Dan Greenwald of White Rhino on Marketing BS and the Future of Healthcare Marketing

Dan Greenwald is the founder and creative director of White Rhino, a Boston-based agency specializing in B2B and healthcare marketing.

Tell us a little about yourself. Describe your job, how long you’ve been doing it, and how you got into it.

Both my parents are Ph.D’s in psychology (which probably explains a lot). As a kid I knew I wasn’t cut out to be a therapist, but I had a keen understanding of psychology – considering I was being analyzed 24/7! I’m really a visual type at heart, so when I founded White Rhino in 1990, I was looking for ways to combine the two. I’m always looking for the deeper reasons people do things — the why behind the why. Now we know this is critical in marketing and happens to jivee perfectly with my love of design and technology. Today I’m primarily driving agency vision and strategy, new business, and act as chief creative officer on every account at White Rhino.

What differentiates White Rhino from other marketing firms?

We are taking B2B and healthcare marketing to places no other agency is going. Most marketers have come around to the fact that creating an emotional connection is important. But most agencies turn those emotional insights into standard-fare web content. We turn it into an immersive experience that effectively bridges the gap between the brain and the heart. Our B2Me process gets to the core of what will make a powerful connection with the audience. We marry the solidity of science with the connectedness of emotion to form the next stage in the evolution of the digital experience.

White Rhino specializes in working with B2B and healthcare clients and has led projects for Mass General and Harvard Medical School. What challenges are healthcare organizations specifically facing?

Their entire business model is being turned on its head. I’m over simplifying here, but where hospitals used to make money on sick patients, now they’ll make money on healthy patients. That’s a big change and has big implications for marketing and patient relationships. The hospital marketer’s job is no longer what it used to be. As an agency, we’re trying to help our hospital clients make the switch. The bottom line is a lot less “interruption” style marketing and a greater focus on the quality of the patient experience.

What marketing tactics should hospitals and health-focused companies consider investing in?

Hospitals should think about their patients the same way great customer-centric companies (think JetBlue) treats its customers. Hospitals need to envelop the patient in a cocoon of warmth and helpfulness. And, at the same time, uncomplicate the whole process for the patient. We are working on beautifully designed digital solutions that accomplish that — all connected to the hospital systems in a way that makes the patient's and the physician’s life easier. You’re probably thinking: Where are the ads? Where’s the content and social strategy? Sure, they still need that, too (and we’re doing lots of it), but hospital marketing will look very different in 2016.

What is one of your favorite campaigns your agency has worked on?

Despite my blabbering on about healthcare marketing, I love the product launch we just finished for our long-time B2B client, AS&E. We had so much fun working on this – the product is a first-ever handheld X-ray imaging device used for detecting threats such as explosives or substances such as drugs. The centerpiece of the campaign is an immersive experience that allows the audience to use the product in a virtual 3D environment to test their skills at finding bombs, guns, drugs, and contraband. The campaign has performed exceedingly well. I'll be speaking about the site at FutureM in Boston on September 18.

http://vimeo.com/99849204

Tell us about the idea behind your Marketing BS Detector.

When marketers use cliché words like “innovative” and “operational efficiency” people actually have an adverse reaction to them – and at best, these words are meaningless. Yet, it’s rampant in B2B marketing. That’s why we developed our BS Detector to help find the marketing BS in copy – yours or anyone else’s. It’s really just a fun idea to reinforce the importance of connecting emotionally.

How have you used this to market your agency?

It drives traffic to our site. Users can also download a mini ebook on how to avoid marketing BS. In exchange, they give us their email address, and then we send them occasional updates about our agency to stay in front of them.

Must-Read Book:

"Raveling" by Peter More Smith and "Purple Cow" by Seth Godin

Favorite Ad:

Monster’s”When I Grow Up” by Mullen

http://youtu.be/d9o1wni3N5s

Connect with Dan on LinkedIn or Twitter @dgreenwald.