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

0:01Jim Stengel:Insurance isn't one size fits all. That's why customers have enjoyed Progressive's Name Your Price tool for years now. With the Name Your Price tool, you tell them what you want to pay and they'll show you options that fit your budget. So whether you're picking out your first policy or just looking for something that works better for you and your family, they make it easy to see your options. Visit Progressive.com. Find a rate that works for you with the Name Your Price tool. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Price and coverage match limited by state law. there's an interesting statistic 40 percent 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 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.

1:05Jim Stengel: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.

1:53Jim Stengel:Joining me first is Yvonne Bryant of Nobu 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 Gellman, 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.

2:25Jim Stengel:And finally, Samantha Avivi, 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 & 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.

2:57Jim Stengel:So here's my conversation with three inspiring women, Yvonne Bryant, Lauren Gellman, and Samantha Avivi. 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. I'm much more comfortable this way, as Samantha knows. I like building teams with really smart, capable, wonderful women. Thank you. So great to be with you. Thank you for having us. Now, I want to start this. The theme is sort of desire in health care. 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.

3:37Jim Stengel: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. So I am going to talk about The Whoop. Are you familiar with The Whoop? Oh, yes. Whoop is a health tracker. 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 100%, he will go back to the gym.

4:20But 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 all community 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 is this a google product

4:49Jim Stengel:Lauren? We do have a product just like this. I'm sorry. It's okay. It's okay. We'll talk afterwards. So for me, I grew up playing sports, was collegiate athlete. So staying healthy is really important to me. What was your sport? I played softball. Oh, wow. Loved it. 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 build relationships with those instructors.

5:29And 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. My handle is earning badges is my handle on Peloton. And so you can compete with your friends, your family. 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. Love it. Yeah. Yvonne.

6:01So for me, I try to work out as best as possible and I'm not really great about it because 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 way. 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 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.

6:33But Pilates is the right balance of like strength training and the coach in there. 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.

6:53Jim Stengel:It's even more important as you get older as I am. And I take Pilates and I love it. You love it. 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 Lions, 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, you know, a discussion you had that has really struck you and will stay with you. Yeah, I had yesterday I was on a panel with a wonderful woman, Dorana, who is as a founder, entrepreneur, super impressive woman.

7:31Yes. Alison Felix, who I respect as an athlete and as a mother, 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 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 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 over two decades to get to this role.

8:19And it's a season of life when I want to lean into that and take advantage of every opportunity. And 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 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 8 a.m. meeting. And so we just talked about how we prioritize and the different seasons of life. And it was just it was a beautiful conversation.

8:51Jim Stengel:Oh, my. Yeah. Anything that you reaffirmed in your mind or a new promise you made to yourself or anything that this inspired? Something. 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. 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 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? But I get an email about it.

9:26And so I want to get him to school on time. And I'm rushing him 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.

9:50Jim Stengel:Those will be the funny stories, too, when they get older. Yes, 100 percent. Yvonne, how about yourself this week? So I think two things stood out to me. First was sitting and watching the health care and those wards. 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 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?

10:28How 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 trade. And he lost his sister-in-law to sickle cell disease.

11:01And we had Ratman, who also did Supercell on Netflix. Season two is coming out, and it's all about sickle cell and how you term it into heroes. During this panel discussion, one of the women raised her hand and she expressed to us 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 innovation, our approach, our care and consideration.

11:35And 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.

11:47Jim Stengel:It's wonderful that kind of thing is happening here at Cannes 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. And so I love hearing that. Thank you. Thank you.

12:08Jim Stengel:I spent years at Procter & Gamble trying to answer that question. We had the creative. We had the reach. We had campaigns that genuinely stopped people. And then we watch 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. Infillion 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.

12:43Jim Stengel: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.

13:06Jim Stengel:Sam, how about yourself? You're on the big stage. You haven't done it yet, right? 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 Bayer and we're a 160-year-old company. And so we have a way of brand building at Bayer that is built over time. And 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.

14:01And so the reason why I share this story is we stuck with it and we're evolving our approach to build trust in a new age of AI and lots of influencers. And when we put our proposed speech to Cannes, 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's 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.

14:47Jim Stengel:Are you nervous? No. No. Okay, good. Good. Good for you. So excited. You have 30 minutes, right? That's correct. Yeah. It's a long time. It is. And I'm going to be phenomenal for all 30 minutes. 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 have this new study on super aging, longevity, and lots of insights, loads of insights. I want you to all talk about, because 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.

15:25Jim Stengel: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. Yeah. So Lauren, do you want to start? 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 life?

16:05And 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 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.

16:42Some 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 an 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.

17:23And 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 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, even when the schedule isn't perfect.

18:01Jim Stengel:Could you talk a little bit about the decision Google made at one point to direct resources in this space? Sure. So initially, Google has always been involved in health in many different ways. You have Google.org. 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 was invented trackers and has been very well known in helping to keep people motivated and doing your sub-tracking and understanding your sleep. But the additional investment in building a health coach, We just recently, we still build Fitbit products.

18:45We just launched Fitbit Air, which is a... She was a 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. There are some great brands, as you shared, one of them, 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 work. 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.

19:20We were 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 and suggestions to people who are trying to live healthier lives.

19:36Jim Stengel:Yeah, love it. If on super aging. Yeah. I mean, obviously you're right in the middle of it, but speak about it personally and then your company. 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.

20:19And 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, OK, 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, Nova Nordics, we're a leader in diabetes, obesity, and in rare disease.

20:54And what I can say is we've seen an evolution. You know, when we first started out in diabetes, there was 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 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. And so when we look at obesity, as an example, we see, oh, what's attacking your liver?

21:30And 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 health care providers and with patients to have a better understanding of 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?

22:04Jim Stengel:I was invited to speak to 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, the sense of meaning, the sense of inclusiveness. Yes. You know, could you say a word about? Yeah, the company itself. Yeah, the culture. Oh, the company culture. I've been at the company for 11 years 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.

22:37There'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. 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.

23:15So I would say outside of just innovating from 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 thing I would say is we challenge one another in a healthy way.