Dr You: consumers in charge of their healthcare

This week, The Economist published a thought-provoking article about new trends in consumer healthcare. Entitled “A revolution in health care is coming; Welcome to Doctor You“, they set out a number of scenarios where patients have greater access to their data and healthcare options, and the implications of this.

At Workroom, we’ve been tracking these trends for some time. One of the world’s leading innovators in consumer health, RB (Reckitt Benckiser) has been a client of ours for 18 years, so we’ve got more of a vested interest than most in this subject.

The article highlights that consumers are just as hungry for branded, consumer-led offers in healthcare as they are in other areas. Innovators like Uber and Amazon have shown what’s possible if you get the customer-interface right – it’s not just all about the tech. Are healthcare innovators putting brand front-and-centre when they’re considering how to take a new offer to market?

We think it’s abundantly clear that the brand is the crucial tool healthcare innovators need to better understand their market, and to attract customers and investors. We’re seeing lots of good examples out there, and we’ve picked out a few of our favourites here:

• Profusa: a sensor worn on the skin that communicates physiological information directly with patients and/or practitioners.
• Sleepio: a digital cognitive behavioural therapy tool that aims to improve sleep and mental health. It has an animated virtual therapist and also covers sleep restriction, how to manage intrusive thoughts, and suggests relaxation techniques. And great brand definition as well – this company is squarely pitching itself at corporate customers, looking to reduce absenteeism by offering personalised sleep help.
• Myrecovery: a step-by-step mobile app that informs and empowers people during preparation and recovery from orthopedic surgery.
• iThrive: a mental health app aimed at teens which leverages digital gaming to teach skills such as empathy, gratitude, resilience, persistence and mindfulness. These positive psychology-informed activities provide adolescents with coping tools to address stressors at school, at home and in their communities.
• Memrica Prompt: an app to support memory loss, aiming to maintain confidence and independence. Users create notes about things they want to remember, the system adds images, maps and contact details and automatically compiles reminders.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on this, or if you’ve got more examples of great branding in this area, drop us a line at sayhello@workroom.co.uk .