2LZjZ4) are examples of these small changes- from outside the traditional ‘Health’ context- that can make a big difference.
(and thanks Evan because we haven’t read Status Syndrome yet- so it’s now on the ebf reading list!)