Get your move on

Creating living, breathing ideas that inspire a world in motion.

A blank piece of paper. It’s a scary thing, as a creative. But it’s where all the best ideas start. So let’s imagine you have that blank piece of paper, and you could reimagine how we come up with ideas, share them, test them. What would you do, if you’d never seen a concept board (fondly known as an ad lob), if you could move beyond those expectations, to create ideas from the outset that live and breathe, that offer the opportunity to communicate both ways, that have dimension?

Don’t get me wrong. As I’ve said many times before, I love a great print ad. It’s still a great way to assess the strength of an idea. Is it pure, simple, quick? Boil it down to an image and maybe a few words, and then we’ll see.

But it’s so rarely how we experience brands in the healthcare space today. So why are we still capturing ideas as print ads, presenting them as print ads, reviewing them as print ads, testing them as print ads? Old habits die hard, and while our business is moving at the speed of light in many ways, in others, it is hanging on to old traditions, old thinking, old ways of doing things, and frankly, it’s time for that to change.

Next time you are setting out on the journey towards a big idea, challenge yourself to think about the constantly moving, multichannel, interactive world that we live in. Whether you are a creative staring nervously at that blank piece of paper, a client waiting eagerly for that first review, or a market research partner considering how to glean the best insights about the work, consider how you can help to set change in motion to create multidimensional ideas that communicate more meaningfully with our multiple audiences today.

Change #1: Create in motion

I am still amazed that people come at ideation print ad first in this vertical, but I shouldn’t be. It was the central communication point for many, many years, and as I said, old habits die hard. Other verticals have always thought in motion, driven by broadcast media, which relatively speaking is more recent in healthcare, and relevant to only some of our stakeholders. That said, video is everywhere. It’s how our stakeholders — yes, all of them — are increasingly consuming information, seeing our message, interacting with our brand. Beyond video, an immense proportion of our time is spent interfacing with dynamic media that lives and breathes in similar fashion.

So, let’s change the way we create and review ideas. Boil down the idea, not to a print ad, but to a phrase, a mantra. The brand’s “just do it” or “think different.” That becomes your platform — expand on it in the form of a manifesto, or brand vision statement. This isn’t new thinking, but it’s not yet a consistent practice in healthcare. It needs to be. I have seen brand vision statements in other verticals that send chills down your spine, raise the hairs on your arms, and inspire you to imagine everything the brand will stand for in the eyes of your customer. In our vertical, we are dealing with a fundamental human need — the primitive desire to get well and stay well, to survive — hugely emotional territory that lends itself to this kind of truly meaningful brand expression. Then, and only then, consider how you’d execute against it. How would it come to life across all the different channels and points of engagement? Trust me, the work will flow.

Change #2: Present in motion

Here, time is our greatest barrier. To demonstrate how an idea can live and breathe beyond a piece of paper takes time. No matter how rapid our prototyping or how speedy our storyboards, it simply takes longer than pulling together a static concept board. So what are our options? Here, clients, is where I’d like to ask for your help. If we’re on a tight timeline, perhaps we can bring you 3 ideas instead of 5. Or if you need 5 for market research purposes, let’s multidimensionally, before you put them in front of your customers. You will have the opportunity to see how the brand can come to life in the hands of your sales rep, how it will entice someone in online, how it will drive action and sustained engagement. You will see the richness and the possibility, and that will drive smart decisions.

Change #3: Test in motion

All of these changes in our collective approach would be for naught if we do not test beyond the ad lob. It is essential that creative research for our brands be informed by our channel plan. Where are the points of engagement? Those are the assets we should test. That’s how your brand lives and breathes, and inspires action — or not. It’s starting to happen, and we’ve undertaken interesting research with innovative market research partners in the social space. Let’s make it a best practice together, so that our big ideas are created, consistently, with interaction in mind.

It’s time to get our move on. Our customers are waiting to move with us.