Helping People Live Better: Marketing's Role in the Future of Health with Google, Novo Nordisk and Bayer

Speaker A: If you are a chief marketing officer in consumer products, I want you to think about something for a moment. You have creative that works. You have campaigns that capture attention. But somewhere between that moment and the register, the signal gets lost. You cannot see what actually drove the sale. You are making optimization decisions on inference, not truth. Well, that changed in February. Infilion acquired Catalina. Four decades of deterministic purchase intelligence. 130 million US households, 70 retail banners, $600 billion in verified ANN consumer spending. And here is what really matters. Over 90% of consumable purchases still happen in store. Infilion and Catalina together can close the loop from digital advertising to inlane purchase and incentivize the next one. This is not a measurement tool you consult after the campaign. This is a live signal that runs through your media while the campaign is in flight. You can now optimize from attention to action in real time against people whose actual purchase behavior you know. A consumer products brand needs return on ad spending. It needs foot traffic. Infilion now delivers all of it. Not as separate vendors. You reconcile later as one connected platform. That is what closing the gap looks like.

Speaker B: There's an ah, interesting statistic. 40% of Gen Zers are going to social media to get their health advice, not doctors. Now, there is wonderful information online and on social media ways to stay healthy and manage your health, but the information out there isn't for everyone. So what is right for me is not necessarily right for you. Not necessarily right for you.

Speaker A: Hi, I'm Jim Stengel. I've helped hundreds of major brands discover and activate their purpose. Because when a brand's purpose is clear, compelling and authentic, profit naturally follows. Each week I welcome the CMOs, the chief marketing officers of your favorite brands, to speak to how their job is so much more than marketing. These leaders share their inspiration and challenges along with how they try to build a full, healthy and happy life in and out of the office. And it's that energy that reaches everyone they touch. And we're glad you're here to feel that energy and to learn from these remarkable leaders. So here we go. One of my favorite parts of the Cannes Lions Festival is the opportunity to slow down and have meaningful conversations with extraordinary leaders. This episode is the third and final installment from our series, recorded live at the Havas Cafe, where I welcome three incredible leaders to explore one of the most important topics of all. Health, longevity, and the role brands can play in helping people live better lives. Joining me first is Yvonne Bryant of Novo Nordisk, the Danish pharma company famous for its diabetes care and weight management therapies. Yvonne has had more than two decades of experience spanning clinical research, drug development, commercialization, and consumer marketing. Yvonne now leads commercialization efforts for rare blood disorders, helping bring breakthrough scientific innovation to patients. Next is Lauren Gelman, senior director and head of marketing for health and home at Google. Lauren oversees marketing across Google's health ecosystem, including Fitbit, Nest and Google Health. And finally, Samantha Avivi, uh, global chief marketing Officer for consumer health at Bayer. Samantha leads marketing and innovation across Bayer's portfolio of consumer health brands. She and I also have a long history together. We first worked together at Procter and Gamble and more recently through my consulting work. So it was especially meaningful to share this conversation with her on stage. This conversation stayed with me long after this podcast recording. It centers on a simple but profound idea. The future of healthcare marketing isn't simply about helping people live longer. It's really about helping people live better. So here's my conversation with three inspiring women. Yvonne Bryant, Lauren Gelman, and Samantha Abevi. Welcome, ladies, to the CMO podcast. This is the third in our series on desire. And the first group I had was all men. Second group was mixed and now we are all women. And I'm much more comfortable this way. As Samantha knows, I like building teams with really smart, capable, wonderful women.

Speaker C: Thank, uh, you.

Speaker A: So great to be with you.

Speaker B: Thank you for having us.

Speaker A: Now I want to start this. The theme is sort of desire in healthcare. And it's kind of a funny concept, but we're going to go there. I want to start with a brand that you personally desire in the health longevity wellness space. Then desire is, you know, you aspire to something, you want to be part of it. You can't wait to go there or do it. Can you think of something personally in the health and wellness space that conveys desire to you, Samantha?

Speaker C: So I am going to talk about the Whoop. Are you familiar with the Whoop?

Speaker B: Oh, yes.

Speaker C: Whoop is a health tracker. Okay. And we have just recently purchased one for my son, who's 14. This whoop is now dictating his life. And when I mean that he every morning gets up and evaluates his sleep throughout the day. His goal is to maximize his activity. If he's not at a hundred percent, he's will go back to the gym. But here's the most incredible thing. He has a friend group called the Whoopers. And the Whoopers all have this social connection where they challenge one another to be healthier. So it's about. It's a community Solution. It's a health solution. It's a brand name, and it's 14. This is something that's going to stay with him for life. So I am a big fan of the Whoop and how they are transforming health.

Speaker A: Is this a Google product? Lauren?

Speaker B: We do have a product just like this.

Speaker C: I'm sorry.

Speaker B: It's okay. It's okay. We're going to talk afterwards.

Speaker C: Okay.

Speaker B: So for me, I grew up playing sports, was collegiate athlete, so staying healthy is really important to me.

Speaker A: What was your sport?

Speaker B: I play softball.

Speaker A: Oh, wow.

Speaker C: Loved it.

Speaker B: And finding ways to stay motivated later in life. And it's harder to gather a team of people to play a game. And so I've gravitated more towards opportunities like Peloton, where they have created a great community, a great community of instructors that motivate, that inspire and have given you an opportunity to almost build relationships with those instructors. And I truly, every morning I get up and like, I'm excited to, while it's through a screen, connect with those instructors. And they motivate me. They've also done a great job of almost gamifying it. So I love a badge, I love a trophy. Um, my handle is earning badges is my handle on Peloton, and so you can compete with your friends, your family. Um, but then you also get your own recognition through those badges and accomplishments. I just had my 1000th ride, and, you know, everyone in the community is like, high fiving you, and it just like keeps you going. And so I just. It gets me inspired.

Speaker A: Love it. Yeah, Yvonne.

Speaker D: So for me, I try to work out as best as possible, and I'm not really great about it because, uh, squeezing in the time is where I find the hardest. But the thing I've gravitated toward is Pilates because when I first started, I was a wreck on that machine. I felt like my limbs were going every which away. But the more I've done it, the more I really have liked the small tension that it creates in my muscles and the way that I feel strong, stronger when I walk out. Like, I can't be someone in the workout class when they're yelling at you, pick up the ball, throw. Like, CrossFit would never be my thing because I don't want you yelling at me. But Pilates is the right balance of, like, strength training. And the coaching nurse, you know, she just talks to us with like, you can do it. And I'm like, I can do it. I can hold for 30 more seconds and you're shaking and trembling, but it feels good at the end. So Pilates has been the thing that I've gravitated toward that I want to keep doing more of.

Speaker A: Yeah, it's even more important as you get older as I am. And I take Pilates and I love it.

Speaker D: You love it.

Speaker A: I look forward to it. I feel great during it, after it. So I'm with you, you're with me now we're in Cannes. Lyons. Right. We're in the third day. You all are out and about, you're on panels. Samantha, you're on the main stage. So would you speak about something that's happened to you this week? A panel you've been on, someone you were listening to, a discussion you had that has really struck you and will stay with you.

Speaker B: Yeah, I had yesterday I was on a panel with a wonderful woman, Durana, who is as a founder, entrepreneur, super impressive woman. Allison Felix, who I respect as an athlete and as a mother at her grit in coming back post retirement. And Hoda Kotb, which she is just maternal in all the ways and has had such an amazing career and adopted two beautiful girls later in life. And she talked about that. And uh, the topic of our conversation was ambition, motherhood and wellness. And it's so close to my heart. I really, I could have spoken all day about it. I have a four year old daughter, Ella, and a six year old son, Aiden. And as. And um, I'm right now in the role of my career. So I'm the CMO of Google Health and Google Home and I've worked, you know, over two decades to get to this role and it's a season of life when I want to lean into that and take advantage of every opportunity. And our uh, my job is so mission based. We're helping people live healthier, longer lives which is so appropriate for our conversation today. And I want to lean in there. And I also have two little kiddos at home, um, that need their mom. And you have that push and pull of I want to be the room parent, I want to coach soccer, but I also have to be on the road or I have that 8am meeting. And so we just talked about, we prioritize and the different seasons of life and it was just, it was a beautiful conversation.

Speaker A: Oh my.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Anything that you, uh, reaffirmed in your mind or a new promise you made to yourself or anything that this inspired something.

Speaker B: Yes. Something that Hoda talked about was not rushing through things to get to something else. That, that messy middle is the thing. Yeah. So I always find that I Am, um, I feel like we're always late for school. You know, we get the kids up and I, my son rides his bike and I run alongside him. So we, we run to school and I drop him off and then I head to the office. But if he doesn't get to school on time, he gets a tardy. I mean he's in kindergarten, right? I mean, but they, but I get an email about it and so I want to get him to school, ah, on time. And I'm rushing like you get dressed, eat your breakfast, tie your shoes. And she was just saying that for years she's been rushing her daughters through things, but she's come to realize that it is those things that is the good stuff. And that's where you have the great conversation with your kids and you see how they're learning and developing. And so that's what I'm going to take from that is don't rush through the messy and really embrace it.

Speaker A: Those will be the funny stories too, when they get older, right?

Speaker B: Yes, a hundred percent.

Speaker A: Yvonne, how about yourself this week?

Speaker D: So I think two things stood out to me. First was sitting and watching the healthcare and those awards, the award winners. A lot of what I saw this year was all around doing good. So so many campaigns, brands, the work they've done was doing good for others. And what I saw in the imagery was a lot of, uh, community and emotion connected to the experience of the person you're trying to market to. And so for me it really sparked this idea of like, how much are we understanding the community around us? How much are we able to pull on the emotion and the heartstring to be more authentic in the way that we market. And I think that for me was a big takeaway when I go back to say, are we developing content that is resonating at the heart and are we building upon initiatives that is doing good for others? So that was the first thing in my role today. I'm the commercial lead for hemoglobinopathies at Novo Nordisk and I work specifically in sickle cell disease. And one of the panels I was on, we had Ryan Clark, who's an athlete and he has sickle cell trait and he lost his sister in law to sickle cell disease. And we had Ratman, who also did Supercell on Netflix, uh, season two is coming out and it's all about sickle cell and how you turn it into heroes. During this panel discussion, one of the women raised her hand and she expressed to us, uh, that her 21 year old son had had two strokes already. And in that moment I was like heartbroken. And so for me, what I walked away was a reminder of my purpose in my job. And just the thought that we don't see everybody we touch through the work in healthcare marketing. But there are so many lives that depend on the inn, our approach, our, uh, care and consideration. And it just stuck with me to hear her share so vulnerably the struggle that she has gone through. And it just reignited my energy to go back and, like, I don't know, kick butt is what I felt like. Like, oh, we need to do it.

Speaker A: It's wonderful that kind of thing is happening here at Ken Lions. So it hasn't always happened here. And those are real issues where creativity and your skills and your team can make such a difference in. So, um, I'm, um, I'm. I love hearing that.

Speaker C: Thank you.

Speaker D: Thank you.

Speaker A: I spent years at Procter and Gamble trying to answer that question. We had the creative, we had the reach, we had campaigns that genuinely stop people. And then we watched that value quietly disappear somewhere between the moment of engagement and the proof of a business result. That gap between attention and action is where most media budgets go to die. And most digital media platforms have been content to live inside it, just a little upstream from accountability. Infilion is the company that decided to close it. They started as the original attention company, built on the idea that a consumer choosing to engage with an ad is worth more than one who ignores it. But they did not stop there. They have built the infrastructure to connect the moment of attention to the proof of action across every screen, every format, every vertical. That is not a feature. That is a fundamentally different idea of what an ad platform should be. And it is the one brands have been waiting for. Learn more in the show notes. Sam, how about yourself? You're on the big stage. You haven't done it yet, right?

Speaker C: Not yet. So maybe I'll talk a little bit about when I found out that I was getting asked to go onto the main stage, because the story is I work at Bear and we're 160-year-old company and so we have a way of brand building at Bayer that is built over time. And, um, when I came into the role, the CEO said to me, our framework is called Trusted brands for life TB4L. And he said, what do you think? Should we evolve it? Should we change it? And I said, After 160 years, there is something there. And not only is there something there, it is more relevant today than ever. Before to build trust, given all of the information that is out there and the confusion and the inauthenticity. And so the reason why I share this story is we stuck with it. And we're evolving our, uh, approach to, uh, build trust in a new age of AI and lots of influencers. And when we put our proposed speech to Ken, they said that they chose me to come to the main stage because of the importance of building trust and building trust for life. And it made it so validated not only the decision we made, but the 160 years that we've had as a company doing exactly what you're saying, which is helping people live healthier lives every day. So that was my proud moment and I look forward to getting up tomorrow and speaking further.

Speaker A: Are you nervous?

Speaker C: No.

Speaker D: Excited.

Speaker C: Good.

Speaker B: Good for you.

Speaker C: So excited.

Speaker A: You have 30 minutes, right? Yeah. It's a long time.

Speaker C: It is. And I'm going to be phenomenal. 30 minutes.

Speaker A: I know you will. I'm up there with you and I'll try to be in the audience if I can. Now this Havas has done. Who is sponsoring this wonderful thing we're doing today. They had this new study on super aging, longevity and, you know, lots of insights, loads of insights I want you to all talk about. Cause you're involved in this very directly in longevity and super aging. So I'd like you to talk about the desire for that for yourself first. What kind of emotions does that bring forward and for your company and how this is maybe changing your culture, changing some priorities, changing how you think about your work. So I know it's a little bit of a conceptual question, but I think it's a powerful one.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker A: So, Lauren, do you want to start?

Speaker D: Sure.

Speaker B: Well, for me personally, I had children later. Both of my kids were born post 40. And staying healthy is about being able to be around and being able to run to school with my son, being able to coach his teams, coach my daughter's teams, and that focus and understanding what do I need at this phase of my, of my life and when I was younger and in college, what I need to stay healthy from a sleep perspective, nutrition, hydration, totally different than what I need today. And so I think about that and I'm looking for those tools to really understand what is right for me in this, in this moment in time, to stay healthy and to live a longer life. And we think about it from a product perspective, as I was sharing. Our mission is to help people live healthier, longer lives. And that's what Google Health is all about and we know that people, the insights tell us people want to be healthier. They're all coming in at different stages. Um, some people are training for marathons, some people haven't gone for a run in years. They're just at the beginning. They want to get healthier but they need motivation and they want someone to tell them what to do. And right now there's a interesting statistic. 40% of Gen Zers are going to social media to get their health advice, not doctors. Now there is wonderful information online and on social media on ways to stay healthy and manage your health but the news, the information out there isn't for everyone. So do I cold plunge, Do I sauna, Do I do intermittent fasting? What is right for me is not necessarily right for you. Not necessarily right for you. And so what we're trying to build is a tool that is personal to each individual, that is leveraging their specific data, drawing insights from that data and giving recommendations that are right for you and then is adapting to your day. I think we all know we have all the intention in the world to get up in the morning and do the HIIT class or do the Pilates class or do the yoga class and then we're going to have a great protein rich breakfast and you know everything is going to go in line. It does not happen that way. And so having a coach that can be by your side and adapt to your day to day so that you can continue to take steps forward to a healthier life, um, even when the schedule isn't um, isn't perfect.

Speaker A: Could you talk a little bit about the decision Google made at one point to direct resources in this space?

Speaker C: Sure.

Speaker B: So initially Google has always been involved in health in many different ways. You've google.org um, we had Google Health more on an enterprise B2B perspective. From a consumer perspective a lot of it started with the acquisition of Fitbit and Fitbit. It was invented trackers and um, has been, is very well known in helping to keep people motivated and doing your step tracking and understanding your sleep. But the additional investment in building a health coach we um, just recently we still build Fitbit products. We just launched Fitbit Air which is a shoes tracker. We can talk more about that Sam later I can talk to your son about that. And the insight there specifically was there is a move towards quiet technology. Um, there are some great brands as you shared one of them, um, that is doing great work here because people want to track their data but they don't want to necessarily have the distractions of what other wearables might differ. So there was definitely an opportunity within the hardware space to continue to innovate. But then on the software side and coaching side, Google, we were seeing the insights. We were seeing, seeing that there's so much noise out there. And we wanted to help through our technology, through Gemini, help sift through the clutter and really give targeted feedback, um, and suggestions to people who are trying to live healthier lives.

Speaker A: Yeah, Love it, Yvonne. Super aging. I mean, obviously you're right in the middle of it, but speak about it personally and then your company.

Speaker D: Yeah, so personally it sticks out to me because I feel this immense responsibility to be here for my children. Two years ago, I lost my husband. And so because of that, it puts this sense on me, of my life, of I need to be here for them. Right. When you have options, you think, well, there's an option. I feel like I'm the only option. So a lot of what drives my, like, be healthy, be present and move is because I feel like I need to be there for them. And when you go through an immense loss, you see just how delicate life is and how fragile life can be. And so that has been a big driver, I think, in me taking care of my health. I've done some things where I'm kind of, I would be the person who wouldn't go to the doctors. I'm like, oh, the kids go to the doctors. I'd be the person who would be like, oh, uh, okay, I guess I'll go to the dentist. I just wasn't always on top of it like I should have been. And ever since then, it really was a wake up call for me that I need to get it together. So through the loss of my husband, my health has been like the top priority for me from a company perspective. Novo Nordisk, we're a leader in diabetes, obesity and in rare disease. And what I can say is we've seen an evolution. Um, you know, when we first started out in diabetes, there's a lot around the chronic issue of that disease. But then as we moved into obesity, what we started to look at was metabolic health. And what you see is how the systems are all connected. And metabolic diseases really shorten lifespan. And so when we think not just of, uh, how long you're going to live, but how many of those years are healthy. Metabolic health, because all of these organs are connected, are really important. So when we look at obesity as an example and we see, oh, uh, well, it's attacking your liver. And then if Your liver goes down or if it's attacking your joints and your lungs. Right. And so for us, it's how do we effectively manage chronic disease? And so when we tell that red thread story, we no longer separated some of these conditions, but try to educate on how they're linked and how if you address one thing, it helps support another. So there's been an immense, I think, push, both with healthcare providers and with patients to have a, uh, better understanding of, uh, how holistically within our body, many of these things are linked together and you can't separate them. Right. And so how do we address metabolic health so that you have a longer lifespan?

Speaker A: I was invited to speak your company, I don't know, maybe three months ago, it was a virtual meeting and I prepped for it and we spent about an hour together. I was really impressed with the people and the sense of purpose, a sense of meaning, the sense of inclusiveness.

Speaker D: Yes.

Speaker A: You know, could you say a word about.

Speaker D: Yeah. The company. Oh, the company culture. I've been at the company for 11 years, uh, and I've worked in every disease state. So first I'll say the professional development. The company is phenomenal. You want to raise your hand, you want to move, you want to do something different. There's opportunity inside of the company. What I've also appreciated is outside of your day job, there's a support for you to do other things. They're going to match donations. You can get off for volunteering. Um, we do a lot of what we call triple bottom line events. So every time we have a major meeting, we do some activity, some volunteering as an organization in whatever city, whether it's building bike, doing meals, giving back. So there's a big sense of we are serving the purpose of the patients. And then the communities we are in, we do some grassroots things where we're bringing in farm to table food for socioeconomic communities that don't have access. So I would say outside of just innovating for medicine, the company always comes back to the sense of the purpose that we're working for, the patients we serve. And I think that's what has kept me there, quite honestly. It's like I think I'm doing a good job at my job. And I would say, you know, my boss is over there somewhere, so hopefully she would agree if she was listening. But it's that I get to do more than just my day job and the company supports that, like wholeheartedly. And that's what you get in the sense. And the only other thing I would say is we challenge one another in a healthy way. You know, sometimes you get to a company and you're consistently doing things the same way numb like challenge me. What do you think? There's a lot of inclusiveness into your own perspective and thoughts. And I think that lands us in a place to deliver good results for both patients and the work we want to do.

Speaker A: I think you two would have compatible cultures.

Speaker B: Yes. Yes. I was just thinking. And we, we debate a lot. Um, and sometimes we disagree, but we commit and we have that open conversation and I. And, and we also have permission to turn the playbook on its head and do something different, which I really appreciate.

Speaker C: That's right.

Speaker B: Yeah, that's right.

Speaker D: You want that. You don't want singular focus.

Speaker A: One of the things I have learned from years of talking to the best CMOs in the world is this. The question is never just whether your creative is working. The question is whether your infrastructure can keep up with it. Because a brain campaign still has to travel through an ad stack, through data, through decisioning, through supply, through measurement. And every hop in that journey is a place where value leaks out. Most platforms solve one piece of that. A data company, a dsp, a measurement vendor. You stitch them together and pay a fragmentation tax in performance, in speed and in accountability. Infilion built something very different. Demand, supply, data measurement and creative connect it in a single composable platform. The highest performing opt in attention formats via Infilion's proprietary tech in the industry. Agnostic identity resolution solutions. And now Catalina. 130 million US households of uh, verified purchase truth running as live signal through every campaign they execute. No black boxes, no hops, no fragmented vendor relationships to manage. The only company I know of that can take you from the first moment of attention to the final proof of action for any vertical on any screen without leaving the platform open. Composable agentic that is Infilian. Okay, Sam, super aging longevity for you personally, your company, of course.

Speaker C: Yes. So maybe I'll start with the company and I'll go to me, because it did inspire me too. So at, uh, Bayer, we really believe that as much as living a long life is wonderful, it's the quality of the life you live. And that's shown by our products that we have, starting at prenatal where we provide nutrition for mothers with their babies before they're even born, and making sure they start, uh, as a healthy life all the way through to women as they menstruate, and then all the way through to healthy aging with Aleve and our Napoxin molecules. And it's really important that I think it has impacted me and that it's about the presence that you have every single day. And you add a couple years here or there. If it's not about the quality that you have of your life, the time that you're spending with your, uh, spouse, your children, be the best daughter, the best mother that you could be at that moment. It's not about the amount of time you're spending. It's about the quality of time. And I live by that on a regular basis. And that's one of the things I appreciate about Bear is that they're about quality of life as long as length of life.

Speaker B: Uh, I love that.

Speaker A: Wow. Well, this conversation went to good places. I'm not even sure where I want to end it.

Speaker C: Yeah, I'm sort of inspired.

Speaker B: I want to talk.

Speaker C: I know.

Speaker E: Right now.

Speaker D: Me too.

Speaker A: Yeah. I often ask to close the show what the first brand is that made an impact in your life. M And you all talk about brands that are important for you today, but if you thought about what's the first brand that made an impact in your life, what would that be? This is my standard question. It always goes to good places.

Speaker D: I don't have the first brand, but I have a brand that always comes top of mind for me, and it's Dove soap.

Speaker A: Oh.

Speaker D: What I loved about and what I love about Dove is they go into areas that have absolutely nothing to do with soap. Whether it was their body image campaign.

Speaker C: Mhm.

Speaker D: And for me, it was a hair campaign. They had a split image. One side was curly, one side was straight. And for me, as an African American woman, I oftentimes felt like I needed to change my image for interviews or for work. And when I saw it, it just, to me was so inspiring. Because here a company is tapping into nuances and cultural things that have, again, nothing to do with soap. So I just love the boldness and the creativity and it just always sticks out with me. Like, you can be a brand that works in your sphere and you can do other good things too. The second one I will say is Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream before they got sold.

Speaker A: Both Unilever brands, by the way.

Speaker D: Yeah, before they got sold. Because now the sold version is slightly different. But pre selling, I thought Ben and Jerry's also was very firm in their foundation and their morals and their compass as a company. And they took bold stance to speak out across a lot of different things, from equity to injustice. Again, nothing to do with Ice cream. Absolutely nothing. But they still were a company that stood behind their beliefs and were vocal about it. So I love both Dove and Ben and Jerry's for that reason.

Speaker A: And they were consistent over years and years and years. The brands that take, uh, a point of view and are not consistent get in trouble.

Speaker D: That's right.

Speaker A: Lauren, how about yourself? Probably sports.

Speaker B: Yes. Adidas.

Speaker A: Yeah, me too, actually.

Speaker C: They are such support.

Speaker B: My early experiences, when I think about playing rep soccer, m. Uh, Bobby sock

Speaker C: softball, they were amazing.

Speaker B: They without knowing their strategy. But now, as a marketer thinking about this, they did an excellent job leaning into cultural moments. When I think about going to major sporting events and seeing them there, they did a great job activating trusted voices and athletes that I follow, that I admired, that I wanted to be like. And, uh, it was then it influenced me wanting to represent them, wear them, um, on the field. Wear them. When I was training and when I was just thinking that my. What brands seem really pervasive early on and desirous.

Speaker E: Right?

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: Yes.

Speaker C: All right, my turn. Um, so I'm going to talk about Lucky Charms. Okay. So this is gonna be a very personal solution.

Speaker A: Speaking about longevity.

Speaker C: Yeah. Probably not the most healthy solution, but, um, I grew up in the industry. My dad was a copywriter. And I first caught the bug of the industry when I was probably three years old. And, uh, my dad was working for dancer Fitzgerald Sample. Who. Their client was General Mills, and he was working on Lucky Charms. And I remember so fondly him coming home at night at the end of his busy day and showing the slides of his shoot during the day. And at that time, um, the leprechaun was clay. He was a clay figure. And so I.

Speaker A: Cute or scary?

Speaker C: Both.

Speaker A: Both.

Speaker B: Both.

Speaker C: Yeah. But I remember seeing the pictures were actually of the set and of them molding the leprechaun. And then I would see it on TV as a child, and I thought to myself, this is magic. This is. And that I saw behind the scenes. And then also our house had every sugared cereal that was at all. Uh, we were the most popular.

Speaker A: It turned out really well.

Speaker C: Everyone would come over to eat all our sugared ce. So there's so many reasons why I love that brand staple in our household. Maybe not the most healthy, but it's healthy for your heart.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker D: So nostalgic.

Speaker C: It's nostalgic. So that's my brand.

Speaker A: I love all those. All those stories. Well, uh, we started about talking about desire in the context of health, longevity, super aging. And actually this discussion as a listener and your host, I mean, made me even more desirous of my health, my longevity, my quality of life, my family's health. So you're all inspiring.

Speaker B: Thank you.

Speaker A: And it was, um, a beautiful conversation.

Speaker E: Yeah.

Speaker D: Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you.

Speaker B: This is great.

Speaker A: Really good. Three takeaways from this conversation. The first one is the brands that win in healthcare will be the ones that personalize and customize care. One thing that really struck me is how healthcare is becoming less about one size fits all solutions and more about meeting each of us where we are. Whether it was Lauren talking about AI as a personalized health coach, Samantha reflecting on how our health needs evolve through different seasons of life, or Yvonne reminding us to think about the whole person, not just a single condition, the message was clear. The future belongs to brands that understand individuals, not just audiences. Second takeaway. Trust isn't a marketing tactic. It's the product. Another theme that came up again and again was trust. We live in a world overflowing with information, yet trust is declining with most consumers across most institutions. Samantha shared why Bayer has stayed committed to building their trusted Brands for Life platform. Lauren talked about helping people navigate the noise around health information. And Devon spoke about the responsibility marketers have when communicating complex science. If you're in healthcare or really any business today, earning trust may be your most important competitive advantage. And third takeaway, Great healthcare marketing starts with empathy and humanity. This conversation reminded me why I love talking with leaders like these. None of them spoke first about products or campaigns. They talked about purpose. They talked about families. They talked about the quality of life. And Devon's story about meeting a mother whose son had suffered two strokes was a powerful reminder that people's lives may be changed because of the work we do. That's why the best healthcare marketing starts with humanity and empathy. That's it for this week's episode of the CMO Podcast. As always, I would be grateful if you shared our show with your friends. Along with subscribing and leaving a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen, the CMO Podcast is a Vive original production.

Speaker E: Hi everybody. I'm Andrea Sullivan, the CEO of Vive and we have produced the CMO Podcast with Jim Stengel for many years. And I'm sitting in his seat right now. It's so exciting. I wanted to tell you a little bit about one of our programs. It's called Vive by Vayner. It's a 12 month program that's designed for C suiters and founders and we want to help people to grow their businesses, but also to grow themselves. And so we bring in people from Shark Tank to talk to our founders, but we also focus on wellness. We want to make sure that people are leaning into becoming their best selves, their best and happiest selves. So if you are someone that wants to learn how to grow your business and grow yourself, check us out at, uh, Vive Co. That's V Y V E Co. We'd love to talk to you.