—Competition: Schroeder asked the panel a question that goes through variations in every vertical: Is health content a commodity?... “how many times can you describe Lexapro?” Kang: “I don’t think it’s commoditized… there is a point of view that Rodale has in health and wellness.” Dolgins: “We try to create a place that doesn’t feel clinical.” This means establishing a sense of comfort and community: “Are there other people I can connect with so I don’t feel so alone?” Martin explained what About.com has learned via its acquisition of Caloriecount: “It has taught us a lot in terms of behavior and utilization… the active members come back every day. When they come back to the site they stay on for a long time.” The goal now is to figure out how to get that behavior replicated on ether sites.

—Changing the model: David Kramer, CEO, DigitasHealth: Marketing, historically, in this industry has been very indirect, since products are marketed to doctors, not the end users: “(It’s) completely backwards and it drives marketers backwards…The consumer is a strange new world.” To make this direct-to-consumer transition, there needs to be a better understanding of how end users actually understand the brand. The industry needs to “get a helmet” because the message can’t be controlled so easily. Regulatory issues, already a huge issue, become even more acute in the context of user-gen: “Everybody in the industry lives in fear of adverse event reporting… with user gen reporting, anyone can say that such and such drug kills somebody.” Martin: As a company that targets consumers, it would be good to be able to more easily use consumer content.

—Money: Kramer: Lead gen is one area that will prove key, along with offering marketers a model to hit narrow niches: “Our clients will spend more and more money to get at these niches. A question from the audience had to do with the issue of ads as content: Martin: “I think (ads) should be content… there certainly are some online ads that are quality content.” So far, there isn’t much yet in the health space—nothing on the level of Apple’s (NSDQ: AAPL) engaging ads with the Mac guy and the PC guy, but that may be something to strive for. Dolgins: “We have a partnership with Campbells where they’re powering recipes within our database.” For ads to be good content, they can’t hit audience members over the head.