Choosing the best images for healthcare & wellness marketing
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It used to be that the go-to symbols for “health” in marketing and advertising were a stethoscope or a nurse in scrubs. Then market tastes shifted, and brands began showcasing lifestyle imagery. The trend is still with us, but it’s shifting again.
Before the Internet, patients generally relied upon their primary care physicians for expert knowledge, diagnoses, and treatment plans. So in terms of advertising, it was fairly easy to reinforce the traditional role of medical professionals as the main authority over the patient’s health.
Looking back into the history of healthcare design, there is an abundance of marketing materials filled with photographs of doctors in white lab coats, nurses in scrubs, and sickly — though still smiling — patients, as well as the universal and ubiquitous stethoscope, whose prevalence is only rivaled by the reflex hammer. To further portray the authoritative role of medical professionals, models were often posed with crossed arms and wearing stern, yet knowing, expressions.
As medical and scientific information became more accessible to the general public, patients likewise became more outspoken and involved in their own healthcare. Instead of going into the doctor’s office seeking diagnoses, patients began bringing to the doctor their own medical opinions and instead were seeking validation or confirmation of their suspicions. Also, parents started turning to other parents for medical advice about their children as well.
To accommodate this change in patients’ attitudes towards healthcare, advertisers then shifted from portraying the medical professional as the “authority” over the patient to a “partner” of the patient and his/her family.
In healthcare photography, the models portraying doctors and nurses were no longer posed with crossed arms; instead, they were shown in the act of researching, writing on a clipboard, and analyzing x-rays or medical equipment readings. The emphasis on education was implicit. Photoshoots with larger budgets included extra models in the background, to symbolize the patient’s family members, reinforcing the importance of the medical professional as an integral part of the patient’s healthcare “team.”
Lifestyle imagery gained popularity as patients blurred the lines between healthcare (e.g. doctors, nurses, hospitals, and pharmaceuticals) and wellness (e.g. yoga, meditation, vitamin supplements, and traditional/natural remedies). Even though the two industries are markedly distinct — and are sometimes in opposition — from the patient’s perspective, healthcare and wellness are the same thing, sharing the same goal: the well-being of the patient.
As wearable technology advances and patients increasingly monitor their own heart rates, blood pressure, blood sugar levels, etc., then the relationship between medical professionals and the patient will continue to evolve, and advertising and marketing will once again have to shift how this relationship is depicted.
If your healthcare or wellness brand needs to be updated, expanded, or evolved, we invite you to contact us. Also, keep in mind that your internal brand is just as important as your external brand. If you’re having trouble recruiting and retaining top-quality talent into your workforce, we can help strengthen your employer branding efforts, too.
Arin West is an ideation house — focusing on marketing, branding, & advertising — based in Southern California. If you're looking for unconventional ideas to promote your brand, we invite you to contact us. ArinWest.com