Exit Pied Piper. Enter Johnny Appleseed. 4 Reasons to Embrace Personalized Communication While Preparing for Personalized Medicine Eve Dryer President, Vox Medica Healthcare Public Relations Chief Strategy Officer/Senior VP, Vox Medica Pharmaceutical companies are uniquely positioned to play a substantial and growing role in communicating the value of their products, which have become centerpieces of healthcare. The Four Reasons 1 A new paradigm. When medicine focused mainly on acute illness and injury, treatment occurred in the moment. Now, the treatment of common chronic conditions needs planning and coordinated relationships. Today, communication may be as important as medicine and a physician’s touch. 2 It takes a village. The doctor/patient relationship may not be enough to treat syndromes such as obesity. Patients sometimes can’t buy fresh fruits and vegetables in their neighborhoods, assuming they can afford them. Telling some kids to go out and play ignores the reality of some neighborhoods. And cultural attitudes toward food, and even medical care, often keep some patients from following advice that may work well enough for others. Superb communications are the answer to these challenges. 3 The enemy is us. Patients can’t blame microscopic bugs for being overweight, stressed-out, and couch-dependent. If, as a society, we can persuade each other to adopt healthier behaviors, the quality of life will improve and healthcare costs will be controllable. 4 It’s a big country. If Johnny Appleseed were alive today, he’d organize a global nongovernmental organization (NGO) and he would partner with other tree lovers who share his devotion to mission and values. We cannot successfully promote health — individual by individual, town by town — without a new birth of collaboration, an explosion in the extent to which we work together in familiar and uncommon alignment, and the skill and urgency we apply to healthcare communications. Mission (Im)Possible: Promoting Health Complex, sustainable behavior change may be the Holy Grail of health communications. Success means aligning patient/physician communications and working through intermediaries, such as schools and employers to help whole communities lower their health-risk levels. Pharmaceutical companies are uniquely positioned to play a substantial and growing role: • In the blink of a historical eye, their products have become centerpieces of healthcare. • Understanding how we use, don’t use, misuse, and abuse those products contributes to quality improvement. • Thousands of times everyday, pharmaceutical representatives call on providers. • Converting sponsorship relationships into genuine partnerships will create an incredible capacity to pursue behavior change. But these steps require a corporate orientation rather than a branded approach. Will companies make the necessary adjustments? The U.S. healthcare system needs the pharmaceutical industry to be a full-fledged player. Vox Medica INC., Philadelphia, is a full-service healthcare advertising and communications company. For more information, visit voxmedica.com. September 2005 VIEW on Marketing

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