Road to market for new innovation in Mental Health sector

Desired outcome

Design the road to market for our new mental health platform - based on market/trend/competitor analysis. As part of this, we would expect you to find key personas and design a successful marketing campaign targeting these personas. We intend to launch in the UK initially and then scale across Europe and the US, so the road to market should incorporate key milestones, KPI's at each stage to scale appropriately. Be as selective as possible in your analysis and description. An absolute must is to present the analysis and the result in a verifiable, fact-based manner and not based on your own (often prejudiced) assumptions. The more precisely/closely/clearly the key personas are defined, the better it should be addressable by a marketing campaign, including specifically chosen channels and a landing page designed solely for these personas.

Initial Problem Description

Our platform will help users to find the right therapist for them, being the first solution to taking into account personality-fit when looking for a mental health therapist. With that said, our platform needs to attact two key audiences: users, who are looking for a therapist, and therapists themselves.

Context

“Mental health therapy is more successful when you have a good relationship with your therapist”. This statement sounds obvious, and it's true - there's decades of research showing that the "personality-fit" (or therapeutic relationship) between a therapist and their client is one of the most consistent determinants of how successful the outcomes of therapy will be (e.g. Horvath & Symonds, 1991 and Baldwin et al, 2007), as well how likely it is that the therapy will be prematurely terminated (e.g. Meier et al, 2006). Yet, none of the existing routes-to-therapy, whether public or private, take this critical factor into account.
As a result, the current route to find the “right” therapist has become an exhausting process of trial-and-error, with studies finding that individuals struggling with their mental health are having to try up to 12 therapists (Palumbo et al, 2020). This is not only expensive and time-wasting, but it is emotionally debilitating, since the individual is forced to re-explain their traumas each time they meet with a new therapist, only to find themselves back at square one again.

Additionally, this poses significant problems for the healthcare system, with 50% of patients prematurely dropping out of therapy in the NHS (Connell et al., 2006), as well as problems for private therapists, who are facing high levels of client "churn" and struggling to maintain consistent income (e.g. Nissen-Lie et al., 2017).

The abundance of research consistently emphasising the significance of personality-fit in clinical outcomes and drop-out rates, coupled with the oversight of current routes-to-therapy in neglecting this crucial factor, motivates Shrink Wrap to explore innovative solutions that can significantly improve existing practices from all angles.

Unfortunately, existing routes for finding a therapist, whether public or private, do not account for the critical factor of personality-fit when seeking therapy. Currently, individuals seeking mental health therapy must book sessions with multiple therapists and essentially "try them out" to assess the potential fit, resulting in a mentally, logistically, and often financially draining process.

Connection to cross-cutting areas

1. Digitalisation: Shrink Wrap seeks to utilise people-centred and system-aware design principles to design an innovative new digital solution, with the potential to deliver significant improvements in the mental health sector. The challenge involves utilising innovative technology to revolutionise the route-to-therapy for people suffering with their mental health.

2. Industry 4.0: by emphasizing the use of cutting-edge technologies to revolutionise the mental health sector.

Input

We will provide the work we have done on an overall brand strategy, including values, demographics, tone of voice and visuals.

We will initially target the domestic UK market, focusing on individuals seeking therapy. Around 8 million adults have received mental health treatment in the UK (APMS, 2014), with the NHS allocating over £13 billion to mental healthcare in 2022/23 (NHS England), and the private therapy market valued at approximately £2.5 billion annually (Mental Health Foundation). Moreover, with common mental health problems in the UK estimated to affect 1 in every 6 people in a single week (McManus et al., 2016), the wider costs to the UK economy are estimated between £70 to £100 billion per year – 4.5% of total GDP (Chief Medical Officer's report, 2013). The COVID-19 pandemic has further emphasised the importance of quality mental health support, with a recent survey revealing that 56% of therapy seekers reported increased willingness to seek mental health help due to the crisis (ValuePenguin, 2020).

Expectations

We would like clear communication and to be able to be informed throughout the process and we expect that the team will consider the scalability of our solution, regulatory requirements, and our variety of proposed revenue streams. We also expect the team to actually go out and talk to user groups and do their own research regarding all aspects.

Finally, we expect the team to take into account the restricted resources and finances of an early stage start-up.

Desired Team Profile

Be up-to-date, expert knowledge across various aspects of marketing, scaling tech-based businesses, and be able to think outside of the box.

Clinical and/or mental health service awareness would be a huge bonus, however, we are aware that the perfect combination is certainly difficult to realise so we are open for teams from all of these backgrounds.

Additional Information

Direct competitors: While there are platforms claiming to “match” users with the best therapist, such as BetterHelp and TalkSpace, this is often restricted to issue (e.g. anxiety, depression etc) and modality (e.g. psychotherapy, CBT, CFT). They do not take into account personality, individual preferences or additional barriers. Shrink Wrap seeks to empower the user and differentiates itself based on personalisation, quality, and price.

Indirect competitors: Therapist directories, such as Psychologytoday.com, provide lists of therapists with basic information about their experience. They do not help the user to find a good fit. Shrink Wrap differentiates itself based on personalisation, remote access and ease of use.

Related Keywords

• Digitalization
• Social and Economics concerns
• Creative products
• E-Health
• Applications for Health
• Electronics, IT and Telecomms
• Telecommunications
• Telecommunications, Networking
• Computer Software Technology
• Health care
• Medical Health related
• Therapeutic
• Therapeutic services
• Computer related
• Computer Software Market
• Applications software
• Consumer related
• Medical/health