All the 2024 Pharma and Healthcare Marketing Predictions
Jeff Greene
Pharma Marketing, Strategy, Brand Engagement, Customer Experience, Innovation. Leading Teams and Healthcare Brands Forward.
Happy (belated) new year! I'm expanding my pharma and healthcare marketing predictions in 2024 to include as many inputs as possible from the best and brightest in our industry.
If you could describe the year ahead in one word, for me that word is precarious (not securely held in position, dependent on chance). Our industry is battling layoffs, historic agency consolidation, the emergence of AI and XR, work-from-home turbulence, a critical U.S. presidential election, and many other vectors making it hard to predict what's next.
We're also facing tremendous opportunity in 2024: emerging technologies could lead to breakthrough treatments and marketing success stories, interest rates may fall, new job titles will be created, start-ups will launch, our ability to work more effectively may skyrocket.
To sort out the possibilities, below is a curated list of the top healthcare/pharma marketing prediction articles for 2024:
VML Health's Claire Gillis calls out above-brand initiatives that position pharma manufacturers as disease experts more than product marketers. (Pfizer definitely got the memo.) My colleague John Kenny of EVERSANA INTOUCH says pharma will embrace short-form video, allowing smaller brands to create big emotional connections. Richard Wheaton of 55 thinks performance marketing will disrupt digital, as analytics teams look for the design and messaging features in ads that have the largest effects on prescriptions. Music to my ears, Richard -- we have to continue getting comfortable with testing and learning.
MedCity News zeroes in on the more sophisticated use of triggered physician messages through the EHR. While EHR marketing is not new, its serious ability to target HCPs based on clinical data could pop this year as pharmas invest heavily in omnichannel. I saw the power of EHR up close in 2023, when my team proposed triggered messages to solve a client's script abandonment issue. Immediately, abandonments dropped and the trajectory of the business began to turn. MedCity also predicts the increased use of video content by marketers, as part of an overall trend toward storytelling in digital channels. Can't argue with that one.
A gaggle of well-known media and tech companies provides healthcare predictions and trends for the year, including the rise of microtargeting through digital platforms and pharma's broad use of ad-supported streaming networks. Another possibility (though I think we're a few years away) is the growth of personal assistants based on small-language models, or SLMs. These streamlined models may become nearly as powerful as the large-language models (eg, ChatGPT) that crashed our world in 2022. They may also become ubiquitous. Imagine an SLM-powered assistant that autonomously schedules your doctor's appointments, talks with the insurance company, and tracks down copay cards to get you the best price on your medication. Even the Jetsons would be impressed.
An MM&M interview with Tyler Bobin of iSpot.tv reveals just how reliant pharma brands are on sports tie-ins, with the NFL leading the way and this year's Olympics in Paris likely to earn several pharma sponsors. Bobin also predicts Dupixent will continue its reign as the top pharma brand on TV in 2024, though pharma's rush into weight loss treatments could certainly shake up the market. Either way, brands should expect the cost of television ad space to increase, which is typical in election years. That's probably going to make alternative platforms -- from Hulu to TikTok to YouTube -- more attractive, even for larger advertisers.
In this short piece, Xpectives Health (formerly DTC Perspectives) hits on 2024's must-know trend for DTC marketers: regulatory adaptability. By the fall, TV ads must comply with FDA's revised guidance on presenting the major statement; notably, ads need to include both voiceovers and matching supers on screen. How MLR teams interpret this in practice will likely cause headaches and late-night pizza sessions for brand marketers and their agencies. Xpectives Health also predicts pharma brands that demonstrate social responsibility, including sustainable practices, will drive brand loyalty and differentiation.
Pharma asks 'what’s up, doc?' as industry seeks to get inside the heads of HCPs in 2024 (Fierce Pharma)
A survey of employees at pharma companies, primarily in the medical affairs and marketing disciplines, found 57% will focus on collecting HCP insights in 2024, which was the most-selected response. Other choices, such as improving customer experience, finished lower. The survey sponsor, EPG Health, suggests insights are key because pharma struggles to understand how its medical activities impact physician behavior. Perhaps this gap drove another survey finding: pharma will be prioritizing MSLs over the sales force when delivering scientific information to HCPs in 2024.
领英推荐
The EU affiliate of tech powerhouse Veeva synthesizes many of the trends we're seeing, such as field forces moving away from the "push" model and focusing instead on reducing prescribing barriers in real-time, thanks to improved collaboration between commercial and medical teams. Veeva also anticipates greater use of data by the medical function, to become more accountable to the business and more valuable to customers. One prediction that's tough for many of us to swallow: a shift away from the agency-centric marketing model, in favor of more agile (read: internal) approaches to content creation and delivery. While Veeva might be a little biased, I don't see them being far off the mark. Agency partners that become better collaborators with in-house digital teams in 2024 will probably hang onto more of their clients in 2025.
The trend-spotters at ZS Associates are predicting further disruption stemming from the sudden growth of anti-obesity drugs and the rise of personalized therapies made possible by mRNA and CRISPR. On the marketing front, ZS sees organizations moving further away from traditional rep-driven models in 2024, adopting automated, omnichannel approaches instead. Those aren't surprising, but the rise of sustainability in manufacturing -- there's that word again -- is a more intriguing trend. Brands outside healthcare are certainly embracing sustainability and many of these campaigns only required imagination. (Consider the program by Lacoste to replace its iconic alligator logo with different endangered species on its polo shirts.) Healthcare and pharma franchises must also communicate about sustainability efforts, which customers want and expect from them.
Top 5 Marketing Trends in 2024 (Pharmaphorum)
Tech concern Viseven contributed a trends column to Pharmaphorum, the EU-focused pharma community. Predictions include the expansion of omnichannel and pharma continuing to embrace video marketing, which is hopefully #1 on your 2024 to-do list by this point. What I love about Viseven's piece is how they imagine the evolution of video in the year ahead. Some examples: videos created by AI, virtual reality videos, and personalized video content. Pharma brands that figure out how to scale video content and make it highly relevant are probably going to leave their peers in the omnichannel dust. And if XR technology goes mainstream, this opens a tremendous content gap that early-adopters in healthcare will be in great position to fill.
2024 Pharma Marketing Trends (OptimizeRx)
In addition to the expected predictions about "right message, right time" omnichannel adoption, EHR specialist OptimizeRx predicts pharma companies will synergize patient and HCP marketing in 2024. The idea recognizes pharma is increasingly able to identify, and act on, real-time patient data, particularly during office visits. Imagine a patient self-reports a new symptom when digitally checking in for his doctor's appointment, which the portal recognizes as a possible side effect of his current treatment. A competitor brand could now micro-target the physician with safety messages via the EHR, prompting a discussion about side effect intensity. It just might set up a medication switch during a perfect window of opportunity, which traditional advertising could never slip through.
Bonus: Top 10 Pharma Trends for 2024 (apprentice.io)
Not a marketing piece but a still-excellent overview of macro trends impacting pharma drug development, operations, and digital transformation in 2024. Highlights include greater emphasis on data privacy, continuing attention to efficiency, and -- there it is again -- greater investment in sustainability.
About Jeff
Company: Benchworks
Role: SVP, Strategic Planning
Keywords: Strategy, Pharma Marketing, Engagement, Customer Experience, Innovation. Inspiring Team, Brand, and Agency Growth.
Book: Speaking on the Side
Teams: Mets, Jets, Devils, Rutgers Scarlet Knights
Place: Jersey Shore
Views in this article are my own.