Jacqueline Lovelock on Why Beautiful, Human-Centric Design Matters

As managing director, Healthcare, Jacqueline focus on creating technology-led solutions to rapidly transform how modern healthcare brands connect with customers. She is responsible for shaping the creative vision for R/GA’s investment into the healthcare space, along with driving opportunities to advance research conducted internally in the last two years. She uses her experience in understanding the healthcare landscape to build products and solutions that combat industry challenges and provide utility and meaning to users. 

Jacqueline was SVP, strategic planning director at FCB Health, and prior to this, SVP experience strategy at McCann Health. Over her career, she has managed brand positioning, reputation management, creative development, and has spent the last 5+ years focused primarily on the healthcare industry. This gave her the opportunity to focus on data that centres around behaviour and culture which would create an actionable strategy for clients.  

Q> What’s your career background and how did you start in healthcare marketing?

Jacqueline> I worked in general and digital advertising for years, servicing a broad range of categories. On reflection, I realised that the problems in health felt eminently more significant - and, to me, more interesting - than any other space. Right now, is an especially amazing time to be working in the category, as it is finally leaping forward to embrace technology - not just as a vehicle for comms, but as a way for brands to provide new services in a meaningful way.

Q> What brings R/GA to the healthcare landscape?

Jacqueline> The increasing convergence of technology and health. It’s an exciting time - with the rise of digital health solutions, mobile apps, wearables, and telemedicine, etc. in the health space. R/GA’s legacy in innovation, human-centric design and high-calibre creative made in other categories, made it feel like we had something a little different to offer in this fast-evolving space.

Q> What does innovation mean for the healthcare category? 

Jacqueline> From a comms side, it means more interesting and less predictable creative and leveraging media or connecting with patient and physician in more unexpected ways. From an experience side - it can mean impacting genuine health outcomes. 

Q> What is the role of experience within healthcare services and brands?

Jacqueline> It’s everything. It might spell the difference between someone in poor metabolic health adhering to healthier habits or giving up in frustration. Beautiful, human-centric design matters, it could be the difference that makes the unfamiliar terrain of healthcare feel a bit simpler and more welcoming to overstressed patients trying to navigate toward the next health solution. 

Q> What do you consider are the main challenges in the healthcare industry? 

Jacqueline> One of the main challenges right now is that many brands - big and small, old, and new - are saying and promising the same thing. It remains to be seen which brands will be able to deliver on these promises and which can win the hearts and minds of their customers.

Q> How do you conceive the role of technology and what impact can it have on healthcare institutions and services? 

Jacqueline> There is an enormous amount of health-tech start up activity right now. Many of its legacy challenges - underserved populations, overlooked ailments, lack of transparency and access to personal data, etc. - are being explored from different perspectives, and therefore being solved in innovative ways.

Q> What are you looking forward to at Cannes Lions next week? 

Jacqueline> Discussing how technology is disrupting and innovating the health space with 2 different perspectives. From a client perspective with Philipp Schuster (global strategic marketing, consumer health at Bayer) and from an agency perspective with R/GA’s global chief technology officer Nick Coronges.