Having said yes to heading the new HC&B European office in London, I’ve been wondering if calling ourselves a “Global healthcare communications agency” is a genuine statement of intent or just another trite ad-phrase coined to make us feel good and to encourage our clients to believe in often-searched-for-and -rarely-found global solutions. And here’s what I’ve decided: it is just another trite ad-phrase! Well, it will be if we don’t make an effort to turn it into something real.
Like many in healthcare advertising, I’ve worked in several organisations that claim to be in the business of “global healthcare communications.” Yet I’ve never seen people from different regional bases forming a single, coherent, united global team. There are good reasons for this. Each office is often its own profit centre: the incentive is to maximise local revenue and profitability, not to pass the time assisting colleagues overseas. Each creative team is usually a network of relationships and skills honed by working closely together with the guys and gals at neighbouring desks. Sector and product knowledge is usually closely guarded and protected by planners with capacious local market knowledge and a wariness of letting their brands be over-influenced by all those pesky, small, growing, ill-understood markets out there.
Into all these difficulties steps HC&B Healthcare Communications. This occasional blog will let you know if we can swim against the tide: I’ll celebrate when our heads appear above the waves but I just might also reveal when our heads are under the surface and its getting hard to breathe!
It’s true. One of the hardest things to do is launch a brand... for yourself. I’m proud to unveil to the world our new look and brand positioning for HC&B.
“See what healthcare can be” is an invitation for employees, clients and prospects to discover a different kind of healthcare marketing. Our research shows that advertisers are frustrated with the long, cumbersome and lack-luster processes that many agencies take when managing critical assignments. That’s why we’re focused on a simpler yet bolder approach.
It took vision for a handful of us to start a healthcare agency in the heart of Texas. But it took unique perspective and discipline to have grown it to the largest one of its kind in the southwest. We’ve often been called mavericks (quite frankly, we like that term) because our clients need us to out-think their competition — not out-spend them. For us, it’s about bringing the greatest amount of value to help them become the best brands in the world.
We invite you to see what healthcare can be and discover how it can yield dramatic sales. Fearless product launches. Stunning creative. Magnetic customer bonds. And most of all, see how healthcare marketing can be mighty friendly.
When we launched HC&B as a healthcare-focused marketing company, we got a lot of skepticism from our peers. Most ad agencies in this town are generalist shops (many working with tech clients) and most healthcare agencies are clustered around the pharmaceutical industry in the northeast and Chicago. Healthcare only? In Austin? It’ll never fly! But given HC&B’s 25%+ annual growth, it turns out we’re onto something. We think that’s because of Austin’s unique nexus of technology expertise and creativity.
Healthcare is undergoing a revolution, largely fueled by advancements in high-tech medical devices, high-science pharmaceuticals, genetic engineering and diagnostics. Austin provides us with both employee talent and client opportunities for healthcare technology marketing. Austin’s well-deserved reputation as a top creative city also helps us to recruit talent with a fresh alternative to the often formulaic world of traditional healthcare advertising. Both B2B and B2C clients find HC&B’s creative approach both unexpected and effective.
Kerry and I found affirmation of our creative culture last Fall, when we picked up a coveted Medical Marketing & Media Award for HC&B’s Texas Oncology print campaign. There were 1500 attendees at that Tavern on the Green event and only twelve Golds were given out. Eleven of ‘em went to Chicago or New York agencies, but one went to that upstart Austin shop called HC&B.
It’s enough to make you sing Home With The Armadillo.
