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Hispanic Healthcare Marketing: Is the Glass half empty or half full?

There are huge opportunities in Hispanic Healthcare and Pharma Marketing. No market expert has any doubt about that. Several multicultural agencies are readying for the Healthcare opportunity including Multicultural Healthcare Marketing agency Prime Access appointing Chip Weinstein as new CEO, Prime Access former CEO Steven Millerman creating his own agency called EmCay and Multicultural Marketing firm XL Alliance also entering into the space. Yet, what has been achieved so far versus the size of the opportunity? 

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Half_full_half_emptyThere are huge opportunities in Hispanic Healthcare and Pharma Marketing. No market expert has any doubt about that. Several multicultural agencies are readying for the Healthcare opportunity including Multicultural Healthcare Marketing agency Prime Access appointing Chip Weinstein as new CEO, Prime Access former CEO Steven Millerman creating his own agency called EmCay and Multicultural Marketing firm XL Alliance also entering into the space. Yet, what has been achieved so far versus the size of the opportunity? Is the Hispanic Healthcare Marketing and Advertising glass half full or half empty?

 

Hispanics are under insured when it comes to Healthcare and there is a great opportunity in  marketing pharmaceuticals, particularly for diseases such as diabetes where Hispanics over-index. Yet Health and Pharma Advertising are not a really large category in the Hispanic Market and it is not yet really clear if the opportunity ever will be really taken advantage of by Corporate America.

Marcelo Rodriguez, Founder and Partner, Grupo Parada

Asked whether he thinks that Hispanic Healthcare and Pharma marketing opportunities have been really taken advantage of by marketers, Marcelo Rodriguez, Managing partner and Founder of Grupo Parada (picture), says “Absolutely not. Especially when it comes to reaching Millennial Hispanics. Only 7% of advertising is devoted to digital media in a group that spend most of their time online. There are definitely many areas that can be optimized. Local for example, is a huge opportunity, there are many online searches about Health insurance in Spanish and no results show providers in the large metro areas. While digital is a great way to market, nothing beats the personal interaction when it comes to Health Care enrollment”.

Steven Millerman, CEO, EmCay

Steven Millerman (picture), who in late December stepped down from his CEO position at Prime Access to pursue another venture with his own agency called Emcay, tells Portada that his focus will continue to be within the multicultural space with primary focus on health. “My passion for this space is like never before and only continues to grow. The opportunity for the industry is absolutely huge and I want to be a part of making that happen for the industry,” says Milerman who previously in his career worked as Head Cross Cultural Marketing in Novartis.

 

Opportunities: Technology, Strategy and effective Personal Interactions

Chip Weinstein, CEO, Prime Access

Chip Weinstein, photo left, the just appointed new CEO at New York headquartered agency Prime Access says that “One big opportunity is the technology that’s now available to better determine multicultural ROI. It enables us to help our clients isolate multicultural patients vs. general market patients in analyzing promotional response. It’s an interesting paradox: we’re experiencing technological advances on many fronts in health care, but at the same time we know that the individual decisions that drive health and wellness, and indeed successful patient outcomes, are quite personal and emotional. I think our challenge will be finding ways to leverage this particular aspect of wellness and achieve the appropriate balance. We do intend to lead in this area.” Prime Access clients include, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Merck & Co., Novo Nordisk and Genentech Inc.

EmCay’s Millerman tells Portada that he feels that one important area of opportunity in Multicultural Healthcare Marketing is Strategy. “Functionally speaking, my primary focus will be strategy, which is where I still feel the biggest gaps are, however, I will also provide standard services from creative to media as opportunities come up. I also have several unique offerings that I have that will be HCP focused and not necessarily just consumer focused.”

Have Hispanics consumers and Health Insurers taken advantage of Obamacare?

Was the affordable Care Act a defining moment to jumpstart Hispanic health care marketing? Has the number of enrolled Hispanics substantially increased? Marcelo Rodriguez of Grupo Parada, the New York based Digital Marketing Agency that has worked on many Healthcare enrollment outreach campaigns, says that :It´s hard to know, data has not been release yet. Last year, there were almost 2.6 million that got coverage since the new law started which is still low when we take into consideration that almost 30% of Hispanics 18-60 are uninsured.”

Rodriguez adds that the recent Immigration reform will not have an impact on the number of Hispanics who are eligible for ACA: ” The Obama administration specifically excluded people who obtain deferred action from participating in Obamacare. People who get deferred action will be considered ‘lawfully present.’ Under current law, many categories of lawfully present individuals are not eligible. People with deferred action are eligible only for Medicaid emergency services.”

There is still a long way to be walked in order to exploit the Hispanic Healthcare and Pharma Marketing opportunity. That also includes understanding and knowledge Big Pharma and Healthcare’s Corporate Marketing departments have of the Hispanic consumer. As Solomon Romano, Multicultural Marketing Strategy Director at WellPoint says, it is essential that “a marketer needs to understand the common values that unite most Hispanics.”

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