Advertising and health

For a while now, I have been following an interesting blog called Street Anatomy It is a space created by Vanessa Ruiz, an art director and specialist in scientific illustration, and is aimed at fans of anatomy. Vanessa is changing the image of the anatomy and intends to convince the world that this is a beautiful and marvellous science, not crude, and certainly not repulsive. What I find interesting is how she and the blog’s co-authors go about achieving this objective, by showing us the many forms that the anatomy takes when it is integrated into our daily culture. Oil paintings, t-shirts, video art, soaps, sweets, games, photography, sculpture, advertising and jewellery are just some of the items which make up this incredible collection. Some may call it freaky and it will strike others as an excellent modern-day compendium of medical-scientific art. But everybody will have an opinion on it, and this is a value in itself.

OLYMPICS Director’s cut from FMK_7 on Vimeo.

20 masterly minutes capable of changing your perception of classical music and, maybe, of life (by Benjamin Zander).

Christopher Morgan is a 22-year-old young man from a middle class family on the US West Coast who is studying business administration and working in an office. Christopher has recently moved out of home and life seems to be very promising. This is despite the fact that he has cystic fibrosis, a chronic hereditary illness that particularly affects the respiratory and digestive systems of some 70,000 people around the world. Christopher also has another peculiarity: he doesn’t exist. He is a fictitious patient created by Novartis to promote CFvoice, an online social-networking community of real patients suffering from this rare disease. At www.cfvoice.com, besides connecting with and supporting each other, patients can access an extensive range of educational and entertainment services classified by age group.

Two weeks ago, Christopher decided to go a step further in his desire to meet people living with CF like him: he created his own Twitter channel. It would be interesting to read his tweets, and to know who they are for, what the response is to them, who his followers are and who he follows. But, above all, we should be aware of the reaction of real patients to this innovative and somewhat risky initiative.

Will they think of Christopher Morgan as one of their own, will they reject him because he is virtual or will they simply ignore him?

Experts are using social networking media to make their predictions.

In an environment where we are increasingly surrounded by information, the way it is presented to us makes a difference.
Look at this interesting way of showing scientific evidence for health supplements.
It is an interactive application that gives us generative data-visualisation, which means that the position of the bubbles is directly related to the scientific evidence supporting their functional benefits for our health.

The growing popularity of “visual impact of information” is progressively making it a functional art form. The way we connect with information is becoming more relevant every day. Taking this a step further, we could even speak of the significance of the pleasure this connection produces.

A graphic representation that teaches and allows you to experiment with the content is always more enjoyable than a spread sheet column or a bar graph, don’t you think?
Information can also be beautiful… (+)

There is every indication that patients (or consumers), in a relatively short period of time, are going to supplant health professionals as the main target of the pharmaceutical industry. Some of the reasons behind this important change are economic (a decrease in the cost /efficiency of traditional medical services) or legal (growing restrictions in medical visits and other services aimed at professionals). However, the most influential argument is the growing and unstoppable influence of patients themselves when making decisions regarding their own illness. Access to, and the possibility of sharing, information, along with increased knowledge of their rights, is changing not only the attitude of patients when faced with their health problems, but also their role within the public health framework.

The pharmaceutical industry urgently needs to offer services valuable to patients in an attempt to earn their loyalty and to set itself apart from the competition. Sanofi-Aventis has been one of the pioneers to transform this situation through the undertaking of certain actions. This company, a key figure in the diabetes market, has developed a practical application for the iPhone that enables diabetics to better control their diet. The tool, called GoMeals, is free, and it can monitor your daily intake, access a database with nutritional information on over 25,000 common foods and find nearby restaurants and the menus that they offer. However, it is only currently available in the US.

The positive initial response has given rise to a Twitter Community that offers support for the application and tips on any new features through feedback from the users themselves. Even though the application is relatively new (November 2009), it could be an excellent opportunity for the company to get closer to its objective of understanding and communicating with the one who will ultimately be using it: the patient/customer.

Here is an ingenious method of promoting your high-rise office block beauty salon, when you want to gain customers from the other companies in the building without going unnoticed on the message board…

Campaign Tempo Advertising, Bucharest, Romania

Not a drop of blood in sight, or the remains of a car wreckage scattered around the kerbs. The scene, out of context, takes place in the home, with the family centre stage. And it is not only aimed at drivers, but children as well, key markers for their parents when it comes to using seatbelts. Introducing Embrace Life, the latest campaign by Sussex Safer Roads Partnership aimed at improving road safety in this British county. Simplicity, sensitivity, universality and faultless direction are its defining features. Originally intended to be shown in cinemas, the advert has received 640,000 views on Youtube in one week and resulted in a very active Facebook group. Quality breeds virality…and admiration.

campaign created and managed by Daniel Cox

Tags: seatbelt, road safety, Sussex, Youtube

For many, the iPhone has been the technological breakthrough of recent years. Its design, user friendliness and access to information via 3G allow us to have the world in our hands. A unique world increasingly inhabited by the large community of international iPhone developers who flood the App Store with new applications every day. Applications which are ready to be downloaded and installed on our device in a matter of seconds. The most significant statistic is that the number of applications is already five times as many as the number of games provided by Sony’s PSP and the Nintendo DS.

But with so many applications, can we find any that benefit our health in our daily life?

A recent example classified under “Medicine” is the application published this last week, with the name vademecum 2010. This application allows for the instant consultation of essential medical information (composition, laboratory, dosage, excipients, etc.) and which sets out to be a consultation tool for any place and any time.

But, as they would say in game shows, that isn’t all because there is also the possibility of adding another application, called “Active Principals”, which, by way of a quick consultation guide, compiles information from more than a thousand active principles.

These are just two examples of good iPhone applications aimed at health professionals but every day brings more health applications aimed at patients.

An example of these applications is “WeightBot”, a friendly robot who allows you to store your weight every day and obtain results on your current situation, history and the predicted time to reach your desired target. A great application, motivating like few others, for those who want to see the effects of their dieting efforts. Very recommendable.

This iPhone application, along with many others, not only aims to help patients control and improve their daily health but at the same time makes the iPhone a device sensitive to the health of its users.

Your health can be in your hands.

Steve Jobs has just unveiled Apple´s latest pièce de résistance, the iPad. Around the size of a sheet of A4, weighing 680g and 13.4mm thick, this new multimedia 3G touch-screen device, with 10 hours of battery life, has not only opened up a new sector of electronic gadgets but has also created a wealth of possibilities in the health industry. The iPad is portable and easy to use, without losing style or connectivity With all of these features, and at an affordable price, it is not hard to see how it could improve communication in various fields:

Doctor – doctor communication: Is there a more practical way of consulting with colleagues?

Doctor – patient communication: Will we finally be able to understand the GP when he is trying to explain what is going to happen in tomorrow’s arthroscopy?

Communication between doctor and visiting health representative: Could the iPad do away with the inefficiency of the tablet PC and modernise visits to the doctor once and for all?

Consumers will have the final say, but the iPad looks like it is here to stay and is likely to become a tool to which those of us in the communication and medical sectors should give serious consideration.

A new WhyDot pharma post brings us up to date on the activity of pharmaceutical companies in the ‘Twittersphere’. As well as the average rise in followers (51% in 6 months), a notable newcomer (Pfizer) has taken only five months to become the pharmaceutical company with most followers (3,941 in December 2009), albeit followed very closely by Novartis. On the other hand, the average amount of monthly ‘tweets’ (45) and channels followed (600) has also increased considerably with respect to the previous six-month period.

The presence of laboratories on Twitter is a recent phenomenon (the first channels appeared at the end of 2008) and the majority of initiatives come from the USA and other English-speaking countries. This late start is not surprising given that we are talking about a sector which, although one of the most innovative with its products, continues to also be one of the most conservative with its communication strategies. If, on an international level, the actual figures are still very modest, they are even more so in Spain, since only Menarini (as far as we know) has a channel with significant activity on Twitter, with 223 followers, 328 ‘followed’ and 353 ‘tweets’ since February 2009 and is the pioneering pharmaceutical company in Spain in appreciating the potential of, and participating in, social media.

Twitter brings brands closer to their stakeholders, facilitating communication through conversations which demand immediacy, transparency and consistency. Pharmaceutical companies are beginning to discover this but the majority still seem unaware of how, when and to what extent they should operate on this and other social networks. Meanwhile, time goes by and this situation is merely feeding the sense of inscrutability which has characterised the reputation of their brands throughout their existence.

Time to tweet?