PHM HealthFront 2024: Day One

“Coming together again, I couldn’t help but reflect on just how much our work has evolved?—?the?disruptions, twists and turns that have made us more innovative, more creative and ultimately more effective,” said PHM President Andrea Palmer .??“I want us all to embody that sense of wonder today — so I invite you all to seize on that possibility of the unknown as we pursue a new frontier for our industry.”

So began the fourth annual HealthFront, as 500 attendees gathered to explore new trends and solutions. If exploration was the agenda, authenticity was the message, reverberating across multiple sessions as panelists discussed original content, self-advocacy, evolving social platforms and more.?

To kick off the show, Andrea was joined by?actress, model, entrepreneur and?New York Times?bestselling author?Brooke Shields, who spoke about her health advocacy, which originated from her experience with postpartum depression. While speaking up about her experience, Brooke experienced a broad outpouring of support, commenting “Women weren’t standing up for me, they were standing up for themselves…as women, we’re not taught that we know our bodies better than anyone else.” As a rallying cry, Brooke’s self-advocacy unearthed a community she hadn’t expected.

“Well, healthcare is the biggest community you never chose to join,” remarked Andrea Palmer.?

The power of community was a reoccurring theme in their conversation, as Brooke recalled from sharing her health journey, “people started saying, that happened to me. But, I’m not an expert. I can only say what I’ve experienced.” The experts came out in droves to discuss how best to communicate, adjacent to and within, these real, human stories.?

To lay the stakes for the conversations to come, Andrea was joined by Matt Turner , Deputy Editor in Chief, Business Insider and Stephen Farquhar , CEO, Publicis Health to spell out the current health media landscape, including the use of AI to speed up processes as the tool that “sorts through data and facts to deliver the insights,” according to Andrea.??

Stephen agreed, that using “real world data is not theory,” but that we need to deliver the “best audience segmentation” by getting “more precise and closely defined.” He shared, “we just have millions and millions of data points, but...we need to be really focused on what can bring the biggest change in the next year.”?

The power of original content was a major theme throughout Day 1, with facets explored in three panels. In “The Power of Original Content and Other Lessons Learned from the SAG Strikes”, Conal Byrne , CEO, iHeartMedia Digital Audio Group, impressed on the audience that “the power of human storytelling overall cannot be exaggerated”, though “the last 25-30 years of marketing in general can be summed up in ‘overtargeting.’”

As a result, the focus of branded content should be delivering a relevant experience for consumers, so said John von Brachel , VP, Head of Content Lab, 诺华 , “the covenant is—how do we create audience experiences that drive value?”

Echoed in “Being an Audience Champion in a Digital World,” Grace Rodriguez , DTC Portfolio Marketing Head, Immunology, 优时比 shared “as a pharma marketer, my number one goal is to make the patient think “they get me.’”

That time of community alignment was explored in “Driving Deeper Connections with Culture, Community and Authenticity” which showcased ViiV Healthcare ’s partnership with RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 16. Performer and Season 15 winner Sasha Colby opened the session defining community as “a core group of people surrounding each other that creates everything that is necessary for that group,” supported by Laurie DeMille , Senior Director, Prevention Marketing at ViiV HealthCare who spoke to the organization’s desire to “make choices that reflect and respect the communities we serve.”??The incredible Sasha Colby, performer and winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 15, then treated the HealthFront audience to a mini fashion show and served a fabulous exclusive look.??

Other sessions explored evolving channels like retail, and in the shifting sands of social, where the heads of health for the major platforms contributed insights into highly beneficial integrations of AI, like Pinterest which has seen great success delivering high value content to consumers as, “a lot of recommendations you see are now fully driven by AI,” Kim Dolan , Head of Health & Wellness Partnerships, Pinterest.

Driving home the theme of wonder, mentalist Gary Ferrar closed day one with some mind-bending magic.???

Additionally, PHM introduced new products exclusively available to its clients:?

• CareConnect, a first of its kind partnership, addresses latency in receiving professional care, drastically reducing the wait time to speak to a physician??
• Care Shop, a pharma-enabled commerce media solution that empowers patient engagement at key health moments??

PHM clients can reach out to their client leads for more information about these new products and solutions.?

The PHM HealthFront continues Thursday in New York City, with more deep dives into industry issues with experts and luminaries.