FINN Partners, a leading global marketing agency further expanded its healthcare media portfolio by acquiring Medika.Life, an online publisher of medical-related content. On the surface it is an unorthodox pairing. however, the plan is to keep the media side independent and non-commercial to maintain subscriber trust. It will be an interesting challenge for company leaders who are betting big on user-generated content.
We sat down with Gil Bashe, long time member & friend to the HITMC Community, Chair of FINN Global Health, HealthTech World US Correspondent, and Medika.Life Author to find out more about the acquisition and their future plans. Below is a summary of our conversation (edited for brevity and reordered for this article).
What is Medika.Life?
Medikal.Life is a health information and new platform with 100,000 subscribers that generate 1-3 million website visits each month.
“It’s a great place to get perspective,” explained Bashe. “It’s edgy, sometimes it’s provocative. It’s really designed to get people thinking.”
There are 40 Authors that create content for the site. These Authors are physicians, physiotherapists, psychologists, nutritionists, policy analysts, public health, and people involved in health information. The Authors write stories and share their opinions/perspectives which are vetted by the editors before being posted to the Medika.Life site.
There is a section on the site for press releases which can be submitted by companies, organizations and individuals.
Isn’t it a little unorthodox for an Agency to own a Media Outlet?
“One of the most powerful ways to get a message across has been something that healthcare has been resistant to – authentic voice – where you share your idea and just put it out there for everyone to see,” said Bashe.
For Bashe, owning a media-like channel like Medika.Life is no different than a corporate blog or social media accounts run by companies. It is simply a channel through which a message, idea or perspective can be delivered. When viewed through this lens, Bashe does not believe an agency owning its own communications channel is all that strange: “It’s another channel which we can encourage our clients to explore.”
Bashe pointed to two successful models for user-generated content:
- Medium – a place where anybody can contribute content and where millions of readers go to find information on topics they are interested in
- Forbes – is now a platform where readers can contribute content that can be published on the media company’s outlets
FINN plans to preserve at Medika.Life as a platform where user generated, non-promotional healthcare content can be shared. They key will be maintaining the platform’s independence from FINN’s traditional PR/marketing services AND continuing to resist the temptation to monetize the content.
Continuing FINN’s Media Push
The Medika.Life announcement comes on the heels of FINN’s acquisition of the Pharmacy Podcast Network (PPN). PPN is led by Todd Eury, VP and Executive Producer who continues to operate the podcast and digital magazine, Rx Influencer, independently.
Both these new additions to the FINN’s portfolio are clear evidence of the agency’s drive to become a one-stop onmi-channel shop for healthcare clients. Clients could work with FINN’s traditional PR side of the house on earned media and getting help with crafting messages for social media platforms. Those same clients would also be able to submit non-promotional articles from their leaders or subject matter experts to FINN’s media side of the house – PNN and Medika.Life.
There may also be opportunities for FINN clients to sponsor or be involved in surveys/research enabled through the Medika.Life platform.
Watch the full interview to learn:
- How Bashe got involved with Medika.Life as an editor
- How the rise of “citizen reporting” has fragmented the media landscape
- The importance of establishing your authentic voice
- What Bashe thinks about the HITMC Community
FINN Partners is a HITMC sponsor. You can find out more about them at https://www.finnpartners.com/
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