What has your journey to Edelman looked like and how did you get into the communications industry?
My whole career has been about understanding change and the opportunities that this creates. Having worked initially in management consulting for a few years, I first focused on the development of the internet as an agent of change in 1998 when I joined Razorfish v1.0! Digital is all about communicating – how we connect to brands, to businesses and to each other, and this has exploded over the past 20 years. As Justin Trudeau said at Davos in 2018, “The pace of change has never been this fast, yet it will never be this slow again.” How right he is.
But what made a fundamental difference to me was in getting involved in the healthcare space. Understanding that there are very real unmet needs in the space, patients, doctors and carers. And vitally importantly, if we can address these needs, if we can help doctors make better decisions, if we can help patients achieve better treatment, then we can make a real difference to people’s lives. That is what motivates me, and that is what keeps me going along this journey through digital, driven by change and focused on health.
How are you looking to develop Edelman’s existing digital capabilities within the health space?
At Edelman, we are already successfully supporting many core communications programmes with a range of digital applications and techniques. I want to push these forward, giving us a better toolbox, and a broader range of options to construct solutions which make a real difference for our audiences. Ultimately, I’d love to evolve our understanding that digital is not a separate set of channels, but really an intrinsic component of how we all behave. In a way, we need to stop talking about digital, and just think about our audiences - how they behave, connect and make decisions. As we say a lot in healthcare, “Doctors are people too!”
What excites you most about your role as Head of Digital Health?
We have a brand that is trusted, a client list that is amazing, and people in the health team who are so smart and motivated! What's not to be excited about? But one more thing, as an avid consumer of the Edelman Trust Barometer for the past decade, I am really excited to be able to connect with this research in even more depth, and to champion this out to our clients as it is so fundamental in how we approach and create our strategies.
What trends do you see developing in the digital health space over the next year?
The decline in the pharma sales force, driving a fresh focus on finding new ways of connecting to customers. The rise and rise of digital health solutions, helping us to keep healthy in increasingly personalised ways. The increasing appreciation of the importance of data in connecting our audiences to the right content for them, where they are and what they need.
What do you do outside of work to relax?
Meet the dogs – Archie (schnauzer, independent, grumpy), and Coco (Romanian rescue, soft as butter).
What advice would you give someone considering a role at Edelman?
2 things – come and talk about the ambition and vision, and come and meet the people!
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