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There’s nothing like the opportunity of a new year! As pharma brands initiate their marketing plans in pursuit of their 2025 goals and objectives, they have more technology, media, and targeting options than ever before. How will marketers navigate the fast-paced landscape, secure a competitive advantage, and harness the power of new tools?
We asked team members from across OptimizeRx for their take on three key market trends – artificial intelligence, media competitiveness, and HCP+DTC alignment – and how they will shape pharma marketing in 2025. Read on for their insights and perspectives on the year to come:
How do you see the rapid pace of AI adoption affecting marketing strategy and execution?
Mike Rousselle, SVP Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning
I think we’re seeing the pace of AI adoption accelerating across every industry. Even firms that are not yet 'AI-enabled' will quickly start investing more – in a recent KPMG survey, 68% of leaders reported they were planning significant AI investments – and that oversupply of dollars will lead to more and more new products with embedded AI capabilities. In the case of marketing specifically, I see AI becoming a standard must-have feature over the next few years, and for some marketing offerings where data is rich, such as programmatic media, it may already be there.
We’re fast approaching the point where AI becomes a routine element of execution, a check box asking: "do you have the ability to use AI to help optimize my campaign?" But for marketing execution to stand out in 2025, its use of AI must add tangible value towards the program, and in pharma marketing specifically, it needs to be used appropriately for the highly regulated environment. One option would be to enable AI to mine insights from a vendor, campaign, or brand’s unique data, like an EHR aggregator network or other closed ecosystem. Alternatively, AI could enable a novel use case that doesn't already exist, such as real-time campaign re-optimization, where AI automatically prioritize targeting tactics and allocated media dollars, similar to algorithmic stock trading.
Karin Hayes, SVP Analytics & Insights
I believe AI adoption is likely to increase in 2025, but that we’ll also see a degree of caution. AI and predictive modeling provide invaluable – and previously inaccessible – insights into content creation, consumer messaging, channel propensities, and preferred media platforms. Large scale, integrated, and de-identified healthcare and consumer data in combination with curated propensity modeling can build reliable, data driven media plans and a media mix for personas of interest even before the campaign is launched or when the market landscape or consumer sentiment changes.
The biggest game changer is the use of AI for precision targeting of physicians and their (brand-eligible) patients. AI can not only find patients as they approach eligibility, but also enable nimble, integrated omnichannel campaigns that reaches both that patient and physician during the time window when they are considering treatment options.
For all the realized and future potential of AI, however, there are some current factors that may cause marketers to proceed cautiously. As of the beginning of this year, twenty states have passed healthcare privacy legislation, and advertisers are instituting more rigorous privacy and data use policies, with lengthy review processes. In addition, not all AI-driven insights and audiences are created equally. AI is dependent on the quality of its underlying data, and small samples, biased data, and limited predictive attributes may lead to poorly performing models. As marketers explore and assess the use of AI in their marketing execution, they will be confirming how well the campaign meets or exceeds audience quality, awareness, physician visit, and conversion benchmarks to find the models, solution providers, and data resources they can trust.
What media channels do you think will be in the greatest demand for pharma in 2025, and how can brands secure a competitive advantage?
Frank Hicks, EVP, Media Resolution Partnerships
I believe we’ll see increasing demand in two key media segments in 2025. The first is a doubling down on video advertising, as the technology to support video has grown more expansive and sophisticated, and we’ve seen incredible engagement from consumers – particularly for short-form video content. The second area is “fused content” on channels like podcasts, gaming, and TV, where third-party content and advertising can significantly improve the user experience and ad resonation.
Alongside the growth of these media channels and content formats, more generally I expect to see a continued push from our pharma and agency clients towards omnichannel DTC advertising. As competition for patient/consumer attention increases from both alternative brands and other health influencers, it’s more critical than ever that pharma can access their most qualified audiences consistently and at the opportune times in both the patients’ media and healthcare journeys. As a result, I think we’ll also see brands build their competitive advantage through innovative, hyper-focused segmentation audience building and deployment that maximize reach to specific populations while also reducing costly impression waste.
Holly Binting, Director Consumer Media
Staying on top (or ahead of) the channels where consumer consumption is increasing is obviously the best way for brands to secure competitive advantage. I think the channels where consumption and demand will increase the most based are OTT/CTV and audio – specifically with podcasts. Both channels have grown extensively in popularity while also having strong engagement with high completion rates and attention metrics that have been shown to have a stronger connection with consumers.
For brands looking to invest in these powerful channels, having access to a large variety of specialized inventory partnerships across multiple DSPs allows them to customize their audience deployment to maximize reach and competitive positioning, without overspending. Within OTT, there will also continue to be a rise in interactive creatives allowing for further website based metric tracking.
What strategies and/or technologies will pharma pursue in 2025 to better align HCP marketing to patients' specific care needs and treatment journeys?
PJ Schlosser, VP Sales
In 2025, I expect pharma brands that invest in technology solutions to synchronize connections between HCPs and patients through media consolidation, and sophisticated AI and machine learning models will lead the charge. By using the output of these models that integrate data from multiple sources (EHR, claims, RWD, social determinants of health, media consumption, etc.), brands will be able to activate predictive, “smart” messaging across the channels where their audiences are most likely to engage.
The result will be marketing that informs HCPs and their patients in parallel, truly reflecting the holistic journey traveled by each patient bridging critical care milestones. Providers and patients will be more aware of the latest treatment options, available therapy savings, and support resources, contributing to better clinical outcomes. What’s more, operating in concert to both audiences reduces the onus on HCPs while increasing patient engagement and empowerment. But this future only takes hold when pharma marketing aligns with both the patient and physician journeys, personalizes content to health needs and media consumption behavior, and focuses on the care moments that matter most.
What trend is your brand or agency most excited about in 2025? Let’s talk about how OptimizeRx can help you make it a reality – book an exploratory call today.