• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, September 20, 2016

It's really not enough to call yourself an agency with vertical experience in the healthcare space. No, you have to tout yourself as creating brand experiences for brands that live within the healthcare space. Because fancy buzzwords are always better than plain English, right?

Anyway, Boston (Norwood)-based agency Cramer has announced the formation of a new unit focused exclusively on experiential marketing for the healthcare industry. And yeah, if you hadn't heard, experiential marketing is the new new thing.

In launching Cramer Healthcare, the agency said it is responding to a marketplace need as the industry continues to undergo changes. Which, of course, it has. According to Kantar Media, hospitals, medical centers, and clinics spent nearly $2 billion on advertising in 2015.

Of the new unit's launch, Cramer Partner and registered nurse Julie Walker said, “We have launched this new unit to address fundamental transformations happening in the healthcare industry. It's time for healthcare marketing to transform as well, Cramer Healthcare and its unique-to-healthcare experiential focus and capabilities will help our clients thrive as healthcare marketing evolves.”

The agency says traditional marketing is no longer meeting the performance expectations of healthcare marketers, and experiential marketing for healthcare brands is emerging as the next results-driving frontier. Hey, it works for soda brands. Why not healthcare brands?

Expanding on why experiential marketing is a good thing for the space, Cramer Healthcare VP Creative Director Loriann Murray said, "Live experiences are bringing patients, physicians, and economic buyers into our clients' brands, creating opportunities to engage and interact with their services and products that go dramatically beyond the capabilities of traditional and digital marketing. Healthcare marketers are investing in new ways to reach their target audiences.

The rise of experiential is driving the most talked about, most exciting, and most impactful programs in healthcare marketing.”

Because two quotes from agency execs launching a new thing is simply not enough, Cramer Healthcare VP Head of Content had to chime in and say: "Our clients turn to us for an uncommon mix of on-demand, multidisciplinary talent across our 150-person team. Through our core capabilities of experience design, live production, audience engagement, and content creation, we keep inventing and crafting entirely new experiences for healthcare marketers.”

The healthcare industry is quickly recognizing the high value of and return on investment from quality experiential marketing strategies.

The new offering will focus on five core offerings: Experience design - designing the environments, conceiving the brand and messaging for each experience.

Live production - incorporating areas of engineering and staging, webcasting and satellite broadcasts.

Audience engagement – engagement can range from digital apps and platforms, to community and influencer programs, to content hubs, and more.

Experiential content - messages, stories, and information for the audience including video and animation production, graphic design and presentations, to mixed reality, the worlds of augmented and virtual reality.

Marketing services - delivering the communication plans, connection strategies, digital executions, and cross-channel campaigns needed to acquire audiences and drive measurable results from marketing programs.