the healthcare agency blog

Creative Collaboration – A Melting Pot of Inspiration

Michael Dumigan — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 02:30:00 -0400

We’ve done it! We’ve created a campaign for a client in Hong Kong, via an intermediary in Germany using resources out of our London, England and Austin, Texas offices. The project was directed by an Irish man (that’s me), managed by a South African and researched amongst the Hong Kong Chinese.

This particular project proves two things to me. Firstly, combining creative teams from very different backgrounds creates fireworks – not just noise and fire, but also beauty and light. Secondly, that involving the client in the creative process is liberating for everyone involved. By “involving” I don’t mean sitting the client down with a cool glass of water and giving them the privilege of watching us perform. No, I mean getting them to do their share of the hard creative slog that turns a great idea into a tangible campaign.

So here’s the bad news. I put this idea of creative collaboration to one potential client who, in rejecting my offer, suggested that it would simply mean he would have to work too hard. I’d love to tell you who it was, I really would.

Creating the First Ever Global Healthcare Communications Agency

Michael Dumigan — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 02:00:00 -0400

Having said yes to heading the new HC&B European office in London, I’ve been wondering if calling ourselves a “Global healthcare communications agency” is a genuine statement of intent or just another trite ad-phrase coined to make us feel good and to encourage our clients to believe in often-searched-for-and -rarely-found global solutions. And here’s what I’ve decided: it is just another trite ad-phrase! Well, it will be if we don’t make an effort to turn it into something real.

Like many in healthcare advertising, I’ve worked in several organisations that claim to be in the business of “global healthcare communications.” Yet I’ve never seen people from different regional bases forming a single, coherent, united global team. There are good reasons for this. Each office is often its own profit centre: the incentive is to maximise local revenue and profitability, not to pass the time assisting colleagues overseas. Each creative team is usually a network of relationships and skills honed by working closely together with the guys and gals at neighbouring desks. Sector and product knowledge is usually closely guarded and protected by planners with capacious local market knowledge and a wariness of letting their brands be over-influenced by all those pesky, small, growing, ill-understood markets out there.

Into all these difficulties steps HC&B Healthcare Communications. This occasional blog will let you know if we can swim against the tide: I’ll celebrate when our heads appear above the waves but I just might also reveal when our heads are under the surface and its getting hard to breathe!

HC&B Healthcare Expands Global Capabilities with Opening of London Office

Kerry Hilton — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 01:00:00 -0400

Michael Dumigan Named Managing Director of New Operation

Austin, TX (Sept. 10, 2008) HC&B Healthcare Communications, one of the nation’s top 25 independent healthcare marketing firms, has opened an office in London, deepening its commitment to providing integrated global resources to a growing base of international clients. The new office will be headed by industry veteran Michael Dumigan, who joins the agency as managing director.

“Many clients today have worldwide operations and require partners who can operate effectively on an international scale,” said Kerry Hilton, president and CEO of HC&B. “Strengthening our global capabilities equips us to better serve our clients’ existing needs and to provide vital resources and knowledge to clients expanding into new geographic regions.”

Michael Dumigan, formerly managing director of Brand Create Limited, a London-based branding agency, brings wide-ranging experience in healthcare, consumer and corporate communications to his new role as managing director of the London office of HC&B Healthcare. His healthcare experience spans multiple therapeutic categories and includes work for Bristol-Myers Squibb, KCI International, and other major global corporations.

Dumigan’s academic background includes a Bachelor of Science in genetics from Northern Ireland’s Queens University of Belfast and a Master of Business Administration from Manchester Business School, one of the top-25 business schools in the world. He was an occasional lecturer on marketing for Open University, a distance-learning institution operating in 13 cites across the U.K., and is widely published, contributing articles to periodicals ranging from Pharmaceutical Times to the World Trade Organisation’s Annual Review. In 1997, Dumigan stood for Parliament (unsuccessfully) as a liberal democrat candidate for the cities of London and Westminster.

“We’re very pleased to have Michael leading our global expansion,” Hilton said. “His business vision and passion for healthcare align closely with HC&B’s corporate philosophy, and his intelligence, creativity and strong management skills have produced an impressive record of achievement.”

In his new role, Dumigan will have overall responsibility for the new London office, including its growth, development and day-to-day operations. He will oversee all current HC&B global accounts, working closely with HC&B management in the U.S. and reporting directly to Hilton. He will also lead new global business development efforts.

“We’ll hit the ground running because we have already won substantial global healthcare business with a client operating in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific,” Dumigan noted. “We’ve put a top-grade team in place in London and we are already working closely with our counterparts in the U.S. to deliver global solutions for a growing number of global healthcare brands.”

The new HC&B office will be based on the 16th floor of Centre Point at the heart of London’s West End, overlooking the City of London and Docklands (an upscale business and residential area flanking the River Thames) and conveniently close to the rail links for Heathrow, Gatwick and London City airports. The address is 103 New Oxford St., London WC1A 1DD.

For additional information on HC&B’s global expansion and new London office, email Kerry Hilton at kerry.hilton@hcbhealth.com or phone (512) 320-8511. Michael Dumigan can be reached at michael.dumigan@hcbhealth.com or by phone at +44 203 102 5170.

Medical Devices and DTC: Finding a Map to Success

Amy Smith — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 03:30:00 -0400

Sailing uncharted waters can be exhilarating and rewarding – although some may find it safer to pull out the GPS and not drift to far from paths already mapped. Making your own way can be risky, so it may be worth your time to make sure that the legwork hasn’t already been done for you.

Case in point: DTC, or direct-to-consumer advertising. For many medical device marketers, this is an alluring yet precarious strategy to consider. Medical device as an industry is still in its adolescence compared to mature Pharma. But it helps to keep in mind that although you may feel like a pioneer, Pharma’s been there. Pharma’s had many a success and many a fall along the way, so there is a rich amount of learning to be had to make the most of a potential endeavor before you even start. In other words, learn from their mistakes.

So what can we learn from them? Well big budgets help, but they aren’t always necessary. Targeting Oprah’s viewership with fat broadcast media flights isn’t the only option. Have you identified a small target population with a chronic condition in need of a solution that they spend hours searching for online? Why waste precious advertising dollars shouting to them when they’re watching American Idol to forget their worries, when your device can appear right before their eyes at the moment they are actively seeking the answer to their prayers... a solution that your device may be able to bring them. Let them Google their disease and see your message when they are most apt to read it. Pharma’s already mastered the art of Search Engine Marketing, and you can, too. Targeted? You bet. Efficient use of marketing dollars? Heck yes. Not everyone has the luxury of a Pfizer budget.

What else can we learn from Big Brother Pharma? Well, spending smarter is easy to swallow, but how about checking your ego at the door? What if I said, “Stop using your logo.”? (gasp!) Another highly successful and emerging trend in DTC involves detaching the brand from the message. Who among us consumers aren’t a little wary of Madison Avenue? The less sales-y, the more credible. Makes sense, right? Create a site totally devoted to the problem your device solves (and don’t forget to drive traffic to it). Offer a robust resource for patients to learn about their disease and symptoms. Give them a place to talk to other patients just like themselves. Offer them a platform to hear specialists provide answers. Then at some point you can redirect them towards your brand elsewhere online, once they’re engaged. Then you’ll start to reap the rewards. Build a community, build a relationship, build a brand loyalist.

So just remember, device marketers, the course has already been charted. No need to redraw the map, just put up your sails and sell.

The Glory Days of DTC in Pharma... Are They Over?

Nancy Beesley — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 04:25:00 -0400

There are a lot of hot topics these days in the pharma world. Does the sluggish economy mean the end of big pharma? Are the days of the big brand over? What’s going to be the next big thing? Biotech? Combo pharma/devices? It’s anyone’s guess.

There’s no topic, though, that seems to be getting as much press as the big question of DTC advertising. Everyone wants to know if the days of DTC are over. I was recently asked to comment on this very topic for one of our well know trade publications.

No matter what your opinion is of DTC advertising, it’s difficult to argue the point of whether or not it works. It works.

But will it keep working? Only time will tell. I think for the big conditions DTC will grow. For the rarer, less known conditions, product managers will have a harder time getting the budget dollars for mass marketing. They’ll need to go to a more targeted approach.

That means more insomnia ads, and less ads for Seasonal Affective Disorder. When the budgets cut come (and I think they will) the smart marketers will turn their attention squarely to the web to reach their patients. The less common the condition, the better the content needs to be.

So are the glory days over? Maybe for some folks, but not for others. After all, who can sleep when gas is over $4 a gallon and eating a tomato could kill you?

Direct Marketing 101 in the Healthcare Space

Kim Carpenter — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 03:00:00 -0400

What is the objective of marketing communications? Most of our clients would answer this question with the obvious answer “to sell my product or service.” In traditional healthcare brand advertising, the objective is to create awareness or an attitude. Meaning what do you want patients or physicians to think or feel? In direct response advertising, it’s pretty simple; the objective is to always motivate an action. In other words, what do you want them to do? Great direct response advertising has stopping power, delivers an offer, motivates a response and is a one-on-one, person-to-person sales call. And most important of all is measurable! More and more healthcare marketers are beginning to embrace this practice because of its tangible results. However, developing a direct marketing campaign is a process. There are multiple components a marketer must step back and think about before considering implementation.

1. Establish benchmark goals and develop a financial plan
    2. Determine media strategy
    3. Decide the offer and make it irresistible
    4. Create a message that motivates response
    5. Determine fulfillment plan
    6. Define the metrics for measurement
    7. Build a database
    8. Analyze campaign results carefully
    9. Monitor and optimize the campaign on a regular basis
    10. Test and retest

In the end direct marketing is pretty basic. It’s about getting the right message to the right person at the right time. But remember it’s not just about contributing to your bottom line sales numbers, also think of it as enhancing your customer database. Because in the end that is a true representation of your future business. Have you done your homework?

Texas Marketing Firm HC&B Named Among Top 60 Heathcare Agencies in U.S.

Kerry Hilton — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 01:00:00 -0400

Rankings Published by Medical Marketing & Media

AUSTIN, TX (July 8, 2008) HC&B Healthcare Communications, the leading healthcare marketing agency in the Southwest, has been ranked one of the top 60 healthcare firms in the nation in Medical Marketing & Media’s annual “Agency Issue” review, published this month. HC&B is already listed among the country’s top-25 independent healthcare agencies.

The new rankings, based on estimated revenue for 2007, place HC&B among some of the largest advertising networks in the U.S. and reflect the value of the agency’s distinctive approach to healthcare communications. HC&B serves the entire healthcare sector, including manufacturers (of high-tech medical devices, high-science pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, genetic engineering products); providers (physician groups, allied healthcare professionals, hospitals, managed care organizations, insurers); and consumers (patients, caregivers).

“Our deep understanding of how each healthcare sector relates to and influences the others is an important differentiating feature of our agency,” said Kerry Hilton, president and CEO of HC&B. “We see healthcare as a continuum and we see healthcare communications through a very different lens from other agencies.”

One of the fastest growing agencies in its field, HC&B has maintained a compounded 25 percent annual revenue growth since its inception in September 2001. Capitalized billings for 2007 were $26 million.

HC&B’s financial growth has tracked its parallel growth in accounts, service offerings and geographic presence. The agency won eight new assignments in the past year, adding accounts from Agennix, Advanced Neuromodulation Systems (ANS), Encysive Pharmaceuticals, Luminex Corporation, the Menninger Clinic, Optima Health, Senior Safe at Home, and VASER Lipo. The agency also launched a new division – HC&B Digital – and is in the final stages of establishing a London office to provide integrated global resources to a growing base of international clients.

HC&B’s work has won several awards in recent U.S. and global ad competitions, including an MM&M Award from Medical Marketing & Media and, most recently, four International Awards of Excellence from the Healthcare Communication and Marketing Association.

In addition to those already named, HC&B’s clients, both domestic and global, include Kinetic Concepts, Inc. (KCI), Exagen Diagnostics, Solis Women’s Health, Sound Surgical Technologies, Kemin Health, Texas Oncology, the Scott & White Health Plan, Tenet Healthcare Corporation, Ponder & Co., and The Scooter Store. Agency services include advertising, research, interactive marketing, media planning and buying, trade show planning and promotion, clinical education, and speakers bureau development.

HC&B Heathcare Hires Erica Stevenson as Account Coordinator

Kerry Hilton — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 01:00:00 -0400

AUSTIN, TX (July 2, 2008) HC&B Healthcare Communications, one of the nation’s top 25 independent healthcare firms, has hired Erica Stevenson as account coordinator.

She will be working on the agency’s wide-ranging accounts, including managed care, physician medical groups, and hospital and diagnostic centers. She reports to Kim Carpenter, account director.

“Erica’s attention to detail will offer great support to our many accounts, which represent the full healthcare spectrum,” said Kerry Hilton, the agency’s CEO and creative director.

Before joining HC&B Healthcare full time, Stevenson, 21, worked as an account services intern for six months. Last year, during her 2007 summer break, she interned in the media department at SicolaMartin, an advertising and marketing subsidiary of Young & Rubicam Brands.

Stevenson received a B.S. in advertising from The University of Texas at Austin. She also served as vice president of Texas Lassos, a women’s service organization on campus dedicated to contributing to the University and Austin community. She lives in Austin, Tex.

HC&B Healthcare Captures Four International Awards of Excellence in Annual In-Awe Ad Competition

Kerry Hilton — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 01:00:00 -0400

Winning Campaigns – 2 Gold, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze – Underscore Agency’s Expertise Across Full Healthcare Spectrum

AUSTIN, TX (June 12, 2008) HC&B Healthcare Communications, one of the nation’s top 25 independent healthcare firms and the largest in the southwest, won four International Awards of Excellence – popularly known as the In-Awe Awards – in this year’s annual competition recognizing excellence in healthcare advertising as judged by strategy, creative execution and performance. Winners were announced by the Healthcare Communication and Marketing Association, sponsor of the awards, at a gala June 5 ceremony at the Adolphus Hotel in Dallas.

Reflecting HC&B’s experience in the full continuum of healthcare services and products, the agency’s In-Awe wins represent a broad range of clients and showcase HC&B’s work in both the professional and consumer arenas.

HC&B won two In-Awe awards in the category of consumer print ad campaigns, earning a gold award for the agency’s “Imagine” campaign created for the Menninger Clinic and a silver a award for its “Texas Friendly” ads developed for Scott & White Health Plans.

The ads for the Menninger Clinic, a Houston-based international psychiatric center of excellence, use a series of hypothetical questions (“Imagine if people thought asthma was ‘all in your head’?”) to illustrate the misinformed and stigmatizing assumptions people frequently make about those with mental illness.

The Scott & White ads successfully tap into the deep human need for individual recognition and understanding, using simple but powerful associations (such as the shared joys of Friday night football games) to convey the message that Scott & White understands Texans and is uniquely committed to meeting their health insurance needs.

HC&B also won a gold award for a billboard teaser ad in the category of outdoor billboards. Created for Texas Oncology, the world’s largest group of medical professionals devoted exclusively to cancer care, the ad shows the words “I Can” standing out boldly and vividly while becoming incorporated into the words “FIGHT CANCER.”

HC&B’s fourth In-Awe win was a bronze award in the category of direct mail print campaigns for materials promoting the V.A.C GranuFoam Silver Dressing, a wound treatment system made by Kinetic Concepts Inc. (KCI). Each element of the campaign graphically reinforces the product’s innovative and unique advancement of silver technology.

The International Awards of Excellence, or In-Awes, are among the healthcare advertising and marketing industry’s most prestigious honors. Established in 1985 by the Healthcare Communication and Marketing Association, the awards recognize excellence of performance in healthcare advertising as well as excellence in creativity and graphic execution.

“We’re honored to receive these awards, and thankful to the HCMA and In-Awe judges for recognizing our work,” said Kerry Hilton, president and CEO of HC&B. “We’re also continually thankful to our clients for their support and partnership in making the work possible,” he added.

HC&B Unveils Agency’s New Brand

Kerry Hilton — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 01:00:00 -0400

It’s true. One of the hardest things to do is launch a brand... for yourself. I’m proud to unveil to the world our new look and brand positioning for HC&B.

“See what healthcare can be” is an invitation for employees, clients and prospects to discover a different kind of healthcare marketing. Our research shows that advertisers are frustrated with the long, cumbersome and lack-luster processes that many agencies take when managing critical assignments. That’s why we’re focused on a simpler yet bolder approach.

It took vision for a handful of us to start a healthcare agency in the heart of Texas. But it took unique perspective and discipline to have grown it to the largest one of its kind in the southwest. We’ve often been called mavericks (quite frankly, we like that term) because our clients need us to out-think their competition — not out-spend them. For us, it’s about bringing the greatest amount of value to help them become the best brands in the world.

We invite you to see what healthcare can be and discover how it can yield dramatic sales. Fearless product launches. Stunning creative. Magnetic customer bonds. And most of all, see how healthcare marketing can be mighty friendly.

Sales Force Selling... Time For a Change?

Nancy Beesley — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 01:00:00 -0400

Do you remember the last time your sales reps sat down with a doctor and spent a few minutes chatting about your new drug? And how deftly they used the detail aid you spent months developing, perfecting, and crafting into the perfect message with the perfect visual? Can’t recall, huh? It’s probably been a while.

Did you know that 93% of sales calls on doctors last less than 2 minutes? Today’s physicians have patients to see, insurance to file and tests to run. Now they also have email to read and Blackberrys to check. Not to mention thousands of medications that change almost daily. Who’s really going to have time for a nice chat about the arachidonic-acid cascade in the GI tract?

So how do we solve our time-challenged doctor issues? We’ve got to stop relying on salespeople. They do a great job, sure, but they can’t do it all. Especially in 120 seconds. Marketers have got to start thinking outside the sales call. We need to aggressively look to the web, to things like YouTube and video searching. Find those PDAs and use them to get the doctor a better message, one that’s tailored to him and is relevant to his practice. And don’t forget about those journal ads, either.

Look, no one likes a big fat visual aid more than an ad agency executive, so this is hard for me to admit. I love being able to tell the story of my clients’ products. That means we have to stay one step ahead of our targets, which these days, means running. So get your sneakers on and get those ideas going. You’ve got less than 2 minutes.

Healthcare Marketing Agency in Austin, Why?

Lloyd Sheep — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 01:00:00 -0400

When we launched HC&B as a healthcare-focused marketing company, we got a lot of skepticism from our peers. Most ad agencies in this town are generalist shops (many working with tech clients) and most healthcare agencies are clustered around the pharmaceutical industry in the northeast and Chicago. Healthcare only? In Austin? It’ll never fly! But given HC&B’s 25%+ annual growth, it turns out we’re onto something. We think that’s because of Austin’s unique nexus of technology expertise and creativity.

Healthcare is undergoing a revolution, largely fueled by advancements in high-tech medical devices, high-science pharmaceuticals, genetic engineering and diagnostics. Austin provides us with both employee talent and client opportunities for healthcare technology marketing. Austin’s well-deserved reputation as a top creative city also helps us to recruit talent with a fresh alternative to the often formulaic world of traditional healthcare advertising. Both B2B and B2C clients find HC&B’s creative approach both unexpected and effective.

Kerry and I found affirmation of our creative culture last Fall, when we picked up a coveted Medical Marketing & Media Award for HC&B’s Texas Oncology print campaign. There were 1500 attendees at that Tavern on the Green event and only twelve Golds were given out. Eleven of ‘em went to Chicago or New York agencies, but one went to that upstart Austin shop called HC&B.

It’s enough to make you sing Home With The Armadillo.

HC&B Heathcare Hires Libby Wilson as Senior Account Executive

Kerry Hilton — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 01:00:00 -0400

AUSTIN, TX (March 3, 2008) HC&B Healthcare Communications, one of the nation’s top 25 independent healthcare firms, has hired Libby Wilson as a senior account executive. With extensive experience in technology and consumer marketing, she will work primarily on women’s health and managed care accounts, reporting to Kim Carpenter, account director.

“Libby’s strong management abilities and deep insights into technology and DTC will be major assets to our growing roster of clients, which represent the full healthcare spectrum,” said Kerry Hilton, the agency’s CEO and creative director.

Wilson, 29, comes to HC&B from T3, an integrated marketing firm, where she was a senior account executive in the company’s Austin office. While there, she managed the development and execution of the Dell small and medium business catalog.

Before that, Wilson was project manager at Slack Barshinger, a business-to-business marketing firm in Chicago, where she managed technology accounts including eBay, PayPal and Orbitz. She also worked in the Chicago office of global advertising network Draft Worldwide (now Draftfcb) as a freelance account coordinator for leading consumer companies, including Kellogg’s cereals.

Wilson received a B.S. in journalism from the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kan, and attended the American Intercontinental University in London during a study abroad program.

HC&B Wins Gold, Silver at MM&M Awards 2007

Kerry Hilton — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 03:00:00 -0400

NEW YORK, NY (November 26, 2007) MM&M, a monthly business publication specializing in healthcare marketing, held its annual awards show on November 1, 2007 in New York City. HC&B Healthcare Communications from Austin, Texas took home gold and silver awards and was honored as a finalist in numerous categories.

The MM&M Awards 2007 show was a black tie gala held at Tavern on the Green overlooking Central Park. Other agencies at the show included international names such as DraftFCB, Euro RSCG, Ogilvy Healthworld and Saatchi & Saatchi Healthcare. Of more than 750 entries, only 24 gold awards were given.

For the category of "Best Individual Product Advertisement in Consumer Press," HC&B received a gold for their Texas Oncology "I Can Survive Cancer" ad. HC&B also received a silver in the "Best Total Integration Program for Small Companies" category for their Menninger "Imagine/Miracles in Mind" campaign. In six other categories, HC&B was honored as a finalist for their work on Texas Oncology, Menninger and Cypress Fairbanks Medical Center.

Kerry Hilton, president and CEO of HC&B accepted the awards at the event. "As a mid-size healthcare shop," said Hilton, "it felt great to share the limelight with much bigger agencies. I'm really proud of that."

HC&B Awarded New Account: Sound Surgical

Kerry Hilton — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 02:00:00 -0400

AUSTIN (November 26, 2007) HC&B Healthcare Communications has landed another innovative account. Sound Surgical Technologies, LLC is the creator of the VASER® System. The VASER LipoSelection® procedure uses ultrasonic technology for aesthetic surgery that minimizes tissue damage during procedures and reduces post-surgical discomfort.

HC&B is working with Sound Surgical to reposition the VASER brand in the clinical marketplace, as well as refresh the Sound Surgical corporate brand. HC&B will also help Sound Surgical launch a new, nationwide PR and marketing campaign to consumers.

"HC&B is a good fit for us," said Kristy Matteson, Marketing Manager at Sound Surgical, "They not only know the clinical side of healthcare, they know how to talk to consumers."