Just launched: Healthcare sector study

The first decade of the FutureBrand Index has revealed a rapid evolution throughout the healthcare sector: from brand identities dominated by purpose or product to the ever-growing demand to offer trust, access and privacy. Healthcare brands now need to flex their agility in order to prove long-term value while delivering short-term impact.

This newly launched FutureBrand Index Sector Study quantitively steps out how organisations have transformed, and proposes choices leaders can make to successfully grow and ‘future-proof’ their brands and their businesses.

The data demonstrates a sector at risk of losing momentum, but lagging performance on key brand attributes point to untapped growth potential.

Now that the world has emerged from the depths of the pandemic, healthcare brands have since struggled to maintain the same levels of salience in terms of brand perceptions. Declining scores across all 18 brand attributes for the sector indicate that many brands risk losing their recent gains and diluting their long-term potential.

‘Attachment’ improved to 41% in 2022, but slipped back to 35% in 2024, suggesting that many healthcare brands built stronger emotional connections with consumers through the pandemic, however these relationships have since weakened. Similarly, ‘Story’ rose to 39% before declining to 33% – indicating a need for a clearer, more emotional narrative in future.

As consumer expectations evolve, healthcare brands need to be malleable and versatile in order to foster positive relationships and tangible returns, propelling their business into the future.

Learning from the top-performing brands across industries, we have identified three models for success to separate the good from the great, click here to learn about these strategies and more.