What should be top of mind in healthcare?

 

How do healthcare marketers know what topics are being discussed and what will make the most impact? WPP’s BCW tells us

We live in an age of noise. From media, to marketing, to misinformation, there is so much being said across myriad channels that it is often hard to distil what is meaningful for particular communities at specific times. Brands and companies are awash in data, but often with very little insight. So, the time is ripe to harness the power of AI to tell us what we need to know.

BCW Decipher, powered by Limbik, uses cognitive AI to evaluate and predict the impact of themes with broad social, political and organisational implications. It’s a cognitive AI and consulting solution that helps businesses make informed decisions, in these uncertain but noisy times, to both promote and protect brands.

In effect, it distils emerging signals and forecasts the impact of any theme, message or piece of content across audiences so that marketers and communicators can make better, insightful, intelligence-led decisions.

How does Decipher work?

“In an era of increasingly complex information ecosystems, leaders need to understand quickly what topics and business actions will drive the most significant brand impact,” says Chad Latz of BCW Global. “While all industries grapple with the potential for volatility, pharmaceutical and healthcare brands need to work particularly hard to navigate this complex landscape – across stakeholders from policymakers and analysts to patients and providers.”

This proprietary AI solution from BCW Global can forecast the impact of important health themes, brand communications and marketing, as well as news and social media. These are ranked by their ‘potential for impact’ (PFI) score, thereby predicting the ‘virality’ and ‘believability’ of these themes across audiences.

“Decipher enables healthcare communicators to forecast the impact of media and conversations from key stakeholders, and leverage predictive data to drive impact through messaging,” says Latz.

Putting the AI to work

WPP kicked off 2024 by monitoring key trends at an important healthcare conference held in the US and online. “Decipher detected and assessed the impact of four key conference themes – acquisitions, digital health, drug pricing and AI. Decipher ranked the themes, unique article, and influencers by PFI with forecasts for what will drive the most impact across a range of audiences,” Latz says.

The analysis showed that, for the first time, the total volume of news articles increased 67%, while the total volume of social decreased 16% year on year. Media coverage at the event had a more positive tone than in recent years, with journalists cautiously optimistic about the year ahead, particularly with the energy and enthusiasm surrounding AI.

“It’s no surprise that two of the biggest conversation drivers across earned and social media, outside the standard M&A commentary, were AI and pricing,” says Vicky Lewko of BCW, North America.

“However, upon closer analysis, there are shifts in focus for both themes. While not mutually exclusive, AI interest has pivoted from a cost reduction approach to the goal of reducing drug time to market; while pricing progressed from chatter about value-based pricing and established disease area costs to commentary on the Inflation Reduction Act.”

Lewko continues: “Rounding out the trending topics is the continued exponential growth of digital health partnerships across both tech giants and legacy pharma, and a focus on smaller deals – relatively speaking.”

Nearly half (48%) of total conference conversations across all platforms was related to the top four conversation themes, with general spikes in conversations occurring over time around acquisition news, all with high impact forecasted across audiences, from healthcare professionals to analysts.

“BCW will leverage this proprietary ranking to strategically inform healthcare and pharmaceutical clients on future outreach communications strategies and tactics,” says Latz. “It enables us to identify actionable insights and develop external key messaging, homing in on high-impact individuals and outlets.”

Decipher is the latest example of BCW’s cutting-edge AI offerings to help clients identify the right message for the right audiences and the right response options.

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BCW Decipher powered by Limbik Decipher Index