Last week, I was in Washington, DC, at a conference dedicated to advancing the U.S. – BRICS business opportunities. Titled “Doing business with the BRICS,” the conference was organized by the Eurasia Center, and supported by the embassies of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. The growing influence of the BRICS is a recognized trend, presenting a world of potential opportunities for scientific, technological, and financial investment cooperation.

In the past seven years, China has become one of the world’s most promising (and one of the most challenging)  investment destinations. Russia is not far behind — 19% of international investors perceive Russia as one of the most attractive global regions for 2013. As someone who has worked with brands in China and Russia, I see an unparalleled breadth of opportunity. Sheer volume of people coupled with disposable income and their consumption habits have made the Chinese and the Russians appealing to marketers and investors alike. (Even reality TV dwells on their wealth!) However, to overcome the initial fear of the unknown, changes in the following sectors would make a big difference in closing those deals.

• Rule of law effectiveness improvement
• Bureaucracy reduction
• Transparency of business regulations
• Streamlined R&D / Innovation
• Lightened legal / fiscal obligations
• Renewed training / education system

• Be nimble – have a sense of where they stand in relation to the culture in the new market place, and understand the forces affecting consumer perceptions beyond the company walls.
• Adhere to appropriate communications and decision-making dynamics — cultural differences, language barriers, and working styles remain areas for improvement.
• Invest in/ hire / outsource a consultant that would bring specific experience and in-depth knowledge of your target market — someone to assess your readiness and to walk you thru the process with knowledge.

What are some of the key things that you consider key as you expand and conquer new markets?

 

More photos from the event:

 

Now that the Yahoo! / Tumblr deal has been finalized, and CEO David Karp is bound to be listed among the richest guys under 30 for the next four years, I thought we would look at the potential pros and cons of the transaction. Putting aside the overwhelming “Is she really going out with him?” reaction of the media, social media, and everyone I have talked to, let’s look at the acquisition from a business standpoint. Specifically, can Yahoo! help Tumblr monetize its content without alienating the platform’s audience, and would that monetization be worth the $1.1 billion price tag?

Match:

Tumblr boasts a younger, artsier audience, and a platform filled with content — heavily shared and liked content with no censorship or copyright infringement in place. Yahoo! is a data-driven portal infrastructure that wants access to content as well as a younger, hipper audience. And all of their data.

Although not founded as a mobile platform, Tumblr has successfully mobilized its offerings. Again, largely due to the fact that its audience is more mobile than Yahoo’s, whose apps did not score as highly per App Annie.

Tumblr does not have the traffic numbers of Yahoo!, but it somehow retained the “cool” factor about its brand. The kids are into it, as they say. Ideally, the transition would perfectly blend Tumblr’s hip je ne sais quoi with Yahoo’s metrics and numbers, making it the most profitable, most visited, and most creative digital giant ever.

Mismatch:

Tumblr has been unsuccessful at monetizing its content, and neither does it have a structure in place that would organically support such revenue channels. Integrating Yahoo’s corporate ad infrastructure into Tumblr’s free spirit oasis would jeopardize its hipster way if existence. Securing advertisers for pages of unauthorized content usage or NSFW imagery isn’t the easiest task, and enforcing stricter content policies alienates a chunk of avid Tumblr users and their followers.

A cash buy of $1.1 billion hardly indicates a laissez-faire existence between Tumblr and Yahoo!. Despite what the press release states, I foresee a much more controlled environment for Tumblr in the near future. Hopefully not for the four years that David Karp is the CEO.

What do you think?

One of the key trends in the past year or two has been the emphasis on patient support programs throughout various health care industry touchpoints – from pharma companies to managed markets, chain drugstores, and large hospitals. These health care industry Goliaths have historically existed in relative sovereignty from one another. Today, with the health care reform implementation upon us, they are monitoring one another more, slowly admitting that integrated patient-centric efforts would be beneficial for all stakeholders.

Lack of patient-focused understanding has become a real pain point throughout the DTC industry. Programs devoted to patient education, community outreach, and medication adherence efforts call for longer-term investments on behalf of pharmaceutical companies. Seemingly, digital tools – including CRM and DM platforms – could provide better metrics on such efforts, but pharma isn’t known for quickly embracing digital innovation.

The Affordable Care Act will mandate the implementation of patient support programs throughout the country, and pharma companies are well positioned to tap into that trend sooner than later. No other industry ignores the fact that consumers are becoming more knowledgeable – digitally, linguistically, etc. – as much as the health care industry does. As the consumer knowledge base grows, it is imperative that pharma marketing strategies grow with it, retaining (or returning) relevance and engagement.

Anthony Marucci has over 25 years in health care marketing, and heads up Health Care Strategy and Business Development. Learn more about him here. 

Feature image courtesy of Nina Palumbo. Learn more.

In the past five years, the shift toward digital in the marketing mix has been undisputed, proving its efficiency and effectiveness. For 2013, the increase in digital ad spending is projected to be as dramatic as a 14.6% bump in the business-to-consumer product category. At the same time, ad spend for the U.S. Hispanic market has been on the rise as well – witnessing a 40% increase last year.

In my seemingly perfect world though, only 6% of that Hispanic ad spend growth went toward digital, pinpointing an opportunity, a huge potential to deliver unprecedented impact in the Hispanic digital space.

I can list a million reasons and factors why digital and mobile activation makes just as much [if not more] sense to engage with the U.S. Hispanic market as my traditional counterparts, but for the sake of being efficient, I give  you the following four:

• We’re online more. We have all heard that Hispanics outperform other market segments in digital, mobile, and social, but it goes beyond that. Millennials (those born between 1978 and 1994, or close to it), the first generation to be raised on the Internet, comprise its largest user base. 40% of all Hispanics fall into the Millenial category (18 million), and that is 21% of all Millenials in the U.S. We are online organically.
• We’re digital power users. Hi-speed, mobile, engaged, 24% more likely to own a high-end smartphone than the general population.
• We are seekers. Online searches among Hispanics (both, Spanish-dominant and bilingual), soared in 2012/13. Spanish is the second most searched language in the U.S., and the number of searches among U.S. Hispanics is growing 25% faster than for the general population (per Google).  Sidenote: 49% of all searches among the U.S. Hispanics come from mobile devices (vs. 30% for general market), so those of you  still not optimizing your Spanish-language sites for phone or tablet, don’t expect to score.
• We are clickers. Given the appropriate content, Hispanics are more likely to engage with the marketing message, posting higher ad view rates (30% vs. 13%), as well as click-thru rates (2.21% vs. 2%) than the general market.
  
  

What makes us click?
Music / entertainment
Kid/family-focused content
How-to videos
Preferably in Spanish (still important)

So what do we make of all this? Digital and mobile present a unique opportunity to engage with the Hispanic market in a more direct, dare-I-say efficient, way. Tips for doing it right?

1. Multi-device strategy is key
2. Incorporate cultural passion points that transcend generations and linguistic abilities (music, lifestyle, entertainment)
3. Spanish still outperforms (as a tactic and as a tool to stay relevant, NOT as a strategy

Ken is a Group Digital Media Director for Global / Prime Access.  Learn more about him and the rest of our team here and here.

Feature image courtesy of Johnny Tech.

To no one’s surprise, this year’s SXSW Interactive festival was chock-full of inspiring innovators touting promising new startups. The class of health care innovations was no exception, as events like the SX Accelerator Challenge and This Week in Startups (TWIST) yielded a number of potentially disruptive ventures for an industry that desperately needs it.  As a portfolio company of the 9.8 Group with sister businesses that are constantly seeking new health solutions, weMultiply is always on the lookout for  innovative Health IT investment and partnership opportunities.  What particularly excites us is when we see ventures that are ready to make an impact given the right financial and strategic support.  For us, that means a balanced team possessing both a strong entrepreneurial skill set as well as a landscape knowledge of the U.S. Health system, a positive trial case (pending the nature of the startup), and a potentially disruptive technology that addresses a major industry pain-point.

With the health care market trending toward a consumer-focused behavior, we looked for ventures that found a creative way of addressing the need. The following four ventures seemed particularly interesting:

1. DocPhin is a medical information and research service that provided a very polished presentation from Mitesh Patel, who boasts both an MD from Michigan and MBA from Wharton.  A Rock Health affiliated company with ties to Startup Health, DocPhin offers a platform where physicians can organize, bookmark, read and track medical news and research from a variety of sources, all within a single dashboard interface, aka the ‘Yammer.com for medical content’.  DocPhin is suited as the perfect solution to the constantly changing guidelines that doctors must deal with, allowing them to focus on saving time and taking better care of their patients.  DocPhin is already off to a running start, currently being used at over 100 medical centers across the country, and the potential for near-term growth to health care professionals and providers is why we think DocPhin seems poised to make a big splash.
2. Careport is an online booking service for post-hospital services, aka the “OpenTable.com for post-acute care.” Careport is a Mass Challenge-affiliated venture that made the finalist round of the SX Accelerator Challenge and recently received its first round of funding from VC Mike Rotherberg.  The technology itself is highly disruptive and could potentially save providers BIG on resources and $ by giving patients, many of whom are readmitted due to their inability to find suitable after-care better access to options, thereby improving outcomes  and drastically lowering re-admissions .  The only question now is, will they be able to sell in the off-times cumbersome hospital systems?   Careport is currently being tested in a three-month pilot program at the post-care facilities of some of Boston’s leading hospitals and if the results are successful, I believe there is a strong possibility that Careport will truly be a game-changing disruption. Care coordination is a conversation that takes place continuously, and Careport definitely addresses the need of post-hospital care as the patient transitions to the outpatient services and rehabilitation.
3. Greatist is health and wellness portal in a magazine-like platform where all content is cited by scientific study, and nearly every line of text is approved by an ‘expert’.  While not exactly a groundbreaking technical innovation, Greatist stands as an inviting and accessible consumer-focused startup in the health space, an area where many health and wellness innovations have lacked any real young consumer appeal.  The site hopes to champion better choices for the 18-34 year old consumers, which can go a long way to ensure its potential partnerships with big named providers and brands as sponsors.  Greatist, unlike the other startups on this list, doesn’t collect patient data, thereby giving them the benefit of not having to worry about compliance issues or restrictions as they develop their business, which bodes well for them in the health care investment community.
4. Maxwell Health’s founder Veer Gidwaney dealt with some overly-harsh skewering by Silicon Alley vet Jason Calcanis and managed to come away unscathed (mostly).  Maxwell hopes to simplify the way American workers and businesses buy health insurance by offering several tools to make insurance easier, more rewarding and more delighting.  In addition to highly rated plans for large insurance carriers, they offer personal fitness apps and rewards programs that incentivize users to be healthier and take preventive measure with their health. They even have a Maxwell Health credit card and business-focused services like analytics tools to track employee enrollment and spending.  We loved Maxwell’s simple, consumer-friendly, and dare-we-say ‘fun’ approach to health insurance, which contrasts sharply with the complicated and impersonal view of that most consumers and businesses experience.

So what conclusions can we draw from these four ventures?  Each addresses the needs of consumers – whether patients or providers – and focuses on disrupting the existing system of care by offering a convenient way to improve access, engagement or health trajectories.  Will each succeed?  Time will tell, but we’re betting these four may see better outcomes than most.

For more on weMu’s SXSW adventures in health care, click here.