Hive Health

Blimey this is the fourth time I get to write one of these and its zipped by. Four years ago 3 of us kicked off  in a 600sq/ft office on Regent Street. Fast forward 4 years on and we are close to outgrowing our current 4500 sq/ft soho offices and kicking off the search for a bigger home  to help us grow further. Fuelling this growth in 2011 has been a host of really talented new arrivals joining an already so capable team and a continuing set of progressive clients wanting to do it a little differently.

We finished our year with walks in the heartlands of Scotland warmed by knitwear surrounded by snow (imagine a less aesthetic Marks’s & Spencer ad).

I post this from the seriously snowy french alps, where 50 cm fell last night and the slopes are calling. My Mac is reminding me that I should complete the appointment set by me a whole year ago – it feels like I set it last week.

As usual this ‘year in numbers’ finds me rushing around trying to get some new statistics with which to summarise our year. Numerically  2011 saw;

1 patient centric strategic approach

£5.3 million billed

43 brands

13 client companies

27 pitches

8 losses

1 burglary

100% clients retained

1 torture seminar/bobotie/marathon /in-office gig

66 blogs

5 podcasts

16,493 web visits

Our first eBee baby – bouncing little Josh

1 new company started

38 fantastic people

562 hours of team training

1 Scottish adventure

8 bottles of single malt

1 heartfelt thank you to everyone we have worked with in 2011

1 Happy New Year to you all.

I like to shop online.

It’s a bit lazy I know, but I don’t have to travel anywhere, I don’t have to wait in queues or try things on in a boiling hot changing room, and most importantly I can do all my shopping whilst watching back-to-back repeats of CSI Las Vegas. I have a few favourite online stores, but a while ago I discovered tightsplease.co.uk (popped a pair of Red or Dead Ursula Two-Tones in my basket in case you’re interested).

So, that’s how tightsplease.co.uk got my email address. I have had a couple of the usual ‘this is on offer’ emails, albeit more tailored than I get from a lot of the online stores, but the one that really caught my attention was one that asked my advice.

Tightsplease are deciding whether or not to stock a new product – fake tan tights. Impregnated with a self-tanner, you put these tights on and they bronze your legs whilst you wear them. A bit of an odd one, and understandably the team at Tightsplease were struggling with whether or not this was a product that people would be interested in buying. ‘We are stumped’ they said, ‘and would really appreciate your opinion’.

With an online customer base, a supplier has direct contact with their most relevant audience after they make their first purchase. If used really carefully, this group of people can be mined for advice, but at the same time made to feel less like customers and more like part of a community. Ok, in this case it’s a tights-buying community, but a community nonetheless. The email Tightsplease sent me was in no way intrusive or annoying – it made me feel that not only did they really value my thoughts on a subject so important to them as what they should stock, but also that the products that they do stock are likely to be more tailored to me. After all, I have been part of that process – a member of their team in a way.

Tightsplease aren’t the only people asking their customers to contribute their thoughts. Walkers held the Flavour Cup to ask crisp-eaters what flavours they wanted to see next – I bet anyone who contributed to the competition felt some strengthened affinity towards the Walkers brand, at least for that moment.  ‘Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps’ let the audience choose the finale for Season 8. Again, there are at least a couple of advantages – a better understanding of what your customer or audience want, and customers who feel valued, involved in the decision, and therefore part of your community.

What better way to make your audience feel involved than to ask their advice? If you got the chance, what would you ask your customers?

Sermo is a social networking site we have been following here for a little while. It’s bloody successful – 3,000,000 comments, 30,000 discussions and the largest physicians only network with around 50,000 members.  Sermo continuously reinforces its value proposition, making its community secure, more user friendly and in-line with its stated goals and vision.

The Sermo community has had a few tests over the last 8 months or so – each time with naysayers being promptly being put into place by the community. From my old politics days – it was one of the fundamentals of sovereignty that a state provides for its members during peace time and expects those members to look after it when under attack. Perhaps this tenant of nation state theory can be stretched online? I hope so – it make 3 years of my life less of a waste of time!

Initially pharma’s role in this community was seen as something to be defended against. CEO and founder of Sermo Daniel Palestrant stated in an interview with (the ridiculously named) New Paradigm; “As a doctor I thought that other doctors were tired with interacting with Pharma…then we started having more and more members of the community saying, “Hey, where’s Pharma… why aren’t they in the system?”.

Sermo sought further input asking – “Do we want Pharma in here? The result – between 60% – 80% of the community felt a need for Pharma involvement somehow.” This feedback has been taken to heart and given rise to a recent announcement a partnership with Pfizer. Reading this made me feel warm about the benefits of online communities and the requirement physicians have for us lot to be involved.