Arnold debuts Healthcare is Backwards for Forward Health

Creative agency Arnold has been hired by Forward Health, an entirely new healthcare system empowering doctors with technology and data to monitor and guide long-term health. 

Arnold has been working with Forward Health to evolve its strategic brand positioning, and is launching its first national consumer-facing brand awareness campaign Healthcare is Backwards.

For people frustrated by months-long waits for appointments, or vague advice from distracted doctors, it can often seem like the way healthcare works is disorienting and, well, backwards. The new campaign positions Forward Health as the alternative to a dysfunctional system – as a highly personalized, easily accessible solution to both routine primary care and long-term health.

“In creating the ‘Healthcare is Backwards’ brand positioning, Arnold did a terrific job at crystallizing our brand benefit and providing us with a uniquely ownable platform,” said Jonathan Beamer, Head of Marketing, Forward Health. “This new campaign captures the feelings of frustration and bewilderment that unfortunately many people experience when they visit a doctor’s office, and it does so in a humorous, yet empathetic way.”

“Our current health care system has a way of making you feel uneasy and disoriented. The processes don’t quite make sense, and the information you get is never quite clear, no matter how closely you listen,’ said Sean McBride, Chief Creative Officer, Arnold. “Our goal with this work was to capture that disorienting feeling by using backwards footage to create mundane, forward-moving scenes.”

In new TV/online films by Arnold, patients are shown in scenarios that should be simple and easy to understand, such as signing in for an appointment, or finding out test results, but instead are unnecessarily overcomplicated by the healthcare system. From the wording on forms to the way that healthcare providers move and talk, everything is nonsensical. Viewers are directed to Go Forward with Forward Health for Top-Rated Doctors, In-Depth Analysis and Preventive Care.