Lights, Camera, Drama: What Healthcare Marketers Can Learn From the Hollywood Strikes

Summary:  

It is the first time since 1960 that both SAG-AFTRA—the organization that represents everyone from extras to movie stars—and WGA—the writers who dream up the twists and turns that are likely behind your chronic lack of sleep—have struck at the same time. There is a laundry list of reasons to strike, but two are at the forefront: 

1. Union workers are fighting for studios and streamers to pay them equitably. 

2. Strikers demand regulations and protections be put in place to prevent the unbridled use of AI, which is being used to analyze and plagiarize writers’ work without paying them, and digitally capturing actors’ likenesses to use them for free, forever. 

If you are thinking, “but Hollywood and healthcare advertising have little to do with each other,” the rest of this article may cause you to rethink. Depending on how long these strikes drag out—and as one studio executive put it, “the endgame is to allow things to drag on until union members start losing apartments and losing their houses,”—we should get comfortable being nimble for the long-term.  

Now Is Not the Time to Turn Off 

It is important to have a playbook in place for unexpected events, such as what we are currently witnessing regarding the strikes. Health brands have a unique responsibility to not ‘turn off,’ because our patients and physicians rely on the information we provide. Flexibility will ensure your brand’s message reaches the audience in need, no matter what is happening in Hollywood. What’s more, staying nimble can help protect your brand and position it for continued success. 

3 Impacts the Hollywood Strikes Could Have on Advertising and What You Can Do About It 

1. Union talent may be more readily available for your projects. 

Because work on TV, radio, and digital commercials is covered under a different SAG-AFTRA contract than the expired one the guild has with the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television, your pool of talent may be deeper than usual. Have your eye on someone particular? Now could be your time to go for them! Not to mention, hiring union talent for your projects is one powerful way to demonstrate your commitment to fair wages and access to healthcare.  

2. There will be a bigger spotlight on live events. 

Because new scripted television and movies are on pause indefinitely, marquee titles like the upcoming release of Netflix’s Stranger Things and Emily in Paris, Max’s Hacks, Showtime’s Yellowjackets, and even Paramount’s Yellowstone, that were set to premier in Q4 2023 are now being pushed to Q1 2024 or later. These delays may have your team reconsidering ad buys, looking for alternative opportunities to get in front of customers. Brands and Advertisers need to focus on what they “know” will be on air, like live events. This is a pivot to homing in on what they know is going to air and what types of content have a reliable viewership. Syndication is likely going to benefit as this programming is traditionally gameshows, talk shows, and/or off-net repeats of long-established programming that viewers watch repeatedly (i.e., Friends, Raymond, Frasier, The Office). Keep in mind, some content may not have aged well, so do your due diligence as marketing leads to determine what is safe for your brand. As Adweek states, ‘much like when production stopped at the height of the pandemic and networks pivoted into news, reality, [and] game shows,’ your media buys should reconsider importance of adding live events to the plan. Your teams will have to act fast to keep up with the demand, as it is being reported that inventory for 2024’s Super Bowl has already almost sold out in July. There are plenty of opportunities for live event investments in the near future, with Presidential debates, the upcoming seasons of women’s college and professional basketball, and the Paris Summer Olympics, to name a few. For more information on why investing in women’s sports is a slam dunk, click here. 

(Source: Inside Hook)

3. The strikes are paving the way for digital AI product placement. 

Despite the lack of new content being developed, there still remains a need to get your product in front of your audience. Luckily, AI has enabled an advancement in a decades-old practice of product placement. Once upon a time, if brands wanted to place their products within a TV show or movie, the process was slow, fixed, costly, high risk, and restricted. It was also relegated to the physical world. With AI, brands can digitally overlay their products or brand messages into TV shows or movies that have already been released. Ryff is one company burgeoning the way for digital product placement in scripted TV, movies, and live events.  

Perhaps there is a show or a movie with a particular audience you want to advertise to, or maybe you would simply like to reach as many people as possible for the biggest impact, or maybe a program addresses a particular topic that aligns with your brand, such as: 

• LGBTQ+ themes and HIV 
• Aging gracefully and vision loss 
• Women’s empowerment and breast cancer 

• BIPOC wins and lupus (which affects minorities disproportionately) 

With AI product placement, your brand can show up in your favorite content now while we wait to see how the strike plays out. 

If scripted content is not top-of-mind, marketers can consider AI product placement for social influencers thanks to Rembrand. Rembrand’s technology enables brands to be a part of the story, rather than a commercial interruption that gets ignored or skipped. 

We at CMI Media Group understand FDA rules and regulations limit us from placing products (bottles, vials, pills, etc.) on screen, or placing claims on screen without corresponding safety information. However, brands can still be a part of the conversation using unbranded messaging for disease state awareness and education or branded ‘Coming Soon’ messaging for brands preparing to launch. It is vital to collaborate with your regulatory body to ensure all communications are safe and effective in accordance with the FDA. 

A Reminder: What You Stand for Matters 

While the Hollywood strikes may initially seem far removed from our unique world of healthcare advertising, the strike is a good reminder of the importance of protecting your brand and leaning into your brand values, given the fact that your customer could potentially be a union member, too. Your end-customers are patients. Nowadays, people expect brands to represent and stand by their values, including issues related to fair wages and equity. 

The union membership rate—the percent of wage and salary workers who were members of unions—was 10.1 percent in 2022, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. The number of wage and salary workers belonging to unions, at 14.3 million in 2022, increased by 273,000, or 1.9 percent, from 2021. These figures do not include former union members, whose values and decision making are likely still closely tied to that identity even after they have retired. In other words, it’s likely a good percentage of the consumers you are looking to reach have union ties. 

Union members are a significant percentage of the population and of your audience. Be cautious of running afoul of them and their closely held values. Being perceived as crossing picket lines or undercutting the work or unions could create significant backlash from those who are aligning themselves with this fight and the broader issues it represents.  

In some ways, a brand must be flexible. There will always be major unexpected events that will force you to rethink how to market and plan your media. Have ongoing conversations with your media agency about what channels you may not be heavily invested in now but should be prepared to shift towards in case the need arises. Brand trust is everything, so think ahead to possible responses from your customers and plan for a response that is aligned to your brand values.