Webinar Recap: Five Ways to Transform Data-Driven Media Planning

Transforming data-driven media planning requires more than just adopting new tools—it demands a shift in mindset. In an industry where long approval processes, strict regulations, and extended measurement feedback cycles leave little room for reactive decision-making, proactive planning is essential. By leveraging unbiased insights from large-scale, integrated healthcare and consumer data and creating tailored strategies, brands can position themselves as trusted partners in the healthcare journey, delivering value to patients and maximizing the impact of their media investments.   

We recently hosted a webinar with the Pharmaceutical Management Science Association, focused on five ways to transform your approach to data-driven media planning. If you missed it, below are the key takeaways to enhance patient engagement, optimize media investments, and strengthen advertising effectiveness.  

1. Adapt to Changing Consumer Behaviors

Consumer attitudes toward health and pharmaceuticals are constantly evolving. Digital trends and technological advancements shape the way people consume information, making it crucial for pharma brands to keep their strategies agile and relevant. 

The key is personalization.  

Consumers increasingly expect and welcome tailored experiences that resonate with their specific needs and preferences. Just like diners want meals customized to their tastes and served at their preferred pace, patients want information delivered on their terms. While advertising regulations may limit different messaging, thoughtful creative personalization and timing can ensure your message captures attention without overwhelming or alienating your audience. 

Building trust is another critical element.  

Healthcare brands must prioritize transparency and reliability in their communications. By understanding the full healthcare journey—including who patients interact with and what influences their decisions—brands can craft messaging that supports smart, informed healthcare choices. 

Example: For conditions like bipolar disorder, which affects diverse age and gender groups, focusing solely on one demographic (e.g., younger females) risks neglecting significant cohorts like older adults or males. Tailoring messages to each group's unique needs ensures inclusivity, better engagement, and brand impact. 

 2. Balance Personalization with Privacy

Achieving the right balance between personalization and privacy is a pressing challenge, especially in the context of stringent healthcare privacy laws. In 2025, 20 states will enforce new privacy legislation, affecting how patient data is collected, used, and shared. 

Privacy laws include restrictions on selling or distributing personal data, opt-in/opt-out requirements for data collection, and even limitations on geofencing-based targeting. Pharma companies must adopt robust privacy policies, designate privacy leaders within their organizations, and develop approval processes that align with state-specific regulations. 

Despite these challenges, brands can still innovate. Privacy-safe strategies include: 

• Third-party privacy certifications for audience data. 

• Aggregated or modeled data that avoids revealing individual patient identities. 

• Geographic targeting down to ZIP+4 (9-digit zip code) levels without compromising privacy for most conditions. 

Advanced planning and dedicated compliance teams ensure brands can effectively target audiences while respecting evolving privacy norms. 

 3. Integrate Growing Amounts of Disparate Data Sources

Access to comprehensive and accurate data remains a challenge, particularly in niche therapeutic areas or for rare diseases. Holistic data integration is key to developing a clear and un-biased picture of likely patients. 

Pharma marketers must adopt detective-like approaches, triangulating information from multiple sources—quantitative data (e.g., attitude and usage studies) and qualitative insights. Artificial intelligence (AI) plays a crucial role in identifying patterns and inconsistencies across datasets, helping marketers gain deeper insights into patient needs. 

By combining claims data (spanning near-census populations across multiple years) with consumer data, brands can validate findings, uncover deeper insights, and ensure insights are unbiased and accurate. Through comprehensive integrated data, brands can not only more precisely define and target specific patient cohorts – such as untreated, second-line treatments, etc. – but also gain the insights on which media channels, platforms, and content providers will likely deliver the most impact.  

Example: We worked with a brand that was interested in expanding their media mix to include streaming TV, instead of just addressable TV. However, after a robust analysis of their audience, we found they were already reaching the right audiences. While they wouldn’t get additional reach or value from adding streaming, data showed that adding audio and more digital display impressions were untapped opportunities.