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PulsePoint’s annual HealthNEXT Summit focuses on the most pressing issues health marketers face today. This year’s summit, hosted in New York City, was a high-impact, single-day event where the industry’s top doers, thinkers, and innovators came together to discuss how health marketing is changing—and what they can do to future-proof their strategies.
This post is part of a series of the top takeaways from each of the summit’s sessions, including expert-led panels, product launches, and innovation breakouts.
3 takeaways from our media panel
The media landscape is constantly evolving and it looks meaningfully different than it did just 12 months ago. With AI technologies introducing a faster rate of change than the industry has ever seen, marketers are tasked with building a coherent media strategy that stays ahead of the current and delivers for their clients.
PulsePoint’s Keith Matt, GVP of Sales, moderated a thought-provoking panel that explored how ad agencies are navigating these changes. “A Busy 12 Months: What’s Changed in the Media Landscape” featured experts from health media companies talking about how they’ve led through change in the last year and what they see on the horizon for the future of digital health marketing. Here are some top takeaways from their discussion.
1. Pharma is ready for AI, but moving cautiously
Healthcare as an industry is ripe for AI adoption: It’s poised to expedite what were previously time-consuming processes, from regulatory review to creative approval and planning. But are pharma marketers ready to benefit from this technology? And how are health marketing leaders using it with pharma partners today?
“If we’re doing our job properly, AI is a connector and an accelerator,” said Ray Rosti, President of Klick Media. To encourage innovation in this area, Rosti shared that Klick Media gave out $1 million in prizes to employees who brought AI solutions forward for the organization. “Our clients are asking us to drive their business forward, and it’s exciting to see that AI can help us do that.”
Lauren Boyer, CEO of Underscore Marketing, reminded the audience that “AI is a buzzword” and encouraged marketers to approach the subject with more clarity and intention. “What are we activating with AI? Where are we taking it? There are so many different ways to apply the technology. AI for the sake of AI might get you a new client, but it should really get you a better plan if it’s used appropriately,” she said.
“A lot of AI is machine learning, which pharma is quick to adopt,” said Elizabeth Beringer, President of Real Chemistry Media. “The ability to build multiple models to make more sophisticated business decisions, that’s where I think pharma will lean into AI the most.” But in other areas, such as using generative AI to create content, Beringer expects much more caution from the industry. “Making sure there’s very responsible use of AI is going to be really critical,” she said.
Brad Liebow, Chief Investment Officer at Publicis Health Media, expects AI adoption in the healthcare industry to be “painful” at first, but worth the effort. “In healthcare, AI is going to be very helpful long-term, but there’s going to be a lot to work through in terms of governance and compliance at the beginning,” he said.
2. Marketers are using AI with intention
In the coming years, marketers expect to see a tangible impact on their workflows thanks to AI.
At Klick Media, Rosti said, AI is helping to improve efficiency. “We’re trying to break it down into smaller chunks: workflow, planning, activation, measurement. In each of those workstreams, we’re trying to find the heavy-lift items or disconnects in data to try to make things move faster,” he explained.
Liebow said that Publicis has focused on democratizing access to AI tools. “We’ve got opportunities for everyone in the agency to build AI skills and make their work more efficient—ultimately to give everyone more time to think about what’s important to drive clients’ business forward.”
In some cases, agencies are hearing more questions from clients about AI, and seeing that AI integration might be extending their processes rather than streamlining them. “There needs to be accountability when you replace a human with an AI agent,” Beringer said. “Pharma companies are doing their part to ensure that any partner they’re engaged with—whether directly or through an agency—has the same level of rigor.”
3. Looking ahead: Uncertainty equals opportunity
With varying rates of AI adoption and a breakneck pace of technological innovation, it can be hard for agencies to predict what the landscape will look like in a week, let alone a year. But that didn’t stop us from asking our panel what they predict for the future of digital health marketing.
“The big bet is really on people,” Liebow said. “The people you’re hiring have to have a sense of curiosity and innovation. There’s lots of opportunities for entrepreneurship.”
Speaking to the technology side, Beringer predicted: “Humans will get replaced for investment decisions for the majority of the day-to-day tasks for marketers. But there is still a place for strategic investment decisioning, and that’s where people are the most important.”
“Our world, as far as who we’re trying to reach, gets more fragmented every day. So the ability to be relevant and timely becomes more challenging every day,” said Rosti. “AI enables micro-segmentation to help us digest signals faster and to build relevance for an audience made of people who are taking unique pathways to a treatment decision.”
Instead of guessing what the future will look like for her agency, Boyer focused on how marketers should move forward. “Ultimately we’re trying to activate brands,” she said. “We want to mindfully innovate how to do that better. Our job is about making people healthier overall.”
Rapid changes in technology mean the media landscape is shifting under our feet. But with the right tools and the right people, our panelists agreed, health marketers can leverage new technologies to define solutions for their clients and drive positive health outcomes for patients.
Keep an eye out for more posts diving into each of the topics we discussed at HealthNEXT 2026. Want to be involved in our next event? Contact the team here.
