Healthy Thinking Group launches in Singapore to offer agricultural marketing

The team also includes account director Monika James, seconded from the Sydney office, as well as Melissa Tuffley, most recently strategic director at Singapore medical consultancy The Clinic.

H&T Asia offers specialist healthcare and agricultural marketing and advertising services, including market insight and development; brand strategy; above- and below-the-line communications; digital, creative and production services; media relations and issues management; stakeholder and advocacy management; and medical education.

The agency is known for its “federation of specialists” model, where it is formed by different specialist groups, while clients pay for the services they require.

The services it provides are ethical (pharmaceutical), OTC, devices, private and public health services, as well as rural/agricultural marketing and communications. It is also the local partner for Inventive Health, a collaboration of global healthcare agencies with 13,000 specialists in more than 40 countries.

Crombie told Campaign Asia-Pacific that with 60 per cent of the world’s population in Asia, there is emerging wealth but also changing communication needs around non-communicable diseases (such as obesity, diabetes/GDM, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, respiratory disorders and allergies), which currently constitute 60 per cent of deaths in Southeast Asia.

“Growth in new sciences such as epigenetics creates new opportunities to improve health in Southeast Asia,” he said. “It is exciting times but also critical that general health is improved" to avoid negative financial and quality-of-life impacts for the generations to come.

With 87 per cent of world’s small (<2 hectare) farms in Asia, and 149 million in Southeast Asia alone, Crombie added, rural/agricultural marketing plays a role in helping farmers to improve their yields and quality of life—using fewer people and less space to feed the world.

Crombie has been in Asia for more than 20 years, having led the Fonterra account during his stint in FCB. He also worked at Batey Ads Singapore as well as Ogilvy & Mather Singapore.

The Singapore office has already started working with Monsanto and DuPont, and Crombie said it will be looking at pitching new businesses soon.

H&T started off in Australia and New Zealand in 1983, founded by Paul Hammond. Current key clients include Lilly, AbbVie and GSK. It has offices in Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland.