7 February 2024

The City of London is a small place. You can walk across EC3, the postcode that houses one of the global insurance hubs, in fifteen minutes or less: the real 15-minute City. About 200,000 people work in the British insurance sector, and a large proportion of them work in this corner of London.

In January 2024, EC3, normally wrapped in its own bubble, saw a sudden flurry of interest and attention: the globally renowned press agency Reuters announced its acquisition of a trade publication, The Insurer, one of the leading titles serving the London insurance market.

Leading the insurance market

EC3 isn’t often the centre of national media attention. When global events require or a scandal rocks the market, the eyes of the national press may occasionally turn to insurance. But most news about those 200,000 people and their workplace is more likely to be read by the insurance community themselves, who are directly affected by it.

To get that information, they will turn to the extensive insurance trade press. This is where quality journalism – from breaking news stories, leaks and loss reports and detailed and expert analysis of long-term market trends – still finds a home. Their success is continuing, despite the widely publicised withering of many generalist national news titles.

Insurance trade publications have always led, rather than followed, wider trends: for example, Post Magazine, a general insurance title, is so called because it was the first magazine to be delivered by post, way back in 1840.

It’s easy to see why The Insurer made for an attractive target for a global agency threatened with a fragmenting media market: The Insurer has a captive audience of peers in a significant yet narrowly understood sector of the economy, and an expert crew of journalists. This means continued advertising revenue is likely to keep titles buoyant for years to come.

It’s also an expression of confidence in the future of industry-specific reporting: competition for talent, the need to differentiate and add value to your proposition and the critical importance of your reputation vis-à-vis your peers will remain business-critical in coming years and decades. So, the need for expert and specific news from a niche sector will only grow.

Why others engage, and you should too

That principle – of speaking to your sector in the media your peers read, and in the language they speak – also applies to organisations that want to be seen as market leaders: if you want to stake your claim of breaking ground in your industry, make sure you appear in the titles your peers and competitors are reading.

That means finding, where appropriate, national outlets where a national audience is required for your story. It means identifying broadcast opportunities where a family settling down to Channel 4 News, or an early-rising Today Programme listener, or an avid Ian King Live watcher on Sky News, would be your intended target.

But if your intended audience is your peers, the most effective, the most direct, the best value-for-money editorial opportunity can be in the trade press.

Whether you’re a fintech looking to attract outstanding talent from competitors or a financial advisor seeking to build consensus around a policy proposal, you can be sure that telling that story in a trade publication is going to reach your intended audience.

”One for the trades” – for valuable coverage look to your own sector first

Fundamentally, this comes down to a restatement of the bare essentials of the PR process: identifying a story and its intended audience, and creating a strategy that will most effectively tell that story.

Trade publications remain influential, vibrant and effective; the sheen and prestige of appearing in a national title shouldn’t take away from a basic principle of PR: do what adds value to your company, rather than getting coverage for its own sake.

At H/ Advisors Cicero, we can help you on that journey. Perhaps the next time we work with you, our advice will be: “That one’s for the trades” – do something that makes your peers jealous. And that’s a good thing.

Discuss targeting your audience through trade media with our team – get in touch.

9 January 2024

At the start of a new political year, Emma Turnbull looks at the state of health and social care policies from the Conservative Government and Labour Opposition. As well as marking what the parties’ current policies are, this document offers our own views of how the NHS, mental health, and other plans might evolve once General Election manifestos begin to solidify.

To discuss health and social care policy, please get in touch emma.turnbull@h-advisors.global

Read more of our Healthcare insights here. To request a downloadable version of the tracker document get in touch.

Economies are built on the need for progress and it is the rise of economies beyond the US and Europe which have proved most influential in changing the global life sciences sector. In the last decade countries like China and Japan have worked to liberalize their markets and grant more access to foreign investors. For pharmaceutical companies this opening has proved particularly attractive, with many choosing to head East for new partnerships which support R&D and manufacturing.

Whilst the US market has remained strong by supporting competitive prices for pharmaceuticals, European countries have found themselves fighting over a shrinking slice of the pie. Company leaders in Western European countries are working increasingly hard to convince their global counterparts that their market is worth a bigger punt, whilst turning up the heat on national governments to do their bit.

With companies citing European policy and the financial landscape as key factors influencing decreasing investment, it is unsurprising that sector leaders have reacted badly to the European Commission’s new legislative proposals. Constructed to support patient access and the affordability and availability of medicines, the Commission’s proposals tinker with Europe’s intellectual property framework to the detriment of companies that manufacture innovative drugs. Whilst there is no way to predict with certain whether proposed EU legislation will prompt life sciences businesses to conclusively turn away from investing in European countries, there is ample evidence to suggest that it’s a possibility.

The Life Sciences Market monitor draws a line in the sand for 2023, analyzing which markets are most attractive to pharmaceutical companies keen to invest, do business and collaborate with national health systems. As policy and regulatory changes influence business decisions in years to come, H/Advisors will continue to report on the state of the global landscape and shine a spotlight on national indicators that will influence where investment is prioritized.

Read the full report below.

For further information please contact Aideen Ginnel or Emma Turnbull.

Research reveals that healthcare investment in the UK risks falling behind other countries.

On the precipice of the pharma industry entering formal Voluntary Pricing and Access Scheme (VPAS) negotiations with the UK Government, H/ Advisors Cicero have spoken to senior executives from across the health sector to understand their priorities and plans. More than 300 industry leaders and representatives from the NHS were surveyed as were equivalent audiences from across and the US and Ireland.

Headlines from the research:

• Health leaders say new investment is more likely in the US or Ireland
• UK seen as less innovative compared to other English speaking nations
• Most leaders in the sector say Brexit had a negative impact

Key statistics:

• Only 20% of industry executives believe the UK is an “innovation friendly environment”
• 86% of industry executives believe that increasing industry clinical trial activity in the UK is important or very important for the next Government
• 61% of pharma executives believe that Brexit has had a negative impact on life sciences investment in the UK
• Only 30% of the pharma executives surveyed are planning substantial R&D investment in the UK
• 62% of pharma executives surveyed believe the Labour Party is most likely turn around declining investment in UK life sciences

It appears diminishing investment appetite is feeding into a perceived unwelcomeness towards the consumer and pharma industry.

H/Advisors Cicero will continue to share global and market specific health sector insights.

For more information please contact emma.turnbull@h-advisors.global

Health has moved to the very top of the European Commission’s agenda and to the epicentre of policymaking over the last three years, as the COVID-19 pandemic laid bare the urgent imperative to build a resilient and strong European Health Union.

We have seen the strengthening of agencies (ECDC, EMA), the creation of a new authority (HERA), and a range of new actions and goals for digital transformation and global health security. However, with medicines accounting for roughly one-fifth of Europe’s health spend, the major channel through which the EU shapes health systems is invariably via pharmaceutical legislation. The Commission’s November 2020 Pharmaceutical Strategy is a response not only to internal market issues, but also to global competition pressure in the sector.

A key pillar of the Strategy – the highly anticipated legislative proposals overhauling the EU’s pharmaceutical legislation – is finally expected to be published in March. The Commission says it is trying to balance a range of interests: equitable access for patients to therapies and cures, the success and
competitiveness of industry, the sustainability of national health systems and incentives that encourage research into AMR.

Industry is hoping that the revision of the decades-old legislation will seek to fix long-standing problems, create a first-class, 21stcentury regulatory framework that will help reduce regulatory burden, speed up access and ensure Europe is a globally competitive region for medical innovation. Patient advocates are hopeful the legislation will help bring down prices by allowing greater competition across the bloc and by introducing more transparency to the cost of medicines.

Once published, the stage is set for at least two years of very intensive discussions between the institutions and stakeholders. With high aims, high stakes, strong competing positions, and a European populace more engaged in health than ever before, this re-evaluation of many of the basic concepts of pharmaceutical law will have widely felt economic and social consequences.

For more information please contact aideen.ginnell@h-advisors.global

The EU today (3 May) unveiled a new proposal aiming to build a bloc-wide single market for health data by introducing a common format for patient records, a data portability right, a framework for data exchange for research, and more.

All companies using and processing personal and non-personal health related-data, patients, healthcare providers, insurances, national authorities, and R&I stakeholders will be affected.

If you have any questions on how this may affect your business, or if you are interested in campaigning on this proposal, we would be very happy to have an informal chat.

Please enter your details below to access Cicero/amo’s overview.