VML Health urges marketers to shift from lifespan to ‘joyspan’ as patient goals evolve

VML Health has published a report about 10 trends defining the future of healthcare, making the case that pharma marketers must adapt to patients shifting their goals from lifespan to “joyspan.”

Popularized in a book published last year, the term joyspan is defined as the experience of well-​being and satisfaction in longevity. Lifespan only covers how long someone is alive, saying nothing about the quality of their existence. Healthspan builds on the term lifespan by defining the period in which a person is generally in good health. Joyspan goes a step further by establishing how long a person finds joy in life.

VML Health, a marketing and communications company, has identified the concept's emergence as a trend affecting how drugmakers speak to patients. If patients define treatment success by the quality and meaning of the years gained, VML Health believes pharma communications should reflect that idea.

That means moving beyond life extension metrics to stories and evidence that capture what patients live with, VML Health said. Vitality, purpose, connection and agency are outcomes that could resonate with patients focused more on joyspan than lifespan or healthspan. Many pharma ads already focus on the daily activities that people can resume or enjoy more after taking a medicine. 

Another of VML Health’s 10 defining trends points to a chance for pharma marketing teams to directly affect joyspans. The agency named social health as a defining trend, reflecting a belief that addressing issues such as loneliness is essential to improving lived outcomes. VML Health said drugmakers can help tackle the issues by backing community programs and designing support services that reduce isolation.

Patients could play a role in designing such programs and services. VML Health said patient advocates want co-created health literacy tools, community-led screening initiatives and support programs that reflect lived experiences, not institutional assumptions.

VML Health’s other recommendations include earning credibility through “unflinching honesty.” Brands that bring clarity to opaque areas such as drug pricing, prioritizing the patient’s need for truth over their desire for praise, can build trust to protect against misinformation, skepticism and disengagement, the agency said.