2023 healthcare trends: IPG Health leaders share their perspectives via Med Ad News

As we move into the new year, Med Ad News’ annual “Roundtable Q&A” addresses timely topics such as new trends in tech, equity, diversity and inclusion, the remote work environment and more. Our leaders joined the discussion to share their insights: 
 

Tech trends, opportunities and woes 

 

Tim Hawkey, Chief Creative Officer at AREA 23, predicts that the use of AI-based art generation will make the most significant strides in 2023, especially with the recent open-source release of the Stable Diffusion platform. 

"The technology is in the hands of the public and the public is having fun with it," Tim said. "Everything from consumer facing web UIs, to more complex video animation, to AR and VR integration, to much-lauded advancements in trainable diffusion models that put the ability to train the model directly into the hands of the average Jane." 

 

Positioning for resiliency: back to the (virtual) office, building and retaining talent 

 

Jesse Kates, Managing Director at Neon, shares the positive effects the remote/hybrid working environment has had on business, noting that IPG Health’s flexible model “empowers individuals and their teams to make their own decisions about how and where they work.” He also highlights the impact the remote environment has had on the creative process. 

“We try to structure a lot more interactivity into creative-focused meetings and use software designed to help with that,” Jesse said. “We also need to be really adept at monitoring and engaging in the chat features on the conferencing platforms, as some of our client team members often prefer collaborating that way.” 

 

Mariela Orochena, Director of Talent Acquisition at IPG Health, emphasizes IPG Health’s talent acquisition strategy, which is “anchored in three core areas to help us identify and retain new talent: The work, the people, and the culture.”  

“IPG Health leads with curiosity and equity in mind when attracting and hiring the right talent for us,” Mariela said. “We proactively engage talent in and outside of the industry, recognizing new skills and backgrounds are necessary for the success of our business." 

 

Uncertainties of 2023: looming recession, inflation and reduced investment 

 

Kim Wishnow-Per, President of McCann Health Managed Markets, outlines the impacts on the healthcare ecosystem that she expects to see following the introduction of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), signed into law by President Biden in August of 2022. 

“The government’s new ability to negotiate prices for some drugs covered under Medicare and the inflation rebate provision may trigger changes that could increase price discounts on pharmaceuticals, causing drug manufacturers to potentially reduce funding for the development of new drugs, thus slowing innovation,” Kim said. 

 

Moving into 2023 

 

Looking ahead to 2023, Mike Guarino, Chief Commercial Officer at IPG Health, emphasized the network’s continued focus on interconnectivity and interoperability, noting these “force multipliers” are key in allowing us to continue to “innovate, adapt, and lead change in our industry.” 

“We also will continue to expand our already unparalleled global footprint via affiliates to help our global clients accelerate their business and impact in key markets,” Mike said. “And as we move into a new year, we are reinforcing our longstanding commitment to ensuring equity, diversity, and inclusion permeates everything we do, especially when it comes to our creative solutions.” 

 

Kathleen Nanda, Chief Creative Officer at FCB Health New York, expects the “incredible capabilities” of AI-generated creation to have a large impact on the industry in the coming year. 

“We have powerful new ways to create — what we create, and how we create. It’s an exciting time, and it’s up to us to discover where we can go,” Kathleen said. “Harnessing the technology and mastering how we can use it to our creative advantage will be a tremendous opportunity for our creatives and our clients.” 

 

Bruno Abner, Chief Creative Officer at McCann Health New Jersey, highlights the growth he has observed in the quality of the health and pharma category. 

Bruno said, “2023 will be the year that will show us if we are getting even more traction or not – I would bet we are! So, I’m very excited to see what creative cases will surface next year, not only from our team but also from the whole health and pharma creative community.” 

 

Diversity, equity and inclusion: putting words into action 

 

Lisa DuJat, Chief Talent Officer at IPG Health, highlights EDI+You, our overarching strategy which “challenges everyone to focus on what they can do to create the environment that they want to be a part of and to strive to deliver on work in which all voices are represented.” 

“Everything we do at IPG Health is rooted in our healthy obsession with doing what’s right for our clients, their brands, and our people,” Lisa said. “That’s why we’ve woven EDI into everything we do – we cannot let the responsibility for making systemic change and building a healthy, inclusive culture sit within a siloed function or with a few people.”