By Victoria Donougher 
As an insight-led data business, CREATION.co always enjoys reading other people’s research. This week, we were treated to Greenbook’s new GRIT report – an annual look at the trends in market research and “the first report that captures the totality of the changes impacting the insights and analytics industry as a result of COVID-19”.
Unsurprisingly, the report highlights how technology-driven research exploded in 2020, clearly becoming the core driver of the industry. The GRIT report also shows how social media is now seen as one of the top “emerging” fields of market research, with 57% of respondents reporting that social media research was now a “go to” insights tool for them.
CREATION.co has always known the power of social media analysis; we have been helping healthcare clients since 2012 to understand and reach their audiences on this platform. Reading the GRIT report highlighted that whilst no one would choose for a global pandemic, a lot of positive things have come from these last 12 months.
Almost exactly one year ago, just before the UK’s first lockdown started, CREATION.co put all production on hold for a week to allow our entire Research & Development team to report on the emerging HCP and health provider landscape as the pandemic grew. This resulted in a set of recommendations for governments, NGOs and pharmaceutical companies around the world. The fact that we could do this so quickly and provide useful real-time insights to help organisations in the face of such a crisis shows how powerful a tool digital insight can be.
In June, we partnered with Frontline Live, a platform which connects frontline health care workers who need PPE with companies and communities that can supply or donate PPE. CREATION.co donated our time and research to support their work, to help them understand the emerging needs and views of HCPs on the front lines. This could not have been done in a non-digital format.
In our commercial work with pharmaceutical companies, in 2020, we prioritised serving clients who were working on treatments or vaccines in response to COVID-19. We continue to work with several clients worldwide to develop insights from the front lines of Coronavirus care and prevention.
“Through digital insights, we have advised clients on how physician behaviours and needs have changed through the pandemic”
Through digital insights, we have advised clients on how physician behaviours and needs have changed through the pandemic, in nations as diverse as the Philippines, Thailand, Japan and Saudi Arabia. CREATION.co has also helped clients in the US and Europe to engage physicians on the front lines, by identifying and analysing HCP Digital Opinion Leaders in the area of COVID-19 treatment.
And most recently, we have continued to support health stakeholders and governments around the world by tracking online conversations during vaccine planning and rollout including a programme that provides rapid identification and analysis of emerging “fake news” stories around the world, to support the fight against misinformation.
It is clear that digital research will continue to grow in importance in 2021. Whilst the last 12 months have shown that the medium can step in to provide solutions where traditional-based methods are not available, we have also seen the power of being able to understand what is happening with your audience in real time.
As a digital insights consultancy, CREATION.co have a commitment to innovation and as the environment keeps changing, we are excited about what the next 12 months will bring. If you would like to follow what we’re doing in this area, then please get in touch or sign up to our monthly eJournal, which captures all our latest findings from analysing the conversations of HCPs online.
Notes about CREATION.co
CREATION.co provides insights and consulting to inform health strategy, communications and policymaking among some of the world’s largest healthcare companies, government organisations and NGOs.
This is made possible through CREATION Pinpoint®, the world’s only AI-powered global database of more than 2.5 million healthcare professionals’ social media profiles, analysing the collective intelligence of over 1.7Bn social media posts by professionals on the front lines of healthcare.
