Pharma Industry Shifts From Informational To Educational Marketing.

HealthEd announced a new advertising campaign and launched a new Web site to communicate to the pharmaceutical industry the importance of integrating patient education into their brand promotional strategies.

“We are at the forefront of a sea change in health marketing,” said Roy Broadfoot, president and founder, HealthEd. “The industry has recognized the strong need for a shift from communication of information to patient-centered education. HealthEd has specialized in this area for more than 15 years.”

Pharmaceutical companies and healthcare organizations are recognizing that patients will achieve better outcomes if fundamental changes are made to traditional methods of communication between the healthcare community and patients.

HealthEd’s new ad campaign, to appear in pharmaceutical industry trade publications beginning this month, highlights the need for making patient education materials easier to understand. The ad shows a virtually unintelligible door hanger stating, “Please Refrain From Debarring The Imperturbable Habitude. Thanks.” It then states, “Imagine if everything were as complicated as some patient education materials.”

The advertisement explains that 90 million adults read at or below the eighth grade level, and that health literacy is critical to patient compliance and pharmaceutical industry sales. Approximately 50% of all patients do not take medications as directed, resulting in billions of dollars in lost revenue

HealthEd’s new Web site, also launching this month, gives concise explanations of the company’s approach, expertise and creative services. The firm’s unique approach includes extensive consultation with patients, care partners, healthcare providers and clients in designing programs. The company also has innovative partnerships with advocacy groups in the healthcare field, to help pharmaceutical companies reach target populations through these established channels.

The site also uses a variety of simple, engaging interactive graphic devices to demonstrate its mastery of digital media for communicating with an audience and guiding readers to explore different areas of the site. In addition, it implements extensive use of flash and audio/video animation to enhance the educational experience.