HAVAS partners with WebMD on "Virtual Convention Booth"

HAVAS partners with WebMD on "Virtual Convention Booth"

 

Euro RSCG Life parent HAVAS is partnering with WebMD for a new Virtual Convention Booth offering that aims to give healthcare professionals the 3D interactive experience online.

The Virtual Convention Booth is the first offering from a new HAVAS agency, HAVAS Drive, specializing in the design of virtual environments for patients and professionals. The shop, based in New York and with quality assurance staff in Portland, OR, is launching with a staff of 15 and several products that will offer pay-for-performance pricing. In addition to the Virtual Convention Booth, to be hosted on WebMD's Medscape using content supplied by clients. 

 

HAVAS Drive is also offering Virtual Detail, which allows a virtual sales rep to deliver a detail in a 3-D environment live or remotely, via the web or CD-ROM, and Virtual Hospital, an educational tool aimed at helping hospital staff optimize patient care through simulations drawn from case studies of real patients' experiences, from admission to discharge.

HAVAS Drive hopes Virtual Detail will appeal to companies looking to launch a product quickly, reach physicians in areas where they don't have coverage or disseminate new data fast.

The agency is also working on Virtual Patient, a consumer- and professional-facing application aimed at helping both audiences understand what a typical patient with a particular disease goes through on a daily basis. “We want to close the information gap between the physician and the patient,” said Ed Stapor, a partner at Euro RSCG Life who is leading the new shop.

Stapor said HAVAS has signed up clients for six Virtual Details, two Virtual Hospitals and one Virtual Convention Booth. All of the agency's products will offer performance-based pricing. “We will work with clients to define what metrics they are looking for, and then, that's how we'll get paid – per engagement, so that there's skin in the game for us,” said Stapor. Clients will also pay a licensing fee up front.