News
MSLGROUP LAUNCHES WHITEPAPER ON THE EUROPEAN HEALTHCARE SECTOR
Our Latest Paper Provides Insights into Market Access, Advocacy and Digital Communication for the Healthcare Industry in Europe
Paris, September 17, 2012: Based on survey findings and insight from a private gathering of key players from Europe Healthcare industry in Geneva, MSLGROUP today launched the whitepaper, 'You Share, We Care". With a focus on current industry challenges and trends, the whitepaper points to the profound transformation Europe's healthcare industry is experiencing - and the response that companies in the healthcare sector must formulate to survive and thrive.
According to Pascal Beucler, SVP & Chief Strategy Officer of MSLGROUP "The survey and its follow-up closed-door event have given MSLGROUP unique insight into current and future trends within the European healthcare sector, from pharma, to the fields of both nutrition and agribusiness."
MSLGROUP's whitepaper, the third phase of the network's European healthcare initiative, draws on survey findings and comments from seminar attendees and focuses on five particular areas:
- A new ecosystem: Word of mouth has always been important in healthcare, but thanks to social media, millions of people are today talking about drugs on the Web without involving a doctor. Alongside challenges, this reality also offers opportunities to engage with patient groups online, leveraging their clout to communicate a healthcare company's messages.
- A new deal: Healthcare actors must balance the need to provide universal health care, and long-term care, with the increasing demands in the coming years associated with an ageing population, technological development and growing patient expectations. Innovative reimbursement strategies hold the key.
- A new style of engagement: Healthcare companies must develop multi-pronged approaches to advocacy, focusing equally on the Pan-European and local levels. There is also an urgent need to develop holistic external communications strategies - that put digital at their heart - if companies are to be perceived as part of the solution to Europe's healthcare challenges.
- A new paradigm: From R&D, to reimbursement strategies and partnerships, there has never been a greater need for innovation in the sector. At the same time, it is crucial that healthcare companies better communicate the value of innovation to a skeptic public.
- A new mindset: In a world where the relationship between business and society has significantly shifted, healthcare companies need to increase authenticity in their communications, win trust, and build reputation. They also have to focus on creating shared value with stakeholders, through collaborative social innovation.
"As convergence between nutrition, wellness, chronic disease prevention and innovative therapies increases, and social media 'massifies' sector communications, a new mindset is required to best capture the very meaning of health; to genuinely engage with patients, and to influence policy makers and key opinion leaders," Elisabetta Moroni, practice leader for MSLGROUP's EMEA Healthcare taskforce commented. "Based on a survey and private conversations, we believe this whitepaper summarizes the key issues keeping healthcare leaders awake at night, and we hope provides a roadmap for the ways in which we can help them address those challenges through strategic communications."
The whitepaper can be downloaded here.
About the survey
The survey, developed by MSLGROUP's EMEA Healthcare Practice, targeted 70 top managers at healthcare companies from Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Scandinavia, Spain and Switzerland in order to capture their views on the macro trends shaping the healthcare market, from pharma, to the fields of nutrition and agribusiness. The managers responded to questions about the future of healthcare, focusing specifically on market access, advocacy and the changes brought about by digital communication. In an effort to ascertain managers' and companies' state of readiness to handle the 'healthcare revolution', those questioned were asked their views about recent and current challenges, including the economic crisis, the rising demand for healthcare, people's growing awareness around health thanks to active participation on the Internet, the commitment of companies and institutions with regard corporate social responsibility, new regulation within the pharmaceutical market, and implications for corporate reputation management.
About the closed-door event in Geneva
The results of the 'You Share, We Care' survey were shared during a private gathering that took place in Geneva this Summer, the purpose of which was to encourage reflection and stimulate debate among sector professionals with regard the most appropriate communications to deploy in today's ever-evolving socio-economic environment.. Some of the most insightful findings from the survey and conclusions reached during the meeting have been put together in the white paper released today.
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