5 Reasons Why: Healthcare Brands Should Invest in Brand Acts

Jack Health Blog

May 6th, 2022 By

Healthcare Brand ActsLet’s start with the basics… what is a brand act?

A brand act is an activation or gesture that includes an exchange of value or values and makes people talk, post, share, and care. They are big, brave, bold efforts focused on making a statement and doing good for the world. These acts are authentic and rooted in solving social, cultural, or opportunistic problems. They often create permanent, purposeful and meaningful changes – not to mention good for your brand.

Typically, the best brand acts are experiential and use tactics such as out-of-home marketing or events to make an impact. Brand acts create the opportunity for PR-worthy media and exposure, with increased scale and educational content delivered both live and through supporting digital / above-the-line channels.

While there’s no magic formula, brand acts perform well and are most effective when they are rooted in strong consumer insights, make a statement, offer consumers a value exchange, and have high earned media potential.

Here are five reasons why healthcare brands should invest in brand acts:

1. Build Trust

The pandemic created a halo effect for healthcare brands. It’s already gone.

According to Edelman, overall trust in healthcare companies globally dropped to 62% in 2022, down over 10% versus the pandemic halo high of 73% in 2020.

Brand acts can help build trust by demonstrating value to consumers, making a statement, and delivering proof on brand promises.

2. Stand for Something

The pandemic brought healthcare brands into the spotlight like never before. But now that healthcare brands have the world’s attention, they must decide what they stand for.

Innovative healthcare brands are showing up publicly in new ways and spaces, fundamentally changing how consumers think about healthcare brand experiences. Brands can utilize large-scale, experience-focused efforts to show, not just tell stakeholders, how recent advances in healthcare and health tech can make a profound impact.

3. Move Beyond Promoting Products

A handful of pharma brands became household names during the pandemic, but there are currently ZERO pharma corporate brands represented in the Kantar BrandZ™ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands list.

Ambitious brands are starting to think and act more like Nike, Apple, Amazon, and others and are investing in building a corporate brand (or in some cases, a divisional one) that provides credibility, trust, and a halo effect across the portfolio – all of which are huge drivers of success when products themselves are launched.

4. Win the War for Talent

Trust, integrity, and purpose don’t just matter to patients and doctors. They matter to your own employees (and future employees). Deeply. In fact, 70% of employees feel that their sense of purpose in life is defined by their work, and 62% indicate they are seeking even more purpose from their work, according to a recent McKinsey & Company survey.

The war for talent is real and purpose-driven companies tend to experience 40% higher levels of workforce retention than other organizations, according to a report from Deloitte. Brand acts can assist companies in build meaningful relationships with their employees by instilling both purpose and pride that will help employers keep the people they want and attract the right new talent.

5. Create Content That Has Residual Value

Once a brand act has been executed, it doesn’t just disappear. A brand act has the power to leave its mark on each person who interacted with it, read about it, and heard about it. And supporting content and information from a brand act can elongate its lifespan further, continuing to spin off into additional, longer-lasting campaigns, thus extending the success of this moment in time.

Brand acts allow companies to demonstrate purpose and showcase their authenticity. These actions help cut through a lot of today’s marketing clutter and help brands stay top of mind with the audiences that matter most. The hangover from the last two years, when healthcare brands saved the world, is subsiding, and brands need opportunities to showcase goodness again. Because without it, they will struggle to win over hearts and minds, and that’s a tough pill to swallow.

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