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Coming off an invigorating week at SXSW 2024, there were many insightful sessions about generative AI and its application to brands and marketing. What stood out to me most, though, was how much human connection drove the conversation.

At Pivot, we’re constantly looking for insights we can build around to help audiences feel seen and understood. I was struck by how many of this year’s SXSW speakers talked about this. In today’s world of content overload, it’s more important than ever to strive for meaning.

Embrace emotions.

In her discussion, director and writer Cheryl Miller Houser shared her belief that we need to “feel it all” in order to inspire others to feel it all. This is as true for brands as it is for films. As brand storytellers, we need to allow ourselves to be affected by the people and emotions behind the stories we want to tell and make time and space for this in our process.

Lead with authenticity.

Authenticity is an industry buzzword, but it’s never been more essential. Authenticity looks different for every brand as it’s anchored in values and character. These values need to be specific and meaningful—and push beyond corporate platitudes. Values should be pulled through to guide the voice, stories, and experiences we create for our audience.

Get ruthless about resonance.

Many of us receive a weekly notification telling us how much time we’ve spent on our phones. On average, people spend 2.5 hours a day scrolling their social feeds. As marketers, we have about three seconds to capture someone’s attention. Brand stories need to connect almost instantly. The more honest and relevant the message, the stronger the potential for connection.

Be culture conscious.

Dr. Marcus Collins, author of For the Culture: The Power Behind What We Buy, What We Do, and Who We Want to Be, describes culture as “a system of values, norms, and symbols that demarcate the expectations (and conventions) of a given group of people.” We live in a cultural era where our brand narrative and the content we publish are co-created with the communities we speak to. This is especially true in healthcare, where we’re speaking to groups with established cultural norms and nuances, like rare disease communities. Brands need to invest time in absorbing cultural intelligence by participating in audience communities and listening.

Prioritize personalization.

As generative AI settles in as a main character in our lives, brands will continue to explore how it can help personalize audience connection. With access to more and more data, brands will be better able to tailor experiences. In healthcare, this may lead to faster diagnoses, greater access to care, enhanced health literacy, and a more seamless patient experience. The more healthcare organizations prioritize personalization at every step of the patient journey, the greater their ability to build loyalty.

For more than 30 years, Pivot Design has created healthcare communications and medical marketing that build connection and consumer trust. We’d love to share some of our work.

Get in touch at getstarted@pivotdesign.com.

International Women's Day. #InspireInclusion

When I saw inclusion was the theme for this year’s International Women’s Day, I felt it in my soul. 

As a “one-percenter,” the 1% of US agencies owned by women, I know what it means to be an outlier. 

Yet over the last 30 years, I—we—have had the incredible opportunity to be invited in, to be included, time and again, by the world’s leading healthcare companies. Partnering to create breakthrough moments and experiences that help bring their brands to life.

For an independent agency like ours, the chance to stand toe-to-toe with “the big guys”—to be able to compete with agencies 10x our size and win—has been game-changing.

So today, with immense gratitude for all those who have included us, to our clients, partners, and friends, we say: thank you.

For taking a risk on me and on Pivot. For giving us a seat at the table. For always having our back. 

For your trust, for your stories, and for always being up for the adventure. 

For giving us the space to create courageously. Connect authentically. And push outside your comfort zone. Breaking barriers. Breaking boundaries. Breaking doors wide open, together.

Each day, we grow more inspired by you, and more passionate and committed to reflecting the heart of your people, your customers, and your brand.

More aware than ever that when we do, soul breaks through.

With 🫶

—Liz

From brand to ally. BrandWell by Pivot Design.

A brand lives everywhere, in every interaction large and small. For pharmaceutical and healthcare organizations, education is a vital part of the patient experience and makes a big impact on how they perceive the brand.

Done well, patient education serves the needs of real people facing real challenges. It’s obvious, yet medical marketing often missteps. We see material that is too complex, too focused on selling, or tone deaf to the patient mindset. Pivot has helped scores of healthcare and pharma brands produce highly effective patient education, delivering our signature mix of clinical integrity with empathy and trust—what we call “a warm hug.” Here’s how.

Meeting patients where they are.

Healthcare organizations talk about the importance of “meeting patients where they are.” We agree; it’s crucial. At Pivot, we get there by following the patient mindset and health literacy fundamentals.

In any project, there is no “one size fits all” patient mindset. Knowledge, context, and emotional state evolve as a person moves through the disease state journey. To best serve patient needs, we work with our clients to pinpoint exactly where in the journey the healthcare communications piece will fall. This shapes every aspect of our path forward. 

Next, we gather insight, nimbly aggregating a variety of inputs. Secondary research helps us refine personas and provides context into what competitors are doing. We talk with client stakeholders—notably, individuals on the frontlines of patient interaction, such as advocates and nurse liaisons. Whenever possible, we also speak to patients. The closer we get to their concerns and information gaps, the more relevant and trusted the material will be. 

Designing for health literacy.

Pivot has developed patient education communications for three decades. We draw on this collective experience for every new project, but we’re also vigilant about staying current on health literacy best practice. 

Health literacy experts agree that even the most educated patient can be challenged by a potentially daunting diagnosis, treatment plan, or insurance issue. What’s more, according to a Gallup analysis of data from the US Department of Education, about 130 million American adults have low literacy skills; reading below a sixth-grade level. That’s 54 percent of Americans between the ages of 16 to 74. 

This insight is factored into all of the patient education materials we create at Pivot. We also consider the importance of inclusive language, a practice which makes medical marketing more accessible and relevant by respecting the diverse cultural identities of our audience. 

The fundamentals of health literacy perfectly align with Pivot’s human-centered approach to design. We strive to make patient communications feel natural and right. We’ve learned what resonates and what doesn’t across dozens of clinical areas. We bring deep expertise in visual learning and know how to simplify the complex. We workshop and test throughout the copy and design process, getting critical input from patient advocates as we go. 

With every decision and choice we make, we’re aiming for what we consider the ultimate compliment a patient could give us: “you get it.” This fuels our passion to design healthcare learning experiences that are empathetic, relevant, and clear.

For more than 30 years, Pivot Design has been creating healthcare communications and medical marketing that turns brands into trusted allies. Talk to us about talking to patients. We’d love to share some of our work. Get in touch at getstarted@pivotdesign.com.

Women represent more than 70 percent of healthcare employees in every corner but one: the executive suite. We’re proud to help the HBA change that.

Ask anyone at Pivot my mantra and they can tell you: “Let’s f—ing go.” It’s who I am and how I lead. I want us to be strategic and smart, and always moving forward. Get to market. Test and learn.

This mindset has really worked for us. As one of the industry’s few independent creative agencies, Pivot has built a competitive advantage around efficiency. In fact, clients often turn to us after starting with a large agency, only to be disappointed with their responsiveness and creative.

I’ve always believed that a creative agency can be efficient. And in today’s environment, it’s an absolute must. At Pivot, efficiency is about focusing our time and talent where it makes the most impact. Here’s how we do it.

Meet with purpose. 

Branding is a collaborative effort. Meetings come with the territory. We make them work for us. Every meeting must serve a purpose. Set the objective in the invite; identify the meeting lead. And if you don’t need to be there, it’s ok to excuse yourself. 

Choose progress over perfection. 

Thinking, solving, creating. Our work isn’t a straight line. But it’s always about forward motion. Put pen to paper. Iterate. Share what you’ve got, spark someone’s thinking. In the process, you’ll advance your own.

Optimize the moment. 

The moment is always in front of us to drive things forward—so take it! I ask our teams to focus on what we know vs what we don’t (often it’s enough to start). As we start to work the problem, we better understand the information gaps that need to be filled.

Make decisions, move forward. 

Exploration is vital to our work. Yet we have finite time and money to do what we need to do. Know when it’s time to pick a lane so the work can move forward with focus and strength. Decide! You can still adjust and refine. 

Start with the end in mind. 

Efficiency is not about working blind without a plan. We work backwards from the destination. This gets the team marching in the same direction, optimizing resources and avoiding swirl. 

Trust your team. 

Every one of us adds unique value. We empower each other to do our best work, and create handoffs that set up everyone for success.

Does your brand need to move with more speed and ingenuity? We’d love to help.
Get in touch at getstarted@pivotdesign.com.

Pivot parties are so epic even The Washington Post wants in. The outlet featured us in a story about the return of the IRL holiday party, detailing our full day of festivities.

Great brands start within. BrandWell by Pivot Design.

Your most important audience isn’t who you think.

After decades spent working with hundreds of health and wellness organizations, Pivot has dug deep into a lot of employee culture. We’ve seen it all, up close and personal—from the stability (and silos) of Fortune 100s to the ambition (and chaos) of newly minted start ups. We’ve witnessed how a deeply committed workforce can smooth over product or service shortcomings, and watched dysfunctional teams sour the reputation of a best-in-class offering. These experiences have shaped our belief that employee culture is a brand’s single most important difference maker. 

Which makes employees a brand’s single most important audience.

A strong employer brand lifts up every corner of the enterprise. Most obviously: recruitment. According to a LinkedIn study, 80 percent of talent acquisition managers believe employer brand has a significant impact on the ability to hire great talent.

Strong employer brands give voice to company values and help candidates gauge alignment with their own. When values are clear and inspiring, they naturally flow through every aspect of the employee experience. The best brands walk the talk, which builds trust and deepens personal investment. Ultimately, this circles back to recruitment once more: the same LinkedIn study found that a strong employer brand can reduce cost per hire by as much as 50 percent. 

Then there’s the positive effect highly engaged employees have on end-user customers. From Harvard Business Review: “It’s time for leaders to double down on the idea that the employee experience is now the key driver of the customer experience. According to PwC, companies that invest in and deliver superior experiences to both consumers and employees are able to charge a premium of as much as 16 percent for their products and services.”

And now for what may be an unpopular reality: great employer brands take work. They don’t just happen, nor are they something to check off the list post launch event. They’re the result of deliberate, consistent effort that’s prioritized by leadership and activated by every person in the organization. You’ve got to put in the reps.

Pivot starts every employer brand engagement in the same place: the brand purpose. How is the organization explaining the reason it exists? Typically, this needs (a lot of) love to get to a place of conviction and meaning. But it’s always time well spent. 

With authenticity as the foundation, something real and inspiring can begin to take shape—and take hold. From that point onward, these four principles guide the rest of our way.

Customize, don’t generalize. 

Though working at your organization is something they all have in common, don’t make the mistake of thinking about your employees as a single, homogenous group. Like any audience, your employees represent a spectrum of diverse individuals and their motivations vary greatly. Map your experience design to audience insights; where their heads are and what resonates for them. We create personas to bring to life unique profiles and better understand specific mindsets, expectations, and values. 

Get real.

Spare everyone the corporate jargon and platitudes. The best employer brands are heartfelt and real. Speak with passion and conversationality. Lean in to what your brand stands for—own it! Be candid with your employees about the vital role they play in making your brand promise real, and let them know you need them. Invite their input. Act on it.

Stay connected.

Install different mechanisms to help you assess the pulse of your culture on an ongoing basis. Surveys, employee social media, office hours, manager forums—even a lo-fi suggestion box. Create a mix based on what works for your people, their communication preferences, and locations. Give them options.

Play the long game.

Employer brands are never done. Repeat: employer brands are never done. Like anything alive and dynamic, employer brands need continual attention and care, and ebb and flow based on factors inside and outside the organization. 

Plan for ongoing resources: time, budget, hearts, and minds. Who owns the employer brand? Everyone needs to, but frontline ownership is best shared by HR and marketing. These practice areas are responsible for the happiness of the humans your brand relies on, and creating a fulfilling experience for them all.

Pivot helps health and wellness organizations build great brands from the inside out, from targeted programs to spark team engagement to global launches. We’d love to share some of our employer brand work. Get in touch at getstarted@pivotdesign.com.

Pivot was honored to help global DEI thought leader, Wema Hoover, create a brand and website befitting her passion and power. Her voice champions limitless possibility for everyone.

Aspire Chicago believes inclusivity is the key to empowering people with developmental disabilities. Accessibility took center stage for us on their new brand and website.

Pivot turned 30 in 2022, and our passion has never been stronger. Our new video celebrates all the ways we use design to inspire people toward wellness.

There’s nothing more powerful than when a company’s offering, purpose, and culture align. Our rebrand for Lantheus, a diagnostic and therapeutic innovator, brings it all together.

During Pivot’s 2022 Week of Service, we worked with students in After School Matters, spent time with residents at Aspire Chicago, and cuddled furry friends at PAWS Chicago.