As published in Strategic Health Care Marketing, by Andy Semons and Donna T. Walthall

How Dana-Farber Cancer Institute used neuroscience to transform its approach to underserved populations.

Any good marketer who has been on the receiving end of a DEI backlash can tell you that both strategically and in execution, fostering inclusivity isn’t as simple as saying “we care” or including visual representation of diverse groups in communications.

DEI [Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion] is truly complex. And between the current politicization of DEI and the failure to get it right, many organizations are asking themselves if it’s worth it.

Still, in health care, the benefits of a successful approach to DEI speak for themselves. For the community, it’s better care and a better patient experience. For health care organizations, it’s a happier, more loyal and productive workforce, innovation, and advocacy. And a deeper understanding of neuroscience — the science of the human brain and its impact on behavior — can help pave the way for a successful DEI approach.

Boston’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, a cancer research and treatment center with over 75 years of experience, is a prime example of how an organization overcame bias with neuroscience.

Continue reading to learn how neuroscience helped Dana-Farber understand and more effectively reach underserved communities. We’ll share the organization’s “12 Everyday Acts of Inclusion” as well as an example of how inclusivity builds trust and paves the way for change.

Why Neuroscience?

Neuroscience teaches us that our brains are built for unconscious preferences. The brain makes memory-based predictions and naturally looks for patterns in experience, prioritizing the familiar. While that can be helpful in many ways, it can also create unconscious preference, or bias, if left unchecked.

Cognitive biases may be helpful in some ways, like keeping us out of danger. But they can also impede good decision making. Think about how many times, in the course of decision making, we overvalue data that supports our own personal beliefs, avoid doing research on too many choices, make snap decisions based on past experiences. That’s cognitive bias at work. In brief, each one of us brings our own biases to the table. And if they’re not managed on an institutional level, they can get in the way of sound DEI practice.

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute: Lessons Learned on How to Overcome Bias

Bias against the Dana-Farber brand was an obstacle to its mission to improve public health in some underserved communities. So much so, that outreach workers viewed the brand as a hinderance and would remove it from efforts to promote the early detection and prevention of cancer.

Research within the target community revealed the reasons behind the bias. The findings showed two key areas of concern:

• Negative perceptions of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute name
  • The community had negative associations with the word “cancer” (i.e., a death sentence, fate, and something to be avoided).
  • The word “institute” brought up associations of experimental research and invoked the infamous Tuskegee Institute experiments.
• Perceptions that Dana-Farber, as a Harvard Medical School teaching affiliate, was elitist and not welcoming to people of color

In neuroscience terms, these biases created a “threat response” among the local community which caused people to shut down and not listen to Dana-Farber’s messaging. Importantly, neuroscience suggests a number of actionable ways that communications can work to overcome a threat response and open up a productive dialogue:

• Create a narrative that is personal, not institutional: Avoid speaking as an institution and leveraging a human voice.
• Storytelling: Telling a story eliminates the threat of being lectured or belittled. It simply allows the target to project themselves into a narrative, which often is happening to someone else, and understand the point of view of the storyteller. Our brains enjoy participating in the stories of others and are intrigued by stories.
• Keep it familiar: Stories should be told from identifiable, relatable, and empathetic people with whom the target can easily establish a rapport.
• Feed the target’s sense of being in control: Spend more time talking about the positive steps a target can take as opposed to magnifying the extent of a problem or threat. And if they’re taking positive steps to do the right thing, acknowledge it.
• Highlight benefits: End benefits such as longer life, emotional well-being, more time with family and loved ones are compelling ways to keep the conversation going.

Dana-Farber’s new community work, still in market today, established a positive and optimistic tone while leveraging influencers and other members of the community to get its message across — that cancer can be conquered, and that screening is a powerful tool available to all of us. Campaign results have reflected considerable improvements among the target in brand awareness, preference, and consideration.

Dana-Farber’s Community Screening advertising keeps it personal, highlights benefits, and feeds the target’s sense of control.

Addressing DEI: A Practical Application

Dana-Farber’s commitment to DEI grew not just from the realization that it needed to better understand a community it served; it also grew from understanding that the organization needed to change.

Historically, Dana-Farber’s patient population has been homogeneous and it has lacked diversity in its faculty and staff.

Today, Dana-Farber’s commitment to DEI extends far beyond the chief diversity officer and touches every member of the staff. It has an active program training employees in inclusive behaviors, stressing 12 key everyday acts of inclusion and reinforcing the values of Commitment, Courage, Consciousness, Curiosity, Cultural Intelligence, and Collaboration. Dana-Farber’s example is a model for comprehensive DEI initiatives in health care.

Dana-Farber’s 12 Everyday Acts of Inclusion are a cornerstone of employee training in DEI.

While each organization may have its own challenges in implementing successful DEI policy, neuroscience strongly supports the following practical tools for challenging bias within an organization:

• Keep your team diverse to keep perspective as varied as possible.
• Standardize your process to keep it inclusive and open.
• Bring the community in — do your homework and make sure views are known and heard.
• Test your assumptions before building communication.
• Lead with empathy and curiosity in everything you do.

In summary, while bias is inherent in everyone and in every organization, how we manage it, on an individual or enterprise level, is up to us. Key to this is not just embracing inclusive behaviors but understanding that how we communicate matters.

Andy Semons is Founder, Strategic Planning Partner, IPNY. With 30+ years in advertising, including building and growing Ogilvy Healthcare, Andy is dedicated to driving results for clients while leveraging the power of consumer insights and neuroscience to build brands. He is a founding partner of IPNY, a brand positioning and messaging company. Clients include Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, City of Hope Medical Center, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Regeneron, Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center, and WNET PBS THIRTEEN.

Donna Walthall is Senior Director, Marketing, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. During Donna’s 25-year tenure, she’s led the development and implementation of innovative strategies to grow Dana-Farber’s reputation and increase patient volume for Dana-Farber’s primary clinical collaborations with Boston Children’s Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She’s also directed marketing outreach to communities of color.

As published on the Strategic Health Care Marketing site.

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, in collaboration with IPNY, has been named a finalist in the prestigious MM+M Awards. These awards celebrate outstanding creativity and effectiveness in healthcare marketing and communications.

IPNY’s campaign, titled “We specialize in cancer. And you.” has been recognized in the Use of Hospital or Healthcare Services Marketing category. The primary objective of this campaign was to motivate patients to inquire about treatment and/or book appointments at Dana-Farber Brigham. To achieve this, the campaign aimed to create a highly differentiating and motivating brand equity that communicated the unparalleled specialization in cancer treatment, research and benefits offered by Dana-Farber Brigham.

The central insight driving this campaign was the understanding that true specialization in cancer goes beyond medical knowledge. It encompasses a profound understanding of patients, coupled with exceptional listening and caregiving skills. This insight formed the basis of the campaign’s promise: Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center specializes in two things – cancer, and you.

The omnichannel campaign featured powerful patient stories, providing firsthand accounts of how Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center’s treatment is truly in a class of its own. The campaign’s effectiveness is evident in its remarkable results: from October 2023 to January 2024, there was a 154% increase in booked appointments year over year.

Larry Dobrow of MM+M praised the campaign, stating, “It’s an honor to celebrate the marketing that helps so many people achieve better health outcomes.” The MM+M Awards, now in their 21st year, are considered the premier awards program in the medical marketing industry. Winners will be announced later this year in August/September.

This recognition underscores the commitment and expertise of Dana-Farber Brigham and IPNY in delivering impactful healthcare marketing that not only informs but inspires action.

The Jay Chiat Awards, hosted by the 4A’s (American Association of Advertising Agencies), has selected Andy Semons, Founder and Strategic Planning Partner at IPNY, to serve on the Healthcare Strategy jury. This prestigious event celebrates the art of strategic thinking, honoring breakthrough approaches that yield exceptional work and advertising excellence. Andy is thrilled to serve along with the other esteemed jurors.

Now in its 27th year, the Jay Chiat Awards celebrates the best in strategic thinking by honoring the methodologies and approaches behind exceptional creative work. The Healthcare Strategy category acknowledges groundbreaking ideas and the innovative use of technology and media that effectively connect customers with brands – most notably healthcare services, products or prescription drugs. More information about the award show is available here.

Jay Chiat Awards recognize strategic excellence on a global scale, prioritizing visionary insights that inform creative excellence but are not overshadowed by execution. Winning case studies will be published on the Jay Chiat Awards website, the 4A’s main site, and WARC.com

As published in adage.com

The young copywriter’s portfolio was so heavy we were both laughing as we struggled to get it up onto my table. It broke the ice for the interview. I was in my first creative director job and was probably more nervous than her.

She unsnapped the locks and raised the top. Inside were two stacks of plastic-coated print ads. The lamination was the thick kind, with felt backing, which explained the weight of her portfolio. But nothing could explain the first piece I reached for, an ad for The Economist.

“Read what the world is coming to before it gets there.”

I stood there, eyes widening at the headline and the illustration of planet Earth with little hands reading the magazine.

“Nice,” I said. “You came up with this?”

“Yes.”

“Body copy too?”

“All of it.”

The room was getting hotter. I asked how she’d arrived at the idea. Perfectly assured, she told me she was impressed by The Economist’s record of foretelling business and political trends.

We never got past this first ad. I kept asking question after question. I was fascinated by someone who would present as her own work the very ad I had created at another agency three years before.

Thirty years later, this improbable moment of catching a thief red-handed still makes my blood boil. What gets me is less that she misrepresented herself, but that she stole my originality.

What we should aspire to

For those of us who ply the advertising and communications trade, originality is crucial to what we do. It’s the big idea. The thought no one’s ever thought before. The holy shit moment that sends a smile spreading through your whole body. It’s the sensation your audience feels up their spine.

Trends and technologies come and go, but originality stands eternal. It is what we should aspire to. Sadly, most of us settle for the familiar, the comfortable, the less-than-original.

I say this to today’s young creatives who, with mentoring in such scarce supply in our industry, question their own purpose and why their job isn’t more satisfying.

Here’s the answer: Your job is to see it like no one’s ever seen it before, to say it like no one’s ever said it before.

There are talented writers and art directors who have entire careers, make lots of money, and never achieve a single original creative thought. And then there are some like legendary art director Helmut Krone who seem to have done it every time they got up to bat. Their work is fresher than most of the work you see today.

Mindblowing, isn’t it, how an original thought can stand the test of time? Two examples:

• Despite its hype as the best advertisement ever made, Apple’s “1984” commercial is still, 30 years later, a potent vision.

• While many have tried to capture the essence of this unique business newspaper, no one’s ever done it like Fallon’s Tom McElligott in the 90s: “The Wall Street Journal. The daily diary of the American dream.”

Saul Bellow once described a writer as “a reader who is moved to emulation.” This is true not only for writers but for all artists. But emulation does not necessarily mean imitation. It means inspiring you to your own heights of originality. This takes fierce ambition and a competitive spirit. It is not for the faint of heart.

That is why I am put off by artists in advertising — and film, music and other arts — who readily admit that their work was “inspired by” some other work. That was fine to confess in Shakespeare’s day, when audiences appreciated similarities to admired classical works. But Romanticism made originality a Western cultural ideal, and Romanticism is still going strong.

If you’re going to steal

“Inspired by?” Really? Aren’t you just saying you appropriated someone else’s idea and made it into yours? And we’re all okay with that? And okay with tracing the concept of an ad back to the creative team who thought nothing of clicking through award show web sites for “inspiration”?

If you’re going to steal, steal from the best and conceal your sources. That’s time-honored advice, if stealing is your thing.

Not quite stealing, but almost, is the art of building on approaches that have proven successful in the past. Some risk-averse clients get assurance from having lots of precedents, as though this were not advertising but constitutional law.

Doing what no one’s done before

But if you’re going to be authentic in your life, there is nothing like the kickass feeling everyone gets when you can break free of all those “best practice” restraints and do something so original it seems to have come hurtling out of nowhere.

Remember that hilarious feeling the first time you saw the fast-talking man in Ally & Gargano’s classic Fedex commercial? If you haven’t seen it in a while, go. It’s a startling demonstration of how to vault to the top of the category in one entertaining message.

I could go on. From the Old Spice man to Geico’s pre-roll “Unskippable” to the concept of showing real women in beauty and cosmetics ads for Dove — to name only three from the last decade — there’s a breathtaking history of originality that offers something to emulate.

Plus, you can afford to. Being original doesn’t require an expensive canvas. You can have an original idea in a modest radio spot or a simple banner ad. One of my all-time-favorite frugal ideas was done by Scali McCabe Sloves in the 80s: A newspaper ad promoting a high-speed Nikon lens. The shot: a grainy blur that appeared to be a missile caught in mid-air. The headline: “Faster than a speeding bullet.”

Let’s face it. Given the time- and emotional pressure we’re under, it’s hard enough coming up with a good idea, let alone a great one. An original idea stands at the outer extremity.

It may happen by chance. It may happen when you’re so exhausted from trying that you’ve stopped searching. But it’s a game changer. You will have enriched our industry and your career. You will have created something truly worth stealing.

As published in SHSMD Spectrum

Healthcare marketers are finding new ways to overcome bias in communications by using the principles of neuropsychology. Understanding that how they communicate matters, smart marketers are using these principles to unlock the once-closed minds within their own organizations and in communities of color as well as in traditionally underserved patient populations affected by negative historical biases toward (and within) the healthcare industry.

This featured discussion, “Overcoming Bias: How to Unlock a Closed Mind,” was presented at the SHSMD23 Connections annual conference by Donna Walthall, the senior director of marketing at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Sarah Bridges, PhD, the CEO and founder of Bridges Consulting and an industry expert in neuropsychology; and Andy Semons, a founder and strategic planning partner at IPNY. The speakers discussed overcoming biases and developing effective communications that resonate with audiences despite preconceived opinions.

Applying Neuropsychology in Marketing

Dr. Bridges outlined the importance of recognizing biases and how they relate to perceptions. She also described the different types of cognitive biases, including:

• Availability heuristic: When something comes to mind quickly or is more sensational, people tend to think it is accurate.
• Choice overload and decision fatigue: If people have too many choices, they do not act.
• Cognitive dissonance, or difficulty changing one’s beliefs.
• Confirmation bias and looking for information that supports our beliefs.
• Halo effect, or how positive or negative impressions affect our opinions and beliefs.
• Negativity bias.
• Salience bias, which focuses on more prominent information or the big, breaking news.
• Status quo bias: Individuals stick with what’s familiar rather than what is riskier.

Dr. Bridges defines bias as “unconscious preference,” explaining that people make predictions based on what they know and often balk at the unfamiliar and things that don’t match their beliefs.

“We must understand the beliefs of our audiences,” she says. “We filter in information that confirms what we believe and do not see the information that doesn’t. And, with brands or with products, if there’s even one negative story that gets out among 50 good ones, people remember the negative story. Negative bias is wired into our brains.”

How the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Overcame Bias

During her 20-year journey leading the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s marketing efforts, what Donna Walthall learned about overcoming bias has been eye-opening.

As a world-renowned cancer institute that strives for a balance of 50% research and 50% clinical care, research has always been a large part of Dana-Farber’s DNA. However, the local community of color held a negative perception of the Institute, leading Walthall to find out why these biases existed.

“Although we were a world-class institution with a wonderful reputation nationally and internationally, our local community wasn’t loving us, saying things like ‘People go in, but they don’t come out,’” Walthall recalls.

She found that community biases included fear and mistrust, influenced by historical events like the Tuskegee study and the public’s belief that research and, by extension, Dana-Farber were detrimental to people of color. As a result, fear was intertwined with the Dana-Farber brand.

Components of the Campaign

Overcoming the negative bias and changing the narrative was the top priority for Walthall and her team. Their initial approach was to create targeted communications that were intentional and clear in telling the Institute’s story.

This effort included:

• Ads in local media focused on the expertise in treating cancer. Messaging focused on being welcoming and accessible, using positive language such as “Cancer can be survived” and “We’re an ally in the fight against cancer.”
• Telling the stories of local community leaders and real patients that lent credibility and honesty to the Dana-Farber narrative.
• A community mammography van that prominently featured the Dana-Farber name and logo, and included images of people who lived in the community to build trust.
• Events held at the Institute that invited the community inside to experience it in a non-threatening way.

“Instead of shying away from the Dana-Farber name that had evoked such fear in the community, we put it everywhere and told our community who we were very deliberately,” Walthall explains.

Walthall also enlisted the strategic communications help of Andy Semons at IPNY for a novel approach to encouraging community-wide cancer screening, targeting patient populations stressed by the pandemic and socioeconomic disadvantages.

Putting to work the lessons learned from neuropsychology, the IPNY team knew that to change behavior, they needed to build communications that didn’t elicit a threat response from communities receiving the message.

“It’s really hard to tell somebody who mistrusts you that they should be doing something,” notes Semons, who emphasizes the importance of empathetic communication in behavior change. Instead of prescribing actions, IPNY focused on benefits like support and being in personal control of one’s health.

Dr. Bridges adds: “When we are told we can’t do something or we must do something, the instinctive reaction is to resist it.”

The 30th Annual Communicator Awards Announces IPNY’S Dana-Farber Campaign, Momentum of Discovery, A Winner

The Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts (AIVA) chose IPNY’s campaign for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Momentum of Discovery, as a winner in the category of Campaign-Medical & Pharmaceutical. The campaign reflects the long history of Dana-Farber making significant discoveries and innovating the way cancer is treated around the world. In fact, IPNY’s research revealed that “over the past five years, Dana-Farber research has contributed substantively to 51% of all FDA-approved cancer drugs.”

The Communicator Awards is the leading global awards program honoring creative excellence for marketing and communications professionals. Founded three decades ago, the Communicator Awards is an annual competition recognizing the best in advertising, corporate communications, public relations and design.

The awards are sanctioned and judged by the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts (AIVA), an invitation-only body consisting of top-tier professionals from acclaimed brand and media, interactive, advertising, and marketing firms including: GE Digital, Spotify, Condè Nast, Disney, Accenture Song, Superfly, Fast Company, and many others.

With over 3,000 entries received from across the US and around the world, the Communicator Awards is the largest and most competitive awards program honoring creative excellence for communications professionals. The competition celebrated its 30th anniversary this year with a pledge to honor timeless communication.

To view the winning work, visit the Winners Gallery.

See aiva.org for more information.

As published in PM360 focus on marketing strategy 2024.

Sonic branding is a proven way to motivate your target. But not the careless way many DTC marketers are using it. Music can work wonders. I was part of the agency that helped United Airlines adopt Rhapsody in Blue as their sonic signature. The score fit the brand perfectly. Gershwin’s glorious overture made you feel that travel is a sophisticated adventure.

Just the opposite is happening in the wave of DTC campaigns that employ musical branding. Most offensive are the Jardiance commercials. Each spot is a music and dance number where a large cast and a portly heroine sing about “the little pill with a big story to tell.” The big story is about managing your type 2 diabetes and heart disease. It’s a hokey, energetic mess of a spot whose choreography tries to distract you from the fair balance, a tactic sure to make a brand seem less trustworthy.

I’m all for having fun in advertising, but even more for style, taste, and relevance. Viewers are not the fools cynical marketers think they are. We need to communicate the benefits of our medications in ways that don’t embarrass the brand or the target.

As published in MM&M

In the coming year, healthcare providers will become better acquainted with the uses for and limitations of Artificial Intelligence. Specifically, we’ll get a better feeling for where it can have a positive impact, how to manage it, and how to advocate for its use to internal and external stakeholders. We will become less fearful of using AI correctly. As the saying goes, “AI won’t replace us. But someone who knows how to use it correctly will.” — Andy Semons, founder, strategic planning partner, IPNY

Written by: Andy Semons, Founder, Strategic Planning Partner, IPNY

Dana-Farber’s Guide to Inclusive Behaviors