Experience – David Hunt

November 8, 2016July 25, 2019

Generation Now – Round Table Event

When we started our journey into Generation Now I had no idea how much interest it would generate and how it would develop a life all of its own. Generation Now puts the millennial healthcare professional under the spotlight and never more so than at our most recent event – a round table meeting of key millennial healthcare professionals, at the Royal Society of Medicine.

We were delighted to be joined by some of the industry’s top healthcare entrepreneurs and millennials. Between them Dr Shafi Ahmed, Dr Stephanie Eltz and Dr Matt Jameson Evans represent some of the most innovative faces of healthcare in the twenty-first century. Dr Ahmed, consultant general and colorectal surgeon, is a leader in the use and development of augmented reality in clinical practice in areas such as sharing the latest surgical techniques through live streaming oncology operations[i]; Dr Eltz is a trauma and orthopaedic registrar and founder of Doctify – a platform-neutral online patient-doctor interface and Dr Jameson Evans, previously an orthopaedic surgeon, is the co-founder and chief medical officer of HealthUnlocked – an online community that is gaining a reputation for being the LinkedIn for patients with chronic conditions. We also had key leaders from the pharmaceutical industry and the ABPI.

The round table discussion was lively – as you’d expect with such big personalities in the room. Entrepreneurs by nature are generally outgoing and yes sometimes outspoken – but then the point of the evening was to try and discover what the millennial generation could expect from healthcare, and what we could all be doing to help it get there.

Big data came up and, not unexpectedly, but maybe not quite fairly, the NHS’s apparent struggle to cope with it. Perhaps the recent involvement in healthcare of big data big guns such as Google and Facebook can help it find its place in healthcare. ‘Wearables’ were also seen as one of the next big things. Continuous blood glucose monitors are already ‘a thing’ but imagine the possibilities for 24/7 monitoring of health predictors and the benefits that this could bring to people with other chronic conditions. And where do I even begin with the possibilities that virtual and augmented reality could bring?

We may all be used to viewing healthcare as an immovable object, but everyone in the room was in agreement that much of the technology, either under development or already available to support the millennial HCP, will disrupt this status quo. As an industry we have so much to offer the millennial HCP and help them become positive disruptors, that can take new technology into healthcare for the benefit of all of us. One thing is clear – the future is most definitely coming, and with it huge steps in our understanding of patients, diseases and treatment.

While there were far too many great points made throughout the course of this event to talk about here, there are a few key things that really stuck in my mind. It’s clear that we all need to increase collaboration to encourage the uptake of these innovative technologies. We need to stop thinking we have to maintain the status quo – our entrepreneurial HCPs are delivering some amazing new approaches and, if we really embrace them, they have the potential to add enormous value to the way our healthcare system works. Probably the most important point though, was that while innovation should be welcomed, we must remember not to leave people behind. After all it is the millennial healthcare professionals and millennial patients that make our health service what it is; and what it will become.

Thank you to everyone who made this such an exciting and insightful debate.

Participants involved include:
Dr Shafi Ahmed, Consultant and Surgeon, and Co-founder of Medical Realities
Dr Stephanie Eltz, Founder of Doctify
David Hunt, CEO Havas Lynx
Dr Matt Jameson Evans, Co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of HealthUnlocked
Dr Rebecca Lumsden, Head of Science Policy, ABPI
John McCarthy, Vice President, Global Commercial Excellence, AstraZeneca
Dr Claire Novorol, Founder and Chief Medical Officer of Ada, Founder and Chairman of Doctorpreneurs
Sarah Price, Senior Planner, Havas Lynx
Hiba Saleem, Partnerships Director of Doctorpreneurs and CO-founder of Medtech Student Network
Dominic Tyer, Editorial Director, PMGroup and Chair

The Generation Now Round Table event will be featured in the November edition of PME, available online from 8th November 2016.

[i] http://www.wired.co.uk/article/wired-health-virtual-reality-surgery-shafi-ahmed

February 18, 2016July 25, 2019

Havas Lynx pushes the boundaries of creative healthcare with new recruits

Havas Lynx, the leading global healthcare communications agency, and communiqué communications consultancy of the year has further bolstered its ranks with a string of high-profile recruits including three new award-winning creative directors. This expansion of the creative team follows on from the appointment of Tom Richards as Chief Creative Officer in April 2015.

Since Richards’ appointment, the Havas Lynx group has significantly invested in its creative talent, building on their un-paralleled expertise of science, strategy and technology. In the past nine months, it’s taken on 24 new creatives, bringing Havas Lynx’s creative team to over 70 people; making it one of the biggest creative healthcare departments in Europe.

The agency has also refurbished its workplace with an enviable new creative space that has already been used by global industry association, D&AD, for its New Blood Mixer.

As part of the creative growth, Havas Lynx has appointed three seasoned Creative Directors from non-healthcare backgrounds to oversee the delivery of high-calibre campaigns and ensure Havas Lynx’s creative output sets a new standard for the industry. It welcomes Paul Kinsella, Lou Shipley and Phil Howells.

Paul Kinsella brings over 13 years’ experience from working in agencies such as Euro RSCG WNEK Gosper, Cheetham Bell JWT and BJL. He is known for ideas, insights and creativity and is excited about the opportunity to work in healthcare. In his last three years alone, his innovative designs and concepts have won over 30 awards from ceremonies including Campaign, Kinsale Sharks, Roses, DADi and Fresh. Most recently, he gained recognition for his work on Whyte & Mackay’s whisky which featured in Campaign’s top ads of 2015.

Lou Shipley brings over 19 years’ conceptual copywriting experience from several integrated advertising agencies including the likes of McCanns, Tequila TBWA, Rapier and Ogilvy. Lou’s varied portfolio includes powerful and compelling campaigns for Cancer Research UK, Save the Children and Alzheimer’s Society. Lou is known for her creative versatility having worked across TV, print, direct marketing, digital and social platforms.

The agency also welcomes Phil Howells, a multi-award winning creative director with over 30 years’ advertising experience. Phil’s portfolio includes work on a variety of campaigns for household names including Sure, Dirt Devil, Shop Direct and John Lewis, alongside working as part of the team that launched Peperami’s famous “It’s a bit of an animal”. His work has received an impressive string of industry awards such as: D&AD, Campaign Poster, Midsummer, London Interactive, Chip Shop, Montreux, The Roses and The Northern Marketing Awards.

Phil commented on his new role at Havas Lynx:
‘I’ve already been lucky enough to work with Havas Lynx on a freelance basis. I like their hunger, passion and ambition and I’m particularly impressed with the way they treat their people. Being part of Tom’s vision to raise the creative bar, not only within Havas Lynx but across the sector, has reignited my passion to do great work and also to inspire it.’

Havas Lynx’s Chief Creative Officer, Tom Richards explained:
“Healthcare may not be known as a creative industry, but we’re determined to change that. It’s great to see so many high profile and brilliant creatives recognise this and join our mission. Our new appointments are evidence of a new and radical direction for healthcare. I’m excited to produce some life changing campaigns that will be born from some of the best scientific, strategic and creative minds in the business.”

August 26, 2015

“You’re Fired!”

Losing an account, by David Hunt

I’m proud of our account-retention rate. It shows we are dedicated to partnerships, progress and working together to create the perfect solution for each project. It’s because of this that it’s even more disappointing when things don’t work out. Earlier this year, we lost an important account. Most disappointingly, the client was right; we could and should have been better. The team have a track record of success and I confidently back them for the future. So what went wrong?

I believe the plan was flawed from the outset. Like all good agencies, we identified and challenged the issues. As a senior team, we should have been stronger in arguing the case, but how far do you go? The easy answer would be to refuse the remit. But would we be perceived as cherry picking briefs, stepping aside when the going gets tough, and lacking commitment to our partners? Often, refusing an opportunity can be more challenging than winning one.

The team was theoretically correct, without doubt. On paper we had experience, expertise and capacity, but having watched the England football team, I am acutely aware that it takes more than just talented individuals. Chemistry is a critical component; it’s often referred to with regards to the agency/client interface but I’d argue it is just as important internally. We should have changed the team sooner. We have over 200 experts to call upon. Whilst a change of personnel is often negatively perceived, there was clearly a time and a place here that I missed.

Who was first to discuss the problem? Brutally, not us. Whilst I’m sure that we’re not alone in failing to identify and publicise a critical issue, it is my biggest learning of 2015. I want to be the best CEO at recognising problems, alongside recognising strengths.

Despite our previous loss being over two years ago, I’m convinced that complacency did not play apart. That said, due to our Northern soul, our first reaction is to brush ourselves down and come back fighting. We learnt a huge amount from our recent internal review, and developed a clear action plan as part of our programme of continuing improvement. Whilst I do not want a repeat of the recent event, we’re determined to take positives from the experience.

I recognise our strengths, but after 15 years in the agency, I’m sure I’m biased. As such, it was hugely reassuring to see the tremendous results of our independent client relationship audit where we asked 30 of our clients for their feedback.

100% think that Havas Lynx are pretty responsive or very responsive
100% would recommend Havas Lynx
100% would envisage working together over the next twelve months

I’m sure we’ll lose other accounts, but certainly not by making the same mistakes.

July 22, 2015

PMGroup Communiqué Communications Consultancy of the Year

Agency of the Year, by David Hunt

The judges said, “Havas Lynx are not just preparing for the future, they are creating it.”

I agree, but not in isolation. Alongside our team, it takes great clients too. We’re incredibly blessed to work alongside some brilliant industry leaders, from all across the globe. Some have been with us since the beginning and the advent of the tablet-pc & closed-loop marketing. Others are new to the industry, but they share our vision & passion for pharma to make a meaningful & sustained impact on society. New, old, familiar, returning, former; we’re grateful to all of our clients and the role they’ve played in making us great.

We’re also very grateful to Havas Health and in particular Donna Murphy & Ed Stapor. A Global CMO of Top 10 Fortune 500 Company commented, “Your industry spends a fortune buying big digital companies, makes them worse, loses the talent, leaves them in a silo and fails to integrate them and deliver their expertise to us.” This could not be further from the reality of our transition from Creative Lynx to Havas Lynx. We’re faster, stronger, better, and significantly so. We’ve matured from a local digital shop to a global communications agency. Havas have been a catalyst for our development, ensuring that we can now boast scientific, strategic and creative excellence, alongside our unparalleled digital expertise.

From a young age, I came to understand the importance of a great team. Expertise, passion, diversity and a collective commitment are the cornerstones of our success. We mix recognised industry leaders with remarkable graduates, decorated creatives with proven engineers, and scientists with strategists. 95% of our staff are proud or very proud of the work they produce, and I am equally proud of them.

The final ingredient is the Havas Lynx Senior Team; myself, Neil Martin, Steve Nicholas, David Whittingham, and Tom Richards. With the exception of Tom, who is a recent addition, we have been together for a decade, enjoying almost all of it. It’s a great team, and one that I’m incredibly honoured to be part of. It’s reassuring to know that when times are hard, you are surrounded by experts & leaders that stand shoulder-to-shoulder. And equally, when times are good that you can celebrate with friends.

April 24, 2015July 25, 2019

Success in customer experience might be a marathon…

…but you can learn all you need to know in a sprint at Create Health’s CXIH Summit 2015.

This Sunday, the London Marathon will bring together two of the best long-distance runners in the world, as current marathon world record holder Denis Kimetto takes on fellow countryman (and former world record holder) Wilson Kipsang.

For both Kenyans, success depends upon a multitude of elements coming together and working in their favour. Nutrition, training schedules, rest and recovery, and mental preparation must all be spot on. Coaches, dietitians, physiotherapists, and psychologists must all be pulling in the right direction. But what if one element isn’t functioning as it should; what if Kimetto comes to the line worried that his diet’s not been right, or if Kipsang feels his head coach has been off his game? It wouldn’t stop either starting the race, but they’d have niggling doubts running through their minds about how well they could perform.

It’s the same in anything we undertake; from learning to play the piano, to recovering from a chronic condition. Every failing element creates doubt, a doubt that can grow to dent faith in success. A patient who undergoes yet another unsuccessful treatment change is going to lose faith in their doctor, the value of adhering, and perhaps their recovery altogether.

Positive customer experience is considered golden across all consumer-based sectors; whether you’re booking a hotel room or looking for an insurance quote, every element you encounter should run like clockwork, making the road to success as seamless and hitch-free as possible. It’s no coincidence that, with digital so central to modern day lives, Barclays launched their Digital Eagles initiative to improve digital literacy amongst young and old. A customer who better understands how to use the platforms Barclays operates within, is of course, more likely to have a positive customer experience when engaging with them.

Consumer brands invest in customer experience because if they don’t, there are a million other places their customers can go. The situation isn’t quite the same in healthcare, but the implications are no less significant. From a commercial standpoint, a professional who, from their very first interaction with a representative, feels informed and in control is more likely to prescribe and re-prescribe a treatment (and more generally have a positive opinion of a brand). And from an ethical perspective, a patient given the tools to take charge, not just of their treatment, but also of their life in general, is more likely to achieve a better outcome.

At Havas Lynx, we’ve recently been discussing the importance of taking a more holistic view to patient experience in order to achieve treatment success. As such, we’re pleased to be taking part in Create Health’s Customer Experience In Health Summit, held on 12th May in London. The Summit brings together the brightest and most inspiring leaders in customer experience from inside and outside of healthcare, with experts from GSK, Merck Serono and Pfizer talking alongside the best from RBS, Travelodge, AXA and many more. We’ve always really enjoyed working with the Create Health team; they have a knack of creating a relaxed atmosphere that opens people up to genuine debate and discussion. Last year, those of us that attended their event were imbued with ideas and enthusiasm. This year, our very own Rob Fuller and Claire Knapp will be delivering a talk, but whether you listen to them or any of the other speakers, you’re bound to stumble across some enlightening insights.

For more on the power of patient engagement and holistic support, read our latest white paper, Smiles That Save Lives

We’re pleased to be able to offer Havas Lynx clients a 75% discount off the normal ticket price for CXIH 2015. Just use the promotional code ‘havas’ when you come to pay.

April 8, 2015

Conduct

The importance of manners, by David Hunt

Speak when spoken to, remember your please & thank-yous, and listen to others – all important lessons I’m determined to teach my son, Hudson. They are essential to being a well-rounded member of society and equally essential in Pharma’s pursuit of social media acceptance.

We talk A LOT about governance, rules of engagement and process. For me this is the method and internal mechanics, it’s of our concern and not our customers. Of far more importance to me is our product, their experience, which is determined by our behaviour & conduct. There’s little point in engaging in social if it does not help the community, and complement our commercial objectives. If we compromise our personality, we compromise our campaign.

Typically our behaviour is weighed down by bureaucracy; it is uptight, awkward & unresponsive. It lacks critical speed & authenticity. It can feel like a conversation with a committee, most likely because it is. Newspaper Editors the world over take responsibility for their publications. It allows them to publish breaking news, competing with their rivals, meeting the needs of their customers. The consensus is that Pharma cannot be so frivolous, the risks are too great. True, if we are publishing product related information, not true if we are engaging with a community relating to disease awareness. Of course there will be points when we can’t comment, but these should not compromise the many meaningful interactions we can have.

Of course governance cannot be underestimated, but it should be guidelines & not a rule book. It should inspire, not suffocate our interactions. And it must be built on a brand personality & values, a global tone for all markets & platforms.

By trusting intelligent individuals to take responsibility, thus replacing response by committee with a more human approach to social media, we too can become a well-rounded member of society.

March 11, 2015

Ideas

Creativity, More Important Than Ever by David Hunt

You can have a strong brand & commitment to fulfil it. You can have the necessary culture to respond in a real fashion. You can have a relevant, quality, dynamic content strategy. And most importantly, you can share a genuine ambition with your community. But you can still, and most likely will, fail in social media.

In a world that besieges individuals with content, news & entertainment across all manner of devices & channels, standing-out from the crowd is more important than ever. Pharma has spent so long wrestling with social, that when we finally do arrive, we expect that they will come. The world has not been waiting. The world is oblivious to our fraught self-interrogation. That is not to say, we can’t add significant value to our respective communities, it is just that we need to earn the right to be socially significant. Turning-up, standing on the periphery, is not enough.

In my opinion, you need an idea that grabs attention and acts as a catalyst for your social campaign. It requires insight into the community, imagination to be unique, the potential to be valuable & engaging, but it also requires appreciation of social dynamics. It is not an advert, but it is creative. It is an idea that drives participation & interaction, from incremental approval & shares, to endorsement & actions. It takes great talent, with great ideas to unlock the great social opportunity.

In South America we have seen the Colombian League Against Cancer “Cancer Tweets” campaign demonstrating the creative opportunity social media represents.

Great ideas that leverage the social opportunity are still the exception in healthcare. I’m excited to work with clients and colleagues with the imagination and bravery to seize the initiative and make a difference.

February 19, 2015

Content is King, so they say…

Participate in something greater, by David Hunt

“Content is King” is a great expression; catchy, weighty, easy. It’s also misleading, absent of substance, and wrong on many levels. As of January 2014, the Internet has 861,379,000¹ websites, or if you prefer Google has indexed 200 Terabytes of data²which is just 0.004% of the total Internet. Either way, there is no shortage of content. There is however an appetite for relevant, topical, bespoke content delivered as part of an expert brand strategy – the social world requires brain not brawn.

Content is a form of advertisement, albeit positioned as a more sophisticated strategy. The objective remains to elicit an emotion that drives an action. However, despite this universal truth, the world has changed. It is more connected, more social, and ultimately more judgemental. It is no longer enough to tell stories; we need to craft a collaborative narrative. Being instant lacks longevity and durability. Producing content without emotion and relevance dilutes and devalues brands. Today, more than ever, the market requires insight, imagination and innovation. Our Havas colleagues in Australia produced what I consider to be the best social campaign in healthcare: The world’s most powerful arm.

Great agencies are more, not less, critical to the brand building process. So too is a genuine brand. We can no longer manufacture our image, we can no longer limit the format of our customer interactions, we are exposed, open, and unintentionally honest. A strong authentic brand personality is essential. It must represent the values of a business and be aligned to the personality of their customers. Fonts, colours and high-gloss photographs, pale-away versus behaviour and conduct. Social success today relies more than ever on the principles of brand development.

The scale of the Internet is infinite, standing out from the crowd is harder than ever, unless of course you join the crowd. Become more than just an isolated part. Participate in something greater. Unite your community through a shared ambition. Do more. Social success is inextricably linked to the power of the collective to make a difference; it requires more than a content production line.

February 24, 2014

Performance by the aggregation of marginal gains, What we can learn from sporting superstars

User experience; Big air and big ideas, by David Hunt

The Sochi Winter Olympics has been quite a spectacle. Putting aside the politics and the controversy, it has been a truly awe-inspiring sporting display. Like most people, I’ve been absolutely gripped by it and spent Sunday evening ‘casually’ browsing flight prices to Val d’Isère, considering the possibility of a break with my board.

Whilst competing at the games in 2018 might be little more than a pipe dream, I take inspiration from the parallels between the methods of these winter superstars and our practices at HAVAS LYNX. Our game might be user-centred design, but the outcome we aspire to isn’t so far from that of the athletes in Sochi. Like a boarder dropping into a half-pipe or a sled driver ripping round the bobsleigh track, our work can help those that we engage with feel connected and even inspired. The build up to such a major championships requires meticulous preparation. Identifying and addressing potential areas of improvement is a rigorous science. Data from practice runs and previous events is analysed, examining everything from split times to a rider’s claim that ‘it just doesn’t feel right’. Both data types are equally as valuable in UX; a qualitative insight such as a patient interview can reveal as much as reams of quantitative data.

Whatever it’s form, this data is then collated and evaluated into concise insights; problems that need solving. Then the exciting part – solving these problems. The science of hypothesis and analysis is worthless if you cannot couple it with the creativity. However meticulous, your research will only highlight the problems, not solve them. How many times have you heard a sports commentator exclaim ‘that came out of nowhere’ in response to a moment of sheer brilliance from an athlete? Free-style skiing is one of the most exciting sports I’ve watched in my life. I can’t help but marvel at the way GB star James Woods and his contemporaries constantly push the boundaries of their sport, inventing new tricks and putting together more imaginative and exciting runs. Working in healthcare, our work has the potential to dramatically transform outcomes, but only if we show the same ambitious zeal as the likes of ‘Woodsy’ and co. For our work to be successful it must inspire, challenge and connect. Invoking such responses is not a matter of routinely following a checklist.

A new idea in its raw form is great, but the job’s a long way from finished. These sparks of inspiration need to be fed back into the UX process to be honed and refined. Bobsleigh’s are tested for aero-dynamics in wind-tunnels, reviewed over hundreds of test runs as the team of engineers tweak and improve the design. We must be as meticulous and focused in our testing; products and services must be tested for what matters and by who they matter to. A small, focus group can be just as effective as mass-testing if well-selected.

New ideas are great, but innovation isn’t only a matter of the new. It can be the mastering of something old, something that’s done before, and improving it. Dave Brailsford’s troop of British cyclists were unstoppable at the summer Olympics of 2012. During the games there was a brief controversy surrounding the wheels the GB team was using, as if instilled in these wheels was a black magic giving them an advantage. Was their success really due to having an ace up their sleeve that no one else had? Could one single product, EPO a side, turn a whole team of men and women into winners? I don’t think so. Brailsford (Performance Director of British cycling) says their improved performance was down to ‘the aggregation of marginal gains’.

There wasn’t a single item or process that gave the GB team the advantage over their competitors, they were just doing a lot of little things a little bit better. The cumulative effect of all these things was what made such a resounding difference; those one percents added up. It’s the same in user experience design.

‘It means taking the 1% from everything you do; finding a 1% margin for improvement in everything’

November 24, 2013

Steve Jobs, a catalyst for innovation or a poster boy for the digital revolution?

User experience; Pursuit of perfection, by David Hunt

Where does the late Steve Jobs sit amongst the greatest minds of our time? Is he simply the poster-boy for the global culture of innovation? Or is he the catalyst that inspired a generation to think differently?

He didn’t create the Internet, he didn’t create the MP3, he did not invent the mobile phone, but does that lessen his impact or contribution to the digital revolution? Through his pathological commitment to a customer-centric approach, he took alien and complex concepts and brought them into the main-stream. He was the perfect foil to a software engineer, able to take “black magic” and make it simply magic.

His impact is significant; he challenged conventions and improved our lives. He didn’t look at what the competition did, he looked at what they didn’t do. He saw things differently. He knew what people wanted and he fulfilled the need, in terms of product, positioning and marketing.

His products were the best. He had the vision to challenge conventions and he had the obsession to shape every detail. His solutions weren’t defined by rules or existing boundaries, but by form, and experience. Whilst the design & integration of his products were flawless, product semantics were at the heart of their success, providing complete alignment with a user’s instincts. We didn’t have to learn how to work his products, they learnt how we work. Consumers may choose an Apple product because it is pioneering, it is desirable, it is premium – I choose Apple because of the experience. It is an extension of me. Every detail considered around my needs; from the physical interaction to the seamless interface, driven by a deep rooted desire to exceed my expectations.

He defined product classes. Apple did not produce the first smart phone, or first MP3 player, but they did bring them to the public conscious. His product positioning was flawless, (unlike some). He could bridge the gap between technology and need. He would take an idea and make it relevant. There are those that can create technology, and there are those that know how to use it, Steve Jobs was the latter and his impact all the greater.

Was Steve Jobs a marketing expert? In 1983 he didn’t think so. In hiring John Sculley from Pepsi to become CEO of Apple, he highlighted the value he placed on marketing & communications, but an unusual lack of personal belief. Those in his presence, and the wider world would disagree, citing his “reality distortion field” – an ability to make the impossible, seam possible. Despite the economic challenges of the past decade, Apple has continued to succeed. Many wrongly believe that in austere times a cut in sales & marketing drives profit, Apple have baulked this trend and proven the wisdom of communications to maintain long-term success.

It is impossible to say where the world would be without Steve Jobs and Apple. However, I would speculate that whilst the technology would exist, the benefit it brings would only be enjoyed by engineers & technicians, the wider society would be oblivious to the benefits of “black magic”.

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The trouble-makers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently…they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.”
– Steve Jobs

References:

– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs

– Jobs [Movie, 2013]

– Steve Jobs, by Walter Isaacson

– Keep It Simple: The Early Design Years of Apple by Hartmut Esslinger

Sent from my iPad