It takes a big person to admit they’re wrong. This is especially true when it’s me, as I really don’t like doing this. Ever.

Well, here comes one of those rare times where I do admit it. There is one caveat: I’m not totally wrong. Just partially wrong.

You see, almost two and a half years ago I wrote a post called  Ten Digital Marketing Ideas Pharma Companies Will Never Try (But Should). It ‘s actually  the second most read post ever on Dose of Digital (second only to Facebook Pages Just Got Easier for Brands). That means about 8,000 of you will understand why I’m admitting I’m wrong today. In this post, I spelled out, well, 10 digital marketing ideas that I thought pharma companies would never try.

To appreciate the context a bit, I wrote this post in June 2009. That’s a long time ago in Internet years (like 50, I think). Things have changed dramatically since then, so some of the things I said companies would never try seem dated even today, but for the most part, I think they still hold up. Here’s the list of 10 things. If you want the rationale for each of these, then visit the original post.

1. Create a game for the Wii Fit that helps your patients manage their disease and begin a proper exercise and fitness regimen
2. Get rid of your brand website
3. Add ratings and reviews to your brand site
4. Install Google Friend Connect
5. Allow patients to share their history with Google Health (or Microsoft HealthVault)
6. Add features to your site that allow patients to track their condition and compare with others
7. Hire five “community managers” to help fix your online reputation
8. Create a portal allowing physicians to get every piece of clinical information related to your product and its indication in one place
9. Kick people out of your CRM program
10. Implement OpenID on your website wherever you require registration.

As you can see from the list, a few of these are a bit out of date, but most still make sense. So, let’s take a look at each of these and see if anyone has proven me wrong yet.

1. Create a game for the Wii Fit that helps your patients manage their disease and begin a proper exercise and fitness regimen

While no pharma companies have jumped in and created a Wii Fit game (my post about the Wii Fit from 2009 is here), some companies certainly are dabbling in this area. The most anticipated upcoming game (as far as I’m concerned) comes from Boehringer Ingelheim. It’s called Syrum.

While it’s not a game for Wii Fit, nor is it about fitness or exercise, it at least shows some interest in the area of gaming. I like the concept of creating games to help with a number of different marketing challenges. Let’s face it. If someone is gaming, they aren’t looking at your website or using your application. You need to accept that everything out there is a competitor when it comes to people’s time. Game like Syrum are working to bring that time back by essentially going to where the people are.

So, while I wasn’t not totally wrong, I’m impressed that at least one company is dipping a toe in the area of gaming. Who’s next?

2. Get rid of your brand website

I’ve said this one a lot and even included it on my list of 10 Healthcare Dinosaurs Digital Technology Will Make Extinct. Early last year in that post, I predicted pharma brand sites would go away within 5-7 years, so I’ve got some time with this one. I think this isn’t just true for pharma, but for many other (if not all) industries at some point in the near future. People don’t simply want to go to your site anymore. They are going elsewhere to get opinions about you or to buy your product. You need to bring your content to where they are, which can’t be done with a static website. This is especially true if your site STILL isn’t mobile-friendly, as more and more people access the Internet this way. No one is going to go to (or certainly stay at) your site if they can’t read it on their phone.

No pharma companies have taken the plunge on this one yet. It’s a bit early, but for now, I’m still right.

3. Add ratings and reviews to your brand site

Here’s one where I think I’ll be safe for a while. I don’t see any companies adopting this any time soon, but I still think they should. Why not?

People are already getting reviews from places such as MediGuard (formally iGuard). They are also comparing their experiences with certain drugs to that of others on sites like CureTogether and Patients Like Me. What’s the harm in sharing this information on your website? Yes, you might have to leave out some of the off label information and reviews, but what about the rest? Isn’t it valuable to have real reviews from real people on your site? If your drug is as good as you say it is (and most reviews in this area are positive), then include them. Even the negative reviews are valuable. They add credibility to the good reviews (so people know you aren’t making them up). They also alert people to what issues they might face while on the product. Someone might include some information about a side effect in their review. Really understanding this before you start taking a medication increases your chances of staying on therapy. Isn’t that good for everyone?

I’m still right on this one. No companies have jumped into this pool quite yet. I think I’m safe for a while here.

4. Install Google Friend Connect

I’m going to give everyone a pass on this one…sort of. While Google Friend Connect never really caught on, the concept is still valid. What’s Google Friend Connect and what would it do? Essentially, visitors can join your site, which in turn adds your site to their Google profile as one of their “friend” sites. They can comment on the site and quickly and easily share your site with friends.

Sound familar?

Back in 2009, Facebook wasn’t the behemoth that it is today. Facebook Connect (now Login) wasn’t available, so you couldn’t use this. The concept is the same though. While no companies ever added Google Friend Connect and none have added Facebook Login to allow for simple sharing, some have headed in this direction. Many companies have already jumped into Facebook, which does allow people to do some of the functionality I mentioned. Some have added sharing buttons (like ShareThis) that make it easy to share content via social media.

But this isn’t widespread. And, in general, pharma companies really don’t want people commenting or talking too much about their websites (especially branded ones). This still makes people a little nervous for some reason. I think one FDA Warning Letter for one website (a year ago) still makes people edgy on this topic. I wrote about why the don’t need to be worried in this post. Be sure to also read the updated version that contain updated recommendations as well.

Allowing people to connect with your site to make sharing simple just isn’t happening yet in pharma. It should. So, for now, I’m saying I’m still right on this one until I see some more examples of this (hey, it’s my blog, so I’m the judge).

5. Allow patients to share their history with Google Health (or Microsoft HealthVault)

I’m guessing most of you recognize the issue with this one. There is no Google Health anymore. However, there still is HealthVault from Microsoft. No pharma companies have done anything (as far as I know) with HealthVault. Moreover, no one has even created a way for people to create their history as it relates to their products. I think we can debate whether or not this is a place for pharma even to play, but I think there’s probably something here. Many drugs tout some sort of CRM or compliance program, so why not integrate some tracking into this? Of course, developing an effective tracker isn’t easy (as seen in my post Why No One Uses Your Health, Medication, or Exercise Trackers), but making one doesn’t need to be that complex (as seen in my post I’ll Build You an iPhone Medication Tracker App for $10).

Having said all that, there are a number of different ways to get data of all sorts into HealthVault. Only one of them comes from a pharma company. You can actually import your data from Bayer-made blood glucose meters directly into HealthVault (and other devices too). Technically, I suppose this counts, so it looks like I’m wrong on this one. Well played, Bayer. Well played.

6. Add features to your site that allow patients to track their condition and compare with others

This one is sort of related to number 3 on the list. Strictly speaking, this isn’t being done by any pharma company yet. However, there are some places where I have to give some credit. In particular, UCB Pharma partnered with Patients Like Me to create a new community on the Patients Like Me site to allow people with epilepsy to use the site. Until recently, Patients Like Me only featured a select number of communities for certain diseases. Epilepsy wasn’t one, so UCB helped get one started.

In addition, a few other companies have helped people with a certain condition connect with others with the same connection. One of the first was Epilepsy Empowerment (now offline). The idea here was to connect people with similar characteristics together so they could talk about the disease. The company wasn’t involved beyond making the initial match. After that, people were responsible for connecting and talking on their own (maybe through email or phone). This site was created by Valient Pharmaceuticals (now part of Ortho-McNeil).

So, while not an exact match with my statement, these are close enough, so I’ll admit I’m wrong on this one. A word of caution though…there’s still more work to be done here, so don’t stop just yet pharma companies.

7. Hire five “community managers” to help fix your online reputation

Technically, I could probably declare a win on this one. I don’t think any company has hired five community managers just yet. Four maybe, but not five. However, in the spirit of admitting when you’re wrong and being completely shocked by this outcome, I’m going to give you this one. Since originally writing this post, nearly every pharma company has jumped into social media (see the Pharma and Healthcare Social Media Wiki for a list). Some are very actively engaged and have employed a number of people to help them manage their social media presence. Again, some companies are doing it better than others, but there are more on the “better” list each day. I never thought pharma companies would come as far as they have (even if there’s a ways to go), so I was completely wrong on this one.

And, I’m glad that I was.

8. Create a portal allowing physicians to get every piece of clinical information related to your product and its indication in one place

This is a tough one to declare victory or defeat, as staying on top of every company and all their digital marketing initiatives is pretty tough. So, I’m going to declare this a tie. Certainly, transparency in clinical data has increased dramatically over the past couple of years. Companies like Lilly have had portals like this (Lilly since 2004), where physicians could access all of their clinical trial data. So, in that case, I was wrong before I published the post in 2009.

But wait! I wasn’t talking about a portal like these. I’m talking about a really easy way to get the information. For example, how come a physician can’t simply find this data when he or she goes to the HCP version of your website? Why do they need to know about this (sometimes) hidden portal with access to everything? If you provide access to everything in one place, why not provide it in every place. That is, on the HCP site for Lipitor, for example, why can’t a physician access every clinical trial for Lipitor done by Pfizer? I can get the results elsewhere, but why make it hard for a physician to access them when they come to the place where they expect to find it?

Until more companies do this, it’s a tie.

9. Kick people out of your CRM program

This is another one where it’s hard to tell whether or not I’m still right, as most companies don’t really share many details about changes to their CRM programs. However, from what I’ve seen, I don’t see a giant sea change here. The idea here was simple. From the original post: “The problem with allowing these people to enter and stay in your program is that in order to allow this you have to take money and resources from those who actually would benefit from something.” That is, kick out the people you aren’t helping or can’t help and focus on those that you can help. A few companies have started to develop tools and screeners to figure out who might be adherent to their medications and which might respond to help. If you know this, then use the information. If you don’t know this, then you need to develop something that gathers this information.

Until this is common practice, I’m declaring that I’m still right on this one.

10. Implement OpenID on your website wherever you require registration.

OpenID is still around, but isn’t see that often. However, the protocol behind it very much exists and is used much more today than ever. You’ve probably seen the protocol when you are able to log into a site using your Facebook credentials (for example). It saves you from having to input the data again and it makes the site simpler to use (and more likely to get your information), so it’s a win for everyone. Having said that, as mentioned in number 4 above, no companies have really embraced this concept. We still make people fill out long forms instead of taking the opportunity to make it simple for people to sign up in one click.

I know some companies have specific rules on how data is collected, stored, transferred, etc., but I’ve worked with many outside pharma (who have similar restrictions and regulations) and ultimately, we were able to overcome all of these challenges. People expect to be able to use these open protocols to log in and fill in forms in many cases. Your site is no exception. This is especially true if you run a site that includes people logging in with a user name and password. In these cases, you’ll increase the number of people that join (and return) by offering additional log in options.

I’m definitely still right on this one.

So, there you have it. Out of the 10 items, I’m still right on 5 of them, wrong on 4, and I declared a tie on 1 of them. Of course, as you can tell from the title of the original, the goal wasn’t to come up with a list of things that pharma would never, ever do. That would be simple. The goal was to come up with a list that pharma should do, but hasn’t yet. If my post helped push any companies towards trying these things, then my post worked.

Even if it means admitting I was wrong.

Update, Oct. 12: if you want to see all of our posts and white papers from the series we did on the recent Facebook changes, you can visit this page.

Like many humans, you’ve probably noticed that Facebook has made some changes recently to its platform. For most people, these changes became apparent with the addition of Lists, a new News Feed structure, and the ticker. All of these changes will impact how people use Facebook and will force brands to rethink how they use the platform as well. I co-authored a point of view paper on all of these changes for my company, Possible Worldwide, and I’ll be discussing many of these over the coming days. I’ll include a link at the end of this post where you can pick up a copy of the full point of view paper. Rest assured that the paper and some upcoming posts will explain why I think brands need to completely rethink their approach to Facebook. The value of a “Like” isn’t what it used to be, so brands will need to find other ways for people to engage with them. I could go on for hours. Check out the paper or stay tuned for some upcoming posts for more details.

For today’s post, I wanted to talk about one really interesting new feature that is part of the Timeline format for profiles that Facebook has announced. If you don’t know what Timeline is, then check out this page that explains it all. I personally think this is one of the best things that Facebook has ever done with the platform. It’s a really aesthetically pleasing interface that serves as a really interesting digital scrapbook of your life. It’s got everything you’ve ever put on Facebook in an organized, time-based format and it looks great.

Timeline isn’t open to the public yet, but I’ve been using it for a couple weeks since they opened it up to developers. I’ve dug into it a lot and found out some potentially interesting things. On feature in particular stood out to me as having a potential impact on healthcare. In Timeline, all of your past posts are neatly listed in a…well…timeline format. However, there is also the option to add content to any date in the past. That is, you could add a picture from your wedding that happened long before Facebook existed. It’ll show up in the right spot right in the Timeline. In fact, Facebook gives you some ideas on what content you might consider adding in.

You probably recognize the first three icons in this new status box that resides on your Timeline page. However, the next five are new. The represent (from left to right): work and education, family and relationships, living, health and wellness, and milestones and experiences.

The image at the top of this post is what you see if you select the “Health and Wellness” icon. I find it fascinating that Facebook included this as a top level status option. The other areas are things that we routinely share on Facebook, but for most people, sharing health information anywhere (much less on Facebook) is unheard of. However, for those who have heard many of my recent presentations, you know that I’m not a fan of healthcare privacy. I argue constantly that if people gave up a little privacy it would likely make them and the rest of us a lot healthier. I won’t get into the debate here, but if you’re interested, check out this presentation below around the 16:40 mark for my entire rap on healthcare privacy (link here as well).

What Facebook has done (intentionally or not) is started to encourage people to give up a little of their healthcare privacy by encouraging them to share health-related events in their lives. They even suggest a few to get you started (“Broke a Bone”, “Had a Surgery”, “Overcame an Illness”). However, you can put in anything you want here. One of the big reasons why people don’t share health information publicly, including Facebook, is because they don’t see others doing it. It’s not the norm. Well, sharing your location wasn’t the norm a few years ago, but people started doing it via “checkins” and now it’s pretty common among a large percentage of people. The question is whether this will extend to sharing health information.

My prediction is that it will. Not today or tomorrow, but in the near future. The tipping point will be when people start noticing some benefit for sharing this information. There really isn’t much incentive now. However, if you knew that you’d get better care by sharing this information, you probably would. There a great story about how a woman inadvertently used Facebook to save her son’s life. Basically, she posted pictures of her sick kid and several of her friends noticed that there might be something seriously wrong. She gave up some privacy and got better care. One of the pioneers in this area is Dr. George Church (a brilliant Harvard geneticist) who in 1999 (yes, 1999) put all of his medical records online with the theory that he’d get better care by doing so. You can watch a great interview with him here where he discusses this concept, but here’s his recap of what happened when he put his records online and gave up his healthcare privacy:

“Around 1999, very early on, they gave me full access to my medical records and I put all my medical records up on the internet and interestingly a hematologist contacted me and noticed from my medical records that I was overdue for a cholesterol test, having picked up a cholesterol drug, Lovastatin.  And sure enough, I tested it out and it was having no effect; it was an inadequate dose and so that resulted in getting the right dose and the right diet and may have added many quality years of life in my case.”

There’s no doubt in his mind that healthcare privacy isn’t necessarily a good thing.

There is certainly a lot that people won’t share. I frequently show the image below as a warning to pharma companies that are thinking about creating prescription drug pages on Facebook. I think it speaks for itself.

There are some things that people won’t share…at least they won’t share it today. What Facebook has done by adding a “Health and Wellness” status update is subtly encourage all of us to start sharing more about our health. Sharing this will improve our health and also those of us around us. Sites like CureTogether have demonstrated what powerful information can come out of people sharing information about their health. You’ll only see more of this in the future, so get ready.

Also, don’t forget about the feature that Facebook added a couple of months ago that allows pharma and healthcare Pages to add a footer that is always visible, which can be added to the bottom of your Facebook Page. This can be used for disclaimers or other information that you always want visible. This postincludes a video demonstration of exactly how to implement this feature. You can see this feature in action on this Facebook Page for Curital, an imaginary pharma product I created.

You can’t have it all in life. You certainly can’t have it all when it comes to your digital marketing. It all comes down to choices. If you want one thing, you might have to sacrifice another. Oftentimes, this is because these choices seem to be mutually exclusive. A perfect example of this is illustrated in the triangle above (often referred to as the “Project Triangle“). For any given project, you can have any of the two characteristics seen at the points of the triangle, but you can’t get all three. For example, if you want it good and you need it fast, then expect for it to cost more because you’ll need to pay for additional help. You can have something fast and it can be cheap, but don’t expect it to be good.

These Pick Two triangles have become a bit of a meme on the Internet popping up in multiple places often with pretty humorous choices (I find myself on reddit to kill time fairly often). So, I thought I’d use this concept to illustrate some of the challenges I see today in healthcare digital marketing. More importantly, I’d like to bring us all a dose of reality when it comes to our marketing efforts. You can’t have it all. Frequently, that’s what companies want and what clients demand. So, consider this post a little reminder of what’s possible in most cases. Sure…sometimes it’s possible to have all three, but I don’t see it very often. Maybe that’s because it’s impossible or because there isn’t enough innovative thinking being applied to the problem (hint: consider looking outside of pharma sometimes). You be the judge.

At the end of the post, there’s info and a link to a form where you can create your own Pick Two triangle for a chance to win the Pick Two Healthcare Digital Marketing Challenge. The best submission will win some awesome Dose of Digital swag (seriously). Be sure to participate. More details at the end of the post.

I’ll get us started.

[click images to enlarge]

Let’s start with one that’s near and dear to my heart…Facebook. It seems like that’s all anyone talked about in the month of August, as Facebook rolled out changes that prevented pharma companies from being able to block Likes and comments on their Wall posts. Here’s the Pick Two triangle…

So, you can pick any two, but you can’t have all three. If you want to block comments and for your page to be simple to manage, then don’t expect anyone to see your posts. Since you’re not putting in much effort (you wanted it simple), you’re probably not creating engaging content that people share. You could block comments and have your page seen by people, however, it’s not going to be simple to manage. In this case, you’ll have to manage a massive media budget to drive traffic to your page because no one is going to see them on Facebook (here’s why). And finally, you can have a page that’s simple to manage and is actually seen by people, but you can’t block comments. You’ll have to let people comment, which will increase the number of people who see your posts. You’ll have to manage a bit, but it’s not as daunting as you might think…really.

Next…

Another popular topic these days is creating iPad sales aids for sales representatives. Many companies are moving to the iPad in place of paper-based detail aids. However, creating useful iPad applications for this purpose isn’t as simple as it seems. The Pick Two triangle…

Again, you can’t have it all. Create something that is interesting to doctors and is actually used by your sales reps, it probably doesn’t recite your core brand messages word for word like many marketing teams demand (PS: that’s okay). You can make sure it communicates your brand messages and that doctors find it interesting (which is probably a stretch), but your reps probably won’t use it because they hate reciting your brand messages and it’s likely difficult for them to use in most calls, which might last seconds. Finally, you could create something that your reps actually use and communicates your messages, but doctors aren’t likely to appreciate it since it probably doesn’t communicate anything they don’t already know.

Number 3…

It’s the year of mobile…again. I’ve been hearing that for 4 years. More and more companies are jumping on mobile with (I’m afraid) predictable results. It’s hard to develop a quality mobile application (especially in healthcare), but I don’t think many companies (and agencies) appreciate this fact. So, you get this…

You have some tough choices here. Create an app that is useful and is all about your product, but don’t expect it to be very widely used. Create something that’s about your product and is widely used, but it’s likely not going to be very useful to people. For many people to use it, it’s probably a game or other application that only loosely connects to your brand, so it might not be that useful over time (and you’ll probably spend a fortune to promote it). Finally, you can create something that is widely used and useful, but it’s probably not about your brand. It’s likely an unbranded application that serves some other function than to communicate your core messages. Mobile apps…tough place to dip into. Good luck. Maybe just start with a basic mobile version of your website. You don’t have to spend a fortune on it and have it take 18 months to develop. There are a lot of good mobile marketing platforms that can get you up and running quickly and cost effectively. There are no more excuses for not having a mobile site.

Moving on…

This is one of my favorites and is related to the Facebook triangle above. It’s all about social media management. Watch this and nod in agreement.

Most companies think that managing all their social media efforts is simple. “It’s a Twitter account for crying out loud…how hard could it be to manage?” Good question. Well, you have a few options for your management approach. You can pick something that’s cheap and easy, but likely isn’t very effective in managing anything. You could pick something that’s cheap and effective, but probably isn’t easy. This means managing accounts “by hand” without fancy tools and five agencies supporting you. It takes a lot of effort and many people within the company oftentimes, but it can be highly effective. Or one last choice, you could do something that’s easy and effective, but certainly won’t be cheap. You’ll be paying for a bunch of third-party tools and probably for a lot of agency support, but it might be worth it.

Almost done…here’s another. It’s all about video. Almost every pharma and healthcare company has a YouTube channel at this point. The other thing these companies have in common is that they tend to make…how shall I say this…uninspired videos (took me 10 minutes to settle on that adjective). Making video content is hard. Here’s why…

Notice that “cheap” is a component in many of these triangles. That’s not an accident. Because it looks “easy”, doesn’t mean that it actually is most times. So, when it comes to making video content, you can create a video on the cheap that’s all about your product, but don’t expect anyone to watch it or share it with others. In this case, ask why you even bothered to make it. You could make something that’s cheap and shareable, but it’s probably not about your product. A great example is this video shot in the Mayo Clinic that now has 7.6 million views. It’s not an ad for the Mayo clinic, but it was cheap ($0 pretty much) and is highly shareable.

And your final option, you could make something that’s shareable and about your product, but it’s not going to be cheap. You’ll have to spend some real money on production and, more important, on advertising to drive traffic to your video, as most people aren’t going to naturally be interested in a video about a drug.

One more for digital marketing and it’s all about websites. Remember those? As your developing your next one, pick two…

Here are your choices: Create a site that is useful to patients and conveys all of your brand messages, but don’t expect it to be the go-to resource online for content related to the condition your drug treats. It’ll still be useful because someone has to publish all the relevant information about your product, but that’s about all your site will be. You could make a site that’s a top resource and is useful to patients, but it won’t convey all of your brand messages. A great example of this is PKU.com. It’s created by a pharma company, it’s very useful to patients and is the top place to go online for information about PKU. However, it isn’t a place for the company to promote their treatment for PKU. Lastly, you could create something that is a top resource and conveys all of your brand messages, but it probably isn’t going to useful to patients. It’ll be only about your drug and people expect way more these days including information about their condition and how to manage it beyond your product. It’s a tough balance to be sure.

Okay…that’s all I’ve got. Just remember, in most cases, you should accept the reality that you can’t do everything with your project. You can’t have it. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Take the PKU.com example or the Mayo Clinic Piano video. Neither of those hit on each characteristic in their respective Pick Two triangles, but both brought real and tangible benefits to the company behind. My point is that your project could still be a success if you pick the right two things. And, of course, in some rare cases you can actually achieve all three. It happens, but not often. Thinking “outside the box” is not going to be enough. You need a completely different box, but those boxes are out there. You just need to know where to look.

Have an issue with one of my Pick Two triangles? Feel free to leave a comment below and we can debate it.

Now it’s your turn and time for a contest (with a prize!). Do you have an idea for a Pick Two triangle that’s even better than any of these? Great. Go to this form, create your own, and join the Pick Two Healthcare Marketing Challenge. That’s right, a challenge. The best Pick Two triangle created by one of you will win the grand prize of some awesome Dose of Digital swag. Yes, we’ve got swag. After we get enough entries, we’ll have a little vote around our office and pick the winner. Feel free to enter as many submissions as you’d like. If you want to see all the entries thus far, go to this page. Good luck!

You’re probably thinking that I’m really stretching for some context with today’s post, but keep reading and I’m sure you’ll see the connection between John Madden and healthcare education. For those who don’t know, John Madden is a former NFL (American football for the non-US folks) coach and current announcer. He is also the namesake of one of the most popular video game franchises of all-time, Madden NFL from EA Sports. This game comes out as a new version each year and all-time has sold tens of millions of copies. It’s a must-purchase for many gamers.

One of the critical health issues facing NFL is concussions. In the past, concussions didn’t receive much attention and coaches routinely sent players back into the game after they “cleared their head” or “shook the cobwebs out.” Of course, a concussion is a potentially serious brain injury where the brain actually is bruised by hitting the inside of the skull. This is an all too typical occurence in football especially that the NFL level where players are much faster, stronger, and more aggressive than the amateur level. However, one of the few parts of the body you can’t strengthen to better withstand injuries is your brain. So, while players hit harder and more aggressively, their brains can still only withstand the same impact. Up until last year when the NFL implemented new rules regarding concussions, most players were sent back into the game as soon as possible. Now they are supposed to be kept from returning to the game if a concussion is diagnosed.

This issue carries down through all the levels of football including high school football. Most states and team conferences have rules regarding head injuries, but there is still a limited amount of understanding as to the seriousness of this condition. Coaches and kids don’t either realize that the injury occurred or the seriousness of it (or both). According to the New York Times, “Research suggests that 10 percent to 50 percent of high school football players will sustain a concussion each season, with as many as 75 percent of those injuries going unreported and unnoticed.”

Again, why am I telling you this and what do concussions and a video game have to do with one another? For the newest version of Madden NFL 12, the game is ratcheting up the seriousness of concussions and how they impact the game. From the New York Times’ interview with Madden: “…the coming version of the eerily true-to-life N.F.L. video game played by millions of gamers, will be realistic enough not only to show players receiving concussions, but also to show any player who sustains one being sidelined for the rest of the game — no exceptions. Beyond that, in the background, the game’s announcers will explain that the player was removed because of the seriousness of head injuries.”

This accomplishes something really interesting that those of you out there hoping to education people about any healthcare issue should take note of. Think about how the regular healthcare establishment would tackle the challenge of concussions. There’d be a public service announcement (PSA) probably with a celebrity or famous athlete that would attempt to either cajole or frighten kids to get the message. Look no further than the lack of success with PSAs around drug use and you’ll see that this wouldn’t work. There’d probably be posters in doctor’s offices (a place where kids fortunately don’t spend much time and aren’t paying attention to the signs) and maybe in locker rooms at some schools somewhere. These would also be dismissed and probably wouldn’t last long. And, because it’s the flavor of the day, there’d be a Facebook Page where you can “show your support” for the “cause” by Liking the Page or signing some sort of meaningless pledge. Stop me if I’m off at all.

None of this would work of course.

On the other hands, the folks that developed the game recognized an issue with their sport and the well-being of its athletes and they chose their game as a means to address that. The reasons why this will probably be the most effective way to educate kids about concussions are simple. First, you’ll reach a huge proportion of them where they are (opposite signs in a doctor’s office) and likely disproportionately reach actual football players too. You put the injury in context of something they can understand. That is, if a concussion happens to your player in the game, you see the effects in real-time. You see the impact and the announcers reinforce it. As a player, you can’t help but absorb this, as the game stops for a moment while a replacement comes into the game. What will eventually happen is that players of the game will alter how they play the game to reduce the chances that their key players end up with a concussion (Madden NFL developers plan to make certain hits in the game result more often in concussions). Consciously and subconsciously this changes the way you think about the real game of football as a player too.

This will work to educate the people that matter: football players, coaches, and parents of football players (who also will be playing the game). It will work because it will reach this audience where they are, with a message that is very much in context of what they are doing at that moment, at a time when they are receptive (whether they know it or not) to receiving this message, and in a form that’s simple to understand with clear cause and effect.

Think about the Madden NFL game next time you’re putting together a disease awareness campaign instead of thinking about the last PSA you saw interrupting the evening news.

The idea is simple and here’s how I described the talk on the SXSW site:

A few times each year, the press buzzes about the latest scientific advance that will someday cure any one of the diseases we fear the most. Nearly every one of these will turn out to be nothing more than a news story and far from a pill that can help improve our health.

We spend hundreds of millions of dollars every day on research, as we struggle to find the “magic bullet” that will rid the world of conditions such as cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. We almost never find the magic.

While the big, historic scientific advances may be what dominate the headlines, in the end, it’s the small improvements and better utilization of the technology we have already have that will ultimately lengthen ourlives and improve its quality. These technologies don’t come from labs filled with test tubes or cell cultures, but rather from labs filled with computers and the programs that run them.

In the future, it will be digital technologies that prevent, treat, and finally cure diseases and not the latest “blockbuster” drug that has yet to be discovered (and might never be). Digital technologies can already help us understand which treatments are best for us, what diseases pose the greatest risk, and how diseases spread among us. They can improve our interactions with doctors and improve access to care for everyone.

Instead of waiting for the next miracle drug to be developed, you might find the miracle was there all along right inside the computer you use every day.

You’ll be hearing and seeing more about this topic on Dose of Digital in the future. It’s going to be the focus of a book I’m working on that I hope you’ll get to see sometime in the not terribly distant future (but think in terms of years, not months).

I was pleased with the way the talk went, but I wish more of you could have been there to hear it. Fortunately, I have a solution. Through the power of video, you can see what you missed right here. I’ll embed the video at the end of this post, but I recommend you click through to watch the HD version, in full screen mode, as you’ll be able to see more of the slide details.

By the way, if you work for a pharma company and are wondering why you should care about this, here’s the short answer:

In the future, digital technologies, and not blockbuster drugs, will  prevent, treat, and cure the diseases that kill us.

That means that the smart pharma companies should start looking at the way IBM evolved from a company that sells computers to one that sells services. Question is: can any pharma companies make this leap? I’ll be talking a lot more about this in the future, so stay tuned.

On with the video…here’s a direct link to the HD version. If the video below isn’t working on your device, then follow the direct link. It’ll work on any device including iPhones and iPads. Advance warning, the video is 50 minutes, so set some time aside. I think it’ll be worth it.

Your Computer Is the Next Wonder Drug from Jonathan Richman on Vimeo.

Special thanks to my creative team of Scott Hoverman, Colleen Reed, and John Cobb (who did the illustrations) for making me look good by designing the presentation that didn’t look quite as nice in the draft version I created.

I’m still looking for more examples of the types of technologies you will see in the presentation for future talks and blog posts (and for the book). If you know of one or you company makes one, then I want to hear about it. Use the contact form to get in touch with me.

I just had a major revelation over the Thanksgiving weekend. I realized that my social network includes many people within the healthcare industry and that those people, if they worked together, could have a dramatic impact on the future of healthcare. Some of these people work for “big pharma” or medical device companies. Others run successful non-profits or have launched healthcare technology startups. Some others provide consulting to the industry and have been responsible for many of the positive changes in healthcare over the years.

At the same time, I realized that there are a lot of people out there that still need a lot of help from the healthcare community. This might be support for an important initiative, the ear of someone who can bring a new idea or product innovation to life, or even help paying for a prescription.  I realized that it would be simple to bring together many of the people that could help fulfill some of these ideas and requests with those that need help. That’s why I created Healthy Thinkers.

The concept is simple. People submit their idea or requests to the community. The community discusses and votes up the best of these. From there, the community uses all of its social connections to make sure the idea or request gets in front of someone who can actually make it happen. It’s a “degrees of separation” concept. Among all the people that will read this post (and hopefully many more who will join the community), we’re probably only a few degrees of separation away from that key person. For example, maybe someone has an innovative idea for how J&J can improve its OneTouch diabetes monitoring products. I would guarantee that someone reading this post right now knows someone on the OneTouch product team. I’ve found out over the years that our healthcare “family” is pretty small.

I was inspired to put Healthy Thinkers together by a few things. First, it was requests that I received to help people out with healthcare-related requests. The first of these was the Diabetes Hands Foundation who asked me to help them spread the word about their Big Blue Test initiative. I did via this blog post and they far exceeded their goal (not just through my efforts to be sure). Right around the same time, someone asked me if I knew anyone at a certain medical device company so that they could contact them to ask for supplies for a mission trip to Africa. I did and this person got what he needed. And within days of that, an acquaintance asked if I knew how to get a discount on her new medication, as it was way too expensive for her. I knew someone from the product team for the brand she was prescribed and that person got my acquaintance enrolled in one of the brand’s assistance programs. It was a bit fortunate that I personally could help facilitate each of these, but I realized that I don’t know everyone and maybe I just got a little lucky.

So, not one to count on luck, my idea is simple: bring together a bunch of people who have connections throughout healthcare with those that need some type of assistance or support and start solving some problems. You see, I think we do an awful lot of talking, so let’s do something instead.

Pharma companies…you want to know how to get involved in social media? Get involved in this community and offer to help where you can. Nothing but positive PR awaits you.

Consultants and ad agency people…you want to use your skills to help people directly beyond what you do for clients? Join the community and use your contacts to solve some problems.

Patients, caregivers, non-profits…you need help or advice from some key people in healthcare? Come to the community and tell us how we can help.

Will this work? Well, here’s what I know. One of my favorite sites is Reddit. No one is going to claim for a second that this is a serious community of any kind (hilarious as it may be). Think of it as a much better version of Digg. Recently, I started to notice some people asking for real help on the site and actually getting it. I did a little more research and came across a post called “Reddit’s Astonishing Altruism.” Some of the acts include users paying for a shopping spree for a dying girl, helping track down a murderer, and bringing a family music heirloom to life (read that one for sure). However, I noticed that there two things on this list that Reddit shouldn’t have had to handle, but did: buying a new wheelchair for someone who couldn’t afford one and buying a new type of hearing aid for a young woman who was deaf since she was 7.

My question is why couldn’t our community handle this? For instance, our agency has worked with one of the leading manufacturers of wheelchairs in the world and I personally know someone who works for a leading hearing aid company. Knowing these folks, I’m sure they could have persuaded their companies to donate these items.

Call me idealistic if you want, but I think we can do better. I think we have a responsibility to do this and we can do a lot of good with very little effort. So, here’s your call to action:

Join Healthy Thinkers today. Here’s the link: http://healthythinkers.ideascale.com

• Register. Sign up and tell us who you are. You can be semi-anonymous if you’d like. If you’re a company that might be able to help, start monitoring this forum for places you can help. If you can’t do this, we’ll find you when we need you.
• Advocate. Spread the word to as many people in healthcare as you can. We need not only the people who can deliver on these ideas and requests, but also people who are going to submit them. So, don’t just tell the people around your office, share it with friends on Facebook too. Know people in the press? Tell them too.
• Participate. Start a post, comment on an existing one, and vote.
• Solve. If you see an idea or request you can help with, step up. Respond or pass it along to a contact who can make it happen.

If you want to spread the word about Healthy Thinkers, here’s some shortcuts. Click Like to share on Facebook. Include a comment so your friends actually notice it in their News Feed.

Or send a tweet about the community:

Tweet

We’ll be posting success stories as they happen and also updates on big needs that still aren’t fulfilled on the blog for Healthy Thinkers (still a work in progress, so bear with me). Also, the top ideas and requests will automatically be tweeted by the @HealthyThinkers Twitter account, so follow that to see what’s new and hot on the site.

Over the next few days, I’ll be introducing you to some volunteer “Connectors” who are going to help moderate the site, but also have agreed to use some of their extensive connections to make sure these ideas and requests get done. If you’re interested in becoming one, then send me a message.

One final point, Healthy Thinkers is a completely non-profit, non-promotional effort. There is no money to be made, so don’t join up if you’re looking to promote yourself or your company. I’ve already told you what the site is for, so I hope that motivates every one of you to take a look.

Once more, join Healthy Thinkers today. Here’s the link: http://healthythinkers.com

[If you can't see the video above, click here to view it on YouTube.]

I’ve talked about the concept of viral videos in the past, most recently, in an article I wrote for iMedia Connection called, “The world’s worst digital marketing advice.” In fact, one of the pieces of advice to avoid that I had in the article was: “You should make a viral video.” Here’s what I had to say on the issue:

“This is one of my giant pet peeves. Maybe I can stop people from saying this once and for all right now. Here goes: You don’t make a viral video. A video can become viral or “go viral.” But it’s not up to you whether or not a video you create becomes viral; it’s up to us.

A video (or anything else) only becomes viral if people share it with others and those people do the same. There are ways you can increase the likelihood that your content goes viral, which I won’t cover here. However, the No. 1 thing is to make content that’s really good. Be honest: Would you share the video your marketing team just whipped up with your friends? No? Then why should I share it with mine?”

The critical part in here is the idea that you don’t make a viral video, it becomes viral. So, go ahead a make a video, but don’t make it with the expectation that it will become a “viral video.” Sure, do all you can to maximize the number of people who see it and spread the word about it as best you can, but focus on making a good video first. The reason why 99.999999999% of videos never become “viral” is because they are terrible videos. Priority number one if you hope to create a video that becomes viral is to make a good great video. Don’t skip this step.

Last week, my friend Manny Hernandez, founder of  TuDiabetes and the Diabetes Hands Foundation, filled me in on an initiative they have going on for World Diabetes Day (November 14). It’s called “The Big Blue Test.” The idea is simple: encourage people with diabetes to test their blood sugar, exercise, and test it again. People are then encouraged to share their findings with the world. It turns out that many people with diabetes don’t test their blood sugar often enough and even fewer know the positive impact that exercise can have on controlling blood sugar. It’s a great awareness idea supported by a simple concept that can have a profound impact on the health of a lot of people with diabetes. It’s a compliance message wrapped up in an interesting “social” initiative.

Where does the video come in? Well, to spread the word about the test, they created a video that explains the concept. What’s more, for every view of the video up to 100,000, Roche will make a donation to the Diabetes Hands Foundation up to $75,000. They’ll use the money to help the Life For a Child program, run by the International Diabetes Federation, and Insulin For Life. These two global, humanitarian organizations provide diabetes medication and supplies to children in the world’s poorest countries…a great cause to be sure. To give you an idea of how far $75,000 goes, in Ecuador, for example, less than $50 keeps a person needing insulin alive for an entire year (insulin for the program is donated by pharma with the money paying for delivery).

So, why am I sharing this with you?

There are a few reasons actually. First, I’d like to see Roche spend $75,000 and to have that money help save some lives and I know that my readers will help them spend a little of that by watching and sharing the video. Second, this is a strong campaign that we can all learn a little bit from. Here’s what you should be taking note of:

• A low commitment way to get people involved. If you ask people to do too much, they won’t do it. That’s life. So, asking someone to watch a video isn’t too taxing. Even the challenge to people with diabetes isn’t that big…test, exercise, test, share. Simple.
• Make a great video. This video is great. It moves fast, looks great (and sounds good too), and it keeps your attention. Remember, it doesn’t need to be a comedy for people to enjoy it.
• Educate people with a simple message. This campaign could have included page after page and chart after chart showing the impact of exercise on blood sugar. Instead, they go with the ultimate “product demo.” Try it for yourself and see what happens. The idea is simple, easy to understand, and again, not a giant commitment for people, which dramatically increases the likelihood of them doing it.
• It’s not a product ad. That’s right, it’s an “unbranded” campaign. You have to look around a bit to see that Roche is involved and which products they sell that are related to diabetes. Know this, people who care always know who the good guys (or bad guys) are. You don’t have to shove it into people’s faces. They’re smart. They’ll figure it out.
• Get the right people to talk about it. That part is clearly working well…you’re reading this now aren’t you? You should know who the people are that can do the talking for you and can spread your message usually much more effectively than you can.

I hope you see some good lessons you can use if you’re looking to do a campaign like this. If you did find this helpful, how about watching the video and spreading the word? If you’re a person with diabetes, I hope you’ll actually do the test on November 14 and share your results. Even if you know the impact of exercise, sharing your findings will help build awareness among those that don’t.

So, you’re homework today…watch a video, share it with others (try the ShareThis button and pick your favorite social site), and help save a life…not too much to ask, right?