NEW YORK, USA – As part of its ongoing efforts to foster bonds and empowerment within the healthcare community and develop more lucid, meaningful consumer experiences, pioneering healthcare marketing agency The Considered has appointed renowned design thinking specialist Bam Zahraie as Chief Experience Officer (CXO).
For well over a decade, Zahraie has been at the forefront of digital innovation, creative technology, content-driven experiences, and user-centric design within the healthcare industry, playing a pivotal role for the past several years as Global Innovation Lead for health & wellness, life sciences, and biotech clients at Havas NOW/Havas Health & You. In the process, he not only made it his mission to build intuitive, purposeful experiences that benefit patients, physicians, and providers, but gained plenty of insights from his tenure within the Havas network that he aims to apply to his new role.
“Working at the Havas network across the business as Global Innovation Lead gave me invaluable exposure to so many aspects of the health advertising ecosystem, including the challenges and successes, and let me learn from the incredibly talented people that tackle them every day,” Zahraie said. “At the same time, it confirmed what I have learned time and again in my career – anywhere you are – nothing is more valuable than small, efficient and motivated teams when it comes to getting things done.”
After spending the early portion of his career in the Seattle tech ecosystem, Zahraie’s entry into the pharma agency world was spurred by the opportunity to create a sea change of sorts in an industry that sorely needed it. “Coming into this industry in 2013 was eye-opening,” he recalled. “The ways of working and embrace of tech-and product-driven methodologies was essentially non-existent. This could seem like a barrier to some, but to me, this meant there was a great opportunity to help drive change.”
For Zahraie, however, the motivation was also personally driven. “As I became more immersed in the industry, I realized that it’s not just about helping drive change to business processes. As a lifelong asthmatic and someone, like so many others, with friends and family with challenging health conditions, what we do in this industry is ultimately about helping ourselves and our communities around some of the most sensitive subjects that we all will encounter at some point in our lives. That’s something I take very seriously.”
While technology and innovation are vital to transform a monolithic industry like pharma and healthcare, Zahraie is more pragmatic when it comes to the keys to drive ultimate success. “Technology and innovation ultimately are about accessibility – in the broadest sense,” he said. “Letting every person who interacts with the health ecosystem be seen, helped and engaged with on their own terms. While I’m excited as anyone about the possibilities of AI or mixed reality, in the end, these are tools that require the right team and motivation to create something valuable and useful for the end user. I believe we have the right group in The Considered to achieve this.”
As he begins the next chapter of his career as Chief Experience Officer, Zahraie joins a like-minded, independent, and game-changing agency that brings clarity to the complexities of pharma and healthcare through agility, ingenuity, and data — and creative-driven experiences. For the newly minted CXO, the timing of his arrival couldn’t be more ideal – or urgent.
“We know that pharma is ready for change,” Zahraie stated. “We know the patients and physicians they serve definitely are. Coming out of the pandemic, I’m keenly aware that the consumer expectation has accelerated in calling for a more considered and considerate healthcare experience. This requires smart and driven groups like ours, that can move faster than traditional agencies to deliver on what patients, physicians, and caregivers want. Our intention is to show the way forward: better health experiences that improve over time, are responsive to customer needs, and embrace a technology-driven world.”
By taking on his new role, Zahraie also reunites with fellow Havas alum, healthcare agency innovator, and The Considered Founder and CEO David Hunt, who added, “I’ve been fortunate enough to work with some of the best and brightest minds over the past two decades, as they have developed the industry’s most important and iconic campaigns, products, and services — Bam is one of those very best minds, and I am humbled that he chose The Considered and our ambition to break pharma’s formulae, traditions, rinse and repeat approach.”
