As we approach the summer break, it’s a good moment to reflect on the second half of the year. The healthcare and pharma landscape continues to evolve rapidly—marked by regulatory shifts, digital transformation, and increasing pressure on pricing and outcomes. In this climate, it’s tempting to wait for clarity. But often, uncertainty signals it’s time to start listening more closely.

Many healthcare companies return to Opticom year after year for market insights—whether through in-depth HCP interviews, brand tracking, or testing the impact of new messaging. Consistency is key for meaningful comparisons, but it’s rare that the same questionnaire works year after year. Markets evolve—and so should your questions.

Imagine your team is preparing to launch a new biosimilar. Internally, the belief is that price will be the primary differentiator. However, your commercial lead hears from hospital stakeholders that clinicians are hesitant due to perceived efficacy concerns. We ran a similar study and uncovered that trust in manufacturer reputation—not price—was the key barrier to adoption. Our insights enabled the client to tailor its messaging and physician engagement strategy effectively, avoiding a costly misstep based on assumption.

Before we sign off for the Summer break, let’s look ahead to the autumn. Trading conditions will likely remain complex and challenging. It can be tempting to batten down the hatches in moments of uncertainty, but shifting conditions give rise to new questions. Maybe you’re not even sure what questions you need answering, you just know there’s a gap in your view of the bigger picture.

- How often do you use AI?

- Daily. New advances are dropping every week, and it is important to stay updated. Used correctly and with the right checks and balances, AI Is a useful tool to help us work more efficiently.

- What is AI actually good for?

- AI is brilliant at speed and repeatability. Generating a short explanation of a concept or process, or a first pass at clustering 3 000 open ends can be done in seconds. It can be a good sounding board for bouncing around ideas.

Here’s the thing: quality in = quality out. If the data it’s been fed is of high quality, the output will be too.

But the converse is also true: Garbage in = garbage out, which is where checks and balances come in. If the input data carry bias or gaps, the output only amplifies them - faster.

AI cannot be fully trusted because it can only ever be as good as the quality of its input data. I would never take what AI says in blind faith; I’ve been disappointed too often.

Many of our clients return to us year after year to take a snapshot of their market, whether that be in-depth customer experience interviews, or tracking the perception of a product, brand or message over time. Meaningful comparison involves repetition to ensure we are comparing like for like, but it’s rare that a repeat survey stays exactly the same when our clients return, simply because as the market evolves, so must the questions.

Circular economy has become a sustainability buzzword in boardrooms and policy circles. It promises a world without waste – a win-win where growth and environmental responsibility harmonize. Yet this catch-all vision often glosses over hard trade-offs. Efficiency and recycling gains can create a false sense of security, even as total consumption keeps rising. In fact, research warns that the environmental benefits of circular strategies are often taken for granted, and rebound effects can counteract those gains by spurring more overall. In other words, chasing “circularity” without looking at the whole system risks turning into circular logic.

It’s been an interesting start to 2025 with disruption to global free trade agreements, continuing geo-political tensions and fluctuating markets. As we commented post pandemic, the new normal is - there isn’t one, so expect the unexpected.

Let's say you would like to stop differentiating between certification systems when it comes to buying packaging, but the message from your customer's sustainability department is that they favour one system above another because they believe that's what consumers want. We conducted just such a study and found that in reality, consumers neither knew nor cared about the difference between schemes in the case we investigated and would not necessarily favour one label above another. We helped the client make better decisions based on real insight from their target group rather than presumption.

Does it matter who designs your questions?

- Yes. Extracting meaning from data starts with asking the right questions. Who you choose to write and ask the questions makes all the difference.

And here we are again, looking back on another year and ahead to the future. It’s been a year of milestones here, not least because Opticom celebrated its 35th year of service to the forest products industry.

Over the decades, I’ve watched the sector evolve and innovate in response to a world in constant flux. I co-founded Opticom after being inspired by this industry’s potential all those years ago, and I continue to be impressed today by its resilience, sophistication, expertise and ability to move with the times. There has never been a better moment to work in an industry that has such a huge role to play in the green transition, while improving the everyday lives of people around the world. Its potential cannot, must not, be underestimated.

We know Södra understands the importance of communication and listening to their customers, because we’ve been working with them for some 20 years, conducting regular in-depth customer feedback studies and qualitative market research on their behalf.

In March the EU introduced new rules to ‘empower consumers for the green transition’. Among other aims, the Directive seeks to forbid vague environmental claims, stating that “companies will no longer be able to declare that they are ‘green’ or ‘environmentally friendly’ if they cannot demonstrate that they are”. Displaying unreliable voluntary sustainability logos will also be forbidden. EU countries are required to transpose the Directive into their national law by March 2026 and the rules are currently set to apply from September 2026. In parallel, the Green Claims Directive aims to ensure that companies substantiate any green claims or labels they use.

There’s little doubt that AI will prove to be one of the big disruptors in the near future. We’re always keen to embrace change at Opticom, but as Research & Sustainability Team Lead, Niklas Schulz, points out, AI is a tool to enhance human productivity, not replace it.

In our latest Health Newsletter we're excited to bring you an exclusive interview with Johan Juhlin, CEO of Mavatar, sharing his insights on the evolving landscape of health innovation. We also feature a testimonial from Petter S. Lindqvist, CEO of Isofol, highlighting their impactful journey in oncology.

Plus, don't miss our latest updates on discussions with Life Science companies, industry organizations, and patient advocates as we prepare for Almedalsveckan 2025.

Read the full newsletter here!

This past June, Opticom was excited to participate in Almedalsveckan 2024, an annual event that brings together industry leaders in Sweden to discuss key public policy, business, and technology trends. Our team's engagement in these discussions was met with enthusiasm, highlighting our commitment to leading and innovating within our industry.

We know that most consumers strongly support the green transition, that they like the idea of bio-based products, but they are still not keen on the idea of cutting down trees to help produce them. There’s a disconnect when it comes to understanding that harvesting sustainably-managed forests has huge potential to be part of the solution, not the problem.

We understand that trees evoke an emotional response, and there is no question that we need to protect old-growth and high-value conservation areas, but as the bioeconomy and increased competition from new sectors drive demand for forest materials, how can we meet this rising demand without cutting down more trees? Competition for wood resources is intensifying at a time when supply has tightened, whether from natural disasters, geopolitical forces (Russian exports of wood have halted since its invasion of Ukraine) or mounting regulation.

Every three years, we conduct an in-depth customer study for SCA Containerboard. Mikael Frölander, VP Sales & Marketing SCA Containerboard, explains why:

“We got the results of our latest study from Opticom in June, and we are currently analysing the findings. This is the fourth in the regular series, so we have been working with Opticom to better understand our customers for over a decade. Consistency is important. As well as understanding the mood of the day, we can also track and monitor our performance and the market as viewed by our customers over time. We can see what customers perceive we have done well, where we’ve improved or where there is more to be done. The beauty of this study is that Opticom knows us, understands the industry, and can gather meaningful, reliable and detailed feedback on our behalf.”

Malin joined us in March, bringing a wealth of marketing and communications expertise from her experience in manufacturing and automotive sectors, as well as real estate. She has a track record of understanding complex value chains, discerning customer needs, and a particular interest in digital media.

At Opticom, sustainability has been a core value since our foundation in 1987. As we guide our clients through their most pressing sustainability challenges, we believe in leading by example. For the third consecutive time, we have been certified by EcoVadis, earning the Silver Medal (Top 15%) while continuously improving our scores.