New Spaces, New Places, New Ways: Insights on Change from Healthcare Marketing Agency Chiefs
New Spaces, New Places, New Ways: Insights on Change from Healthcare Marketing Agency Chiefs
The healthcare marketing industry is experiencing a period of rapid change. Between new technology, new tactics and channels, and new regulations, marketers have to be able to not only think on the fly but also be proactive and constantly learning. At this year’s HealthNEXT Summit, hosted by PulsePoint in New York City, attendees heard from a panel of marketing agency executives about how they manage that change responsibly to benefit their teams, clients, HCPs, and patients.
Moderated by Andrew Stark, CCO at PulsePoint, the panel discussed where the healthcare marketing industry is headed and what health media agencies are doing to embrace change. Panelists included:
- Andrea Palmer, CEO, Publicis Health Media
- Eugene Lee, COO, CMI Media Group
- Greg Reilly, Global President, dentsu health
- Melissa Gordon-Ring, Global President, IPG Mediabrands Health
Here are the highlights from their discussion.
They’re Excited About the Future of Healthcare Marketing
One thing that hasn’t changed about healthcare marketing is the impact marketers can and do make on HCPs and patients. The panelists said they were highly motivated by this facet of their jobs. “If we can play a role in improving [patients’] lives, then that’s something that is worth coming to work every day for,” Greg said.
“It’s been so exciting to see how much change is occurring right now in this moment,” Eugene said, adding that with new and expanding data tools, it’s now easier than ever to see exactly how marketers are changing lives and improving health.
The panelists enjoy working in a fast-moving industry because they never quite know what their day is going to look like. “I never know what’s going to happen, which excites me and scares me at the same time,” Melissa said. To keep up, she tries to learn something new every day, whether it’s new technology, a new disease state, a new offering, etc.
Andrea, who has been at PHM for 18 years, said she remembers the days when they had to fax IOs—but she’s excited by how much the healthcare industry has transformed since then. “New spaces, new places, and new ways,” she added, saying that in her entire career she hasn’t had a year that looked like the last.
How They Are Preparing for and Responding to Change
With rapid changes comes a need to manage that change responsibly—for the sake of both marketing teams and their clients. “Change is the only constant we have right now,” Melissa said. “In a world of change, you have to remember we’re all human beings, and you have to lead with empathy.”
There are many possible roadblocks when it comes to transforming your processes. Maybe a new tool is implemented too quickly, or maybe team members aren’t brought on board before changes are made. Responsible change management, including training and skills development, is the future, Melissa added, and it will ensure that everyone is prepared to maximize the potential of new technologies, tactics, and tools.
But not everyone responds to change in the same way. For some, new tools that increase efficiency are appealing, but for others, they’re a sign of an uncertain future.
“It's both scary and exciting,” Andrea said. “But the industry broadly needs to figure out how to turn that momentum into newness and excitement and keep it going.”
How They Reach Dynamic Audiences
The current HCP landscape encompasses four generations of people, from 28-year-olds who just graduated from medical school to 70-year-old providers with decades of experience. Today’s marketers have to be able to reach everyone in between—and this applies to patients as well.
Each person consumes media differently, and how they learn, where they get information, and who they trust affects how they can be reached. “We’ve got people who go to influencers before they go to their doctors,” Andrea said. “These playbooks that we’ve had are somewhat irrelevant.”
New audience tools allow marketers to use data to make better decisions, but they can’t rest on their laurels once they think they’ve figured out their audience. “You cannot stop seeking to understand,” Greg said. “You can’t have segments that become static.” It’s important to constantly be learning, listening, and refining, based on what that audience is telling you.
“Everything that makes a human is a differential point,” Eugene said. “And as sophisticated marketers, we should be striving to acknowledge those differentials and do the best to serve that differential.”
How to Responsibly Leverage AI
The last two years have been dominated by conversations about the potential for AI to transform the marketing industry. Agencies are working closely with clients to see how AI tools could optimize or reinvent their businesses—and ensure they’re ready for it.
For Greg, it’s important to make sure the infrastructure is there to support transformational AI, otherwise results will be throttled by organizational issues. “The big challenge is making sure that what goes into it and how people operate with it is set up for success.” That preparation includes instilling a sense of optimism in their people. “Don't think about it as though it's a replacement. Think about it as an enabler to do something new and different that you might not have a hundred percent been able to do before.”
Andrea said she’s seen AI transform the industry, and their internal processes, in a positive way. “What AI has been able to do is to simplify and to streamline the application to humans and to people versus static segments,” she said. Used responsibly, AI is able to help marketers focus their attention on the human on the other side of their messages. “The vision of this industry is to be a dynamic responsive industry based on people. So AI makes that not only simple and possible, but fast and fairly automatic.”
Where Healthcare Marketing Is Still Afraid to Go
It’s important to remain compliant and thoughtful with risk-taking, Melissa said, but marketers also need to come together as an industry and push things forward with purpose, tackling specific challenges to make a difference. “So how do we wield that responsibility?” she asked. “Because it's not power; it's responsibility. How do we do that in a way that's purposeful for our industry?”
Eugene said some clients are still afraid to go all in with their partners, and he wishes they were more open to it because the positive impact of their work has never been more clear. “We know we can actually change those patients’ lives,” he said. “We can actually make sure they get on therapy. We can actually track that the therapy is working.”
On the other hand, Andrea said, “For the first time in a while, I’ve seen a lot of appetite for innovation.” Clients are asking for something bolder, something that doesn’t feel like the norm for pharma. “They’re looking for things that don’t feel traditional and that might get them into a new horizon as an organization.”
For some, there continues to be a real fear of departing from “what we know works.” But the panelists posed this question: Does it still work?
In Conclusion
Change is a constant—but it’s clear today’s healthcare marketers are not only accepting but embracing that change. The traditional tools, metrics, and models of the past are no longer getting results and meeting client expectations, so proactive and responsible transformation is a must.
New tools are giving marketers the data they need to make informed decisions for their clients. PulsePoint’s Adaptive Optimization™, for example, seamlessly integrates AI-based targeting and clinical insights to reduce waste and increase efficiency, enabling marketers to spend their time and energy on strategy development rather than manual processes.
Keep an eye out for future blog posts diving into each of the topics we discussed at HealthNEXT 2025. Want to be involved in our next event? Contact the team here.