As part of a recent away day, the health team here at 3 Monkeys Zeno discussed why we care to work in healthcare communications.

All the familiar and noble answers emerged around doing work that “makes a difference to people’s lives” and relishing the challenge of “translating science into emotive marketing campaigns.” But we wanted to go deeper. Why was that stuff important to us today?

What emerged was a series of deeper connections and feelings about healthcare and the world around us.

There was a common response that there has never been a more exciting, inspiring and relevant time to work in healthcare communications.  

Why?

Because relentless advances in personalized medicine, health-tech and digital mean healthcare is likely to change more in the next ten years than in the last 100 years. From genomics and gene editing to immuno-oncology, from sensors and AI to the democratization of big health data, increasing collaboration across the healthcare industry is leading to endlessly inspiring, life-changing outcomes.

And we get to work in that space.

Yes, creaking healthcare systems are cost constrained, overburdened by growing and ageing populations, process and politics. But healthcare isn’t broken. Despite these challenges, healthcare organisations are navigating complex global shifts towards preventative healthcare, personalized medicine and digital health – continuing to predict, prevent and cure disease, save lives and care for vulnerable people every day.

And more than ever, healthcare organisations are increasingly embracing creative communications to connect a brand, a cause or health information with its audiences. Our work is about helping healthcare companies play a meaningful role in people’s lives. It’s about ensuring the stories they communicate create human connections that help change and save lives – which is hugely exciting work to create and deliver.

Also, in today’s hyper-connected, patient empowered world – those connections need to be more simple, more authentic and more rooted in human values and insight than ever before. Because when we strip away from a client’s brief the unmet need, the landmark trial data, the looming competitor, the scientific innovation, the politics and the pricing and we distill the ultimate goal of our partnership, our work together needs to inspire and improve human care. Otherwise it’s just more landfill marketing.

And that’s why my team and I choose to work here in healthcare communications.