Building a Brand with Substance: Ro’s Reinvention of Healthcare

Could your doctor's office be just a few clicks away?

In this episode of Frontier CMO, host Josh Spanier sits down with Will Flaherty, SVP of Growth at Ro, the digital healthcare platform rethinking not only how care is delivered but how it's marketed. Will explains how Ro earns trust in one of the hardest categories to market, why the brand rejects fear-based messaging in favor of uplifting human stories, and what it took to put Serena Williams at the center of a Super Bowl campaign. He also shares how Ro erased the line between brand and performance, why clinicians sit inside the creative process, and how a little weekend AI tinkering can spark big ideas for the business.

Tune in for a master class in marketing when the product you're really selling is trust.

00:00 – Introduction: Will Flaherty, SVP of Growth at Ro

01:00 – Reinventing Healthcare Through Digital Access

03:20 – Building Trust in Healthcare Marketing

05:00 – Ro’s Challenger Brand Marketing Playbook

06:00 – Blurring the Lines Between Brand and Performance Marketing

07:30 – Bringing Medical Experts Into the Creative Process

09:20 – Designing for a Mobile-First Consumer

10:15 – How Ro Uses AI to Drive Marketing Decisions

11:50 – Redefining Growth Beyond Customer Acquisition

12:45 – Using AI to Empower Marketing Teams

15:10 – Serena Williams and the Power of Authentic Storytelling

16:05 – Measuring Super Bowl Campaign Success and Long-Term ROI

17:15 – Career Lessons from SeatGeek, Rent the Runway, and Ro

19:00 – Embracing AI as the Next Major Platform Shift

20:45 – Signal or Noise: The Future of Healthcare

21:45 – CMO Download: Podcasts, Search, and YouTube

23:05 – Three Key Takeaways for Marketers