Derek Blais, Chief Creative Officer at LifeLong Crush, discusses the challenges of marketing in the healthcare space, how his team connects with diverse communities, and the role of innovation in shaping the future of healthcare marketing.
Please provide an overview of the clients and categories you work with in the healthcare and or wellness space. What kind of media channels are you using?
We work with the Scarborough Health Network Foundation – a network of three full service hospitals serving more than 850,000 people throughout the eastern Greater Toronto Area. Scarborough is one of the most diverse places on the planet (according to the UN) with the majority of residents born outside of Canada. It has unique community needs and our marketing initiatives speak to that; our inspiration for the campaign came directly from the community.
What challenges do they face in marketing, and how are you positioning brand narratives?
Scarborough Health Network Foundation faces unique funding challenges. Despite representing 25% of Toronto’s population, they only receive 1% of hospital donations. We were tasked with year two of SHN’s brand platform “Love, Scarborough”. We positioned the SHN community as one full of grit and determination; themes anyone could relate to. We brought forward the throughline of “We do more than anyone thought possible, with less than anyone could imagine. Imagine what we could do with more”. This really resonated with donors in the Greater Toronto Area – instead of feeling sorry for Scarborough they related to their grit and tenacity. When you connect people with relatable, deep human insights, it can move the needle beyond the normal.
Within 2 months of launching, the foundation received $8 million dollars and our message ignited grassroots fundraising efforts with multicultural (Chinese, Muslim, Tamil, etc.) and community groups (like the Malvern Onyx Lions Club, Scarborough Spots, Habib Canadian bank, etc.) raising an additional $1.2M. These critical perception shifts drove a double digit increase for future donor intent +11% YoY, proving that Scarborough can overcome unjust labels and rally the community and their GTA neighbours to join them in building a better future.
Given the growing market for wearables and overall innovation in consumer health, what are the opportunities for healthcare brands? Is new technology and social media helping people move to better health?
There will always be new ways to connect to patients or donors. I can see wearables in the healthcare space increasing the quality or frequency of the doctor-patient experience. Perhaps more virtual visits can take place with doctors being able connect beyond a mobile-video call. For in hospital experiences, I can see wearables helping patients stay entertained or informed in an immersive way. For marketing and advertising, I can see wearables giving us a very immersive way to share experiences or extend the campaign narrative to make potential donors even more emotionally connected to our cause. We used social media extensively in our last campaign for SHNF. It allowed us to connect with the community in a way that traditional advertising cannot. We were able to elicit participants from Scarborough with a call and then share and rally community support through our online community. When used well, social media can connect us and help galvanize positive change.
What trends do you believe will have the most significant impact on your clients in the next few years?
Ironically, the trend of getting back to core human truths to connect with people. I think technology can distract from that. Technology is never the idea. It can only help extend and connect our message with the right people. I think we need more humour, more levity and love and more connection. Especially in the healthcare space. Healthcare is about helping people – the more we can help – the better.