STATUS QUO

OTC brands are under significant pressure to transform. Much is changing; little remains the same. New technologies, new channels, new consumer behaviors, new players—the health industry is entering a new era. We help brands navigate this journey, making them visible and ready for the future.

What is THE SIGNAL?

THE SIGNAL is PEIX’s creative and strategic consulting unit for OTC brands. We want to make brands meaningful to customers.

Most brands are nothing but noise. They’re active, they invest, but they don’t make a difference. Traditional strategies don’t offer effective tools to counter today’s market forces. As a result, even established brands are becoming increasingly invisible and are chosen less and less often.

We want brands to become signals in their own right. We want them to matter and make an impact—because they’re seen.

THE SIGNAL is a collaboration between the Berlin-based healthcare creative agency PEIX and brand strategist Torben Bo Hansen. THE SIGNAL combines creative excellence and healthcare expertise with the brand methodology of a consumer strategist. Its mission: to transform OTC products into companion brands.

THE Three

FORCES

Platforms

Mail-order pharmacies, online platforms, and drugstores have successfully inserted themselves between your brand and your customers. They are now using this gatekeeper role to dictate terms and generate additional revenue. As a result, OTC brands often find themselves reduced to supplicants in their own market.

AI

AI buys! AI advises customers on request and makes decisions on their behalf. AI reads structured data and looks for patterns. Ideally, it identifies the resonance of your advertising. But generative AI no longer spits out lists of links—it provides answers. And it recommends only brands that send a crystal-clear digital signal —one that’s as trustworthy as possible.

New Benchmarks

Their competitors are stylish, compelling, look incredibly good, and are no longer limited to the OTC market: Modern health-style, longevity, and dietary supplement brands are turning health into a status symbol. They don’t primarily sell active ingredients and functional benefits, but rather identity and self-efficacy.

WHAT WE OFFER

We don’t offer a one-size-fits-all approach. We know full well that only tailored strategic consulting and the resulting actions can elevate your brand to a new level of impact. So we first develop the overarching concept strategically—and then make it operationally feasible.

Our approach can be grouped into the following four analysis and consulting modules:

the scan

AI Reality Check: We assess how visible your brand actually is in AI systems, analyze untapped demand potential, and identify the one lever that makes the biggest difference—clearly prioritized and directly relevant to decision-making.

the reset

We define your brand’s role and identify its visibility in relevant demand contexts. Is your brand distinctive, understandable, and worth recommending—beyond just its active ingredient? The result is a clear brand role backed by robust decision-making logic—serving as the foundation for effective communication, visibility, and growth.

capitalization

We translate potential demand into concrete actions for pharmacies, platforms, AI systems, and consumer communications. We prioritize opportunities based on their likelihood of success, establish a clear sequence for implementation, and use AI systems to make our recommendations transparent, trackable, and easily manageable.

The Structure

We create sustainable structures that your team can continue to develop on its own. Insights from the market, customer demand, and visibility are continuously fed back into the system, improving it over time. We support you in areas where decisions can be made and new priorities set. The result is reproducible success—not because we’re always there, but because the structure is right.

Our Team

Effective recommendations and measures are not just the result of a strategy that transcends silos. Above all , they arise from respectful collaboration that recognizes and brings together all areas of expertise. And when a team enjoys working together.

Nathan Light

Strategic Consultant

Torben Bo Hansen

Strategic Brand Consultant

Nicole Bode

Creative Director

Thea Welle

Head of AI & Marketing Technology

About peix

The PEIX Health Group is the leading creative agency for healthcare and life sciences. From strategic consulting and medical support to concept development and creative design, through to PR and media relations: With its experienced teams, PEIX develops and implements impactful and innovative communication concepts and campaigns using a multimedia approach. The company has been winning national and international awards for 31 years. The PEIX Health Group currently has 80 employees.

About Torben Bo Hansen

Torben Bo Hansen engages in brainstorming sessions with entrepreneurs and asks precisely the questions that often go unasked, even though they are essential for a thorough analysis. In over 30 years in marketing and advertising, he was responsible for Jever and Astra on the corporate side and later, as part of the management team at the advertising agency Philipp und Keuntje, successfully provided strategic consulting to brands such as Jägermeister, Sennheiser, Audi, and Deutsche Bank.

We believe that every OTC brand can send a clear message.

‍Let’s work together to find out ifthat’s already the case for your brand.

Request a consultation here