IQVIA @ SXSW 2024: Key Takeaways for Healthcare and Life Science Brands from the Digital Enablement Team
At SXSW this year, the IQVIA Digital team brought together industry leaders to explore the ever-evolving landscape of healthcare communications and the science of personalization in marketing engagement. Across four panel sessions at this inaugural event, expert voices shed light on critical industry challenges and opportunities, with noteworthy discussions centered on the power of AI when combined with human intuition, the importance of personalized messaging in serving the needs of historically underserved audiences, and the need for coherence in messaging to consumers and healthcare providers.
Reaching Health Equity: The Role of Creative and Media
The first session of the day, “Reaching Health Equity – The Intersection of Healthcare Data and Marketing Technology,” panelists delved into a pivotal theme: bridging healthcare disparities for historically underserved populations in the United States. We were honored to host Kerel Cooper, President of Advertising at Group Black; Khari Motayne, VP of Engagement Strategy at CMI Media; and Doug Boccia, Head of Enterprise Data Sales at The Weather Company.
Together, this group reflected on the progress achieved in critical areas of health equity, particularly over the past decade. Motayne candidly emphasized that “almost all major companies are now engaging in these conversations and genuinely considering investments in different communities…What we need to see is consistent follow-through—these discussions occur during planning, but sometimes wane throughout the year.”
Our guests provided many valuable learnings and insights into their efforts to personalize healthcare messaging for diverse communities. Some key tactics discussed included:
- Ensuring better representation in creative content and messaging
- Focusing on the context and relevancy of where media and content is disseminated
- Applying audience insights from diverse data sources to drive continuous improvement
As Cooper aptly put it, “It is critical that your audience sees themselves reflected in your brand.” This commitment to inclusivity and personalized communication is vital as we strive for equitable healthcare access.
Navigating the Shift from Cookieless Future to Cookieless Present
Later in the day, we had the privilege of hosting industry experts Caitlin Borgman, Chief Commercial Officer at ID5, and Kimberly Davey, Relationship Manager at Experian. Together, they explored the intricacies of identity resolution and how it shapes exceptional healthcare experiences. The panel, titled “Cookieless in 2024 and 2025: Establishing Continuity for Addressability, Identity, and Measurement,” tackled the disruption caused by this transition, reframing it as an opportunity for learning rather than as a challenge.
While the concept of a “cookieless future” may seem recent, Borgman reminded us that we’ve been operating in a “cookieless present” for quite some time as approximately 30% of Internet users rely on Safari and Firefox, which already limit cookie tracking. Rather than viewing this as an advertising challenge, Borgman encouraged marketers to embrace the opportunity: “There is plenty of runway right now to experiment. Nobody is flipping a switch and all the cookies are going away… deprecation is over time. So now is the time to actually get your feet wet.”
During the discussion, it became evident that not all firms working on identity resolution are equal. When investigating potential partnerships, Davey advised marketers to make “sure you have a partner that is willing to help demystify or educate you on what all these various technologies do …and then also make sure you are with a partner who does have the appetite to help you not only understand (how) to test and look at results and fine tune before you go forward and be ultimately prepared”.
Clearly opportunities for innovation and advancement in identity resolution are ongoing and the brands that desire to be proactive should embrace the “cookieless present” as a chance to shape the future of addressability and measurement.
2024 Innovations in Healthcare Marketing for Exceptional Experiences
With the future of healthcare communications evolving so rapidly, attendees were well-served to be in the company of Michael Caruso, VP, Director of Biddable Media and Roshen Mathew, Chief Innovation Officer, both of SSCG Media Group, as well as John Deely, the Chief Experience Officer, Patients & Purpose, for a deep dive on 2024 Macro Trends for Healthcare Media. Two topics in particular in this session stood out as vital themes paramount to drive improved outcomes in healthcare:
Applications of artificial intelligence (AI)
As with many conferences over the last 18 months, the role of AI in healthcare was a hot topic at SXSW and our panel of experts noted many of the ways AI/ML is being used today in media to guide biddable strategies in media or to expedite the measurement and optimization process. Use of these tools are creating greater efficiencies, but it was noted that we cannot lose sight of the importance of the human element in maximizing the benefits of insights and learnings that are generated. Daley stated it best: “It's easy to talk about the technology and AI as powerful… and ultimately it is a powerful tool… but when it's combined with human intuition and… experience, it could be really powerful at every step of the way”.
Harmonization of marketing communications with consumers and healthcare professionals
As advanced tools like generative AI become more omnipresent, capitalizing on how best to use these to enrich the patient provider dialogue has become key. Greater harmonization can be achieved through integrating the planning, buying and measurement of healthcare media in order to achieve lasting results. “We are always thinking about how the intersection of those audiences come together, because if we prime…potential consumers to go in and speak to their doctors and the doctors aren't ready or speaking that same language, then it's going to really be a disconnect,” Daley shared. “It is of critical importance to really overlay the customer experience from both sides... to make sure that at those key points that everything integrated.”
Humanizing Insights: Bridging Data and Decision-Making
In the last session, Humanizing Insights – Data-Driven Decision-Making and Implementation in Media, Butler/Till experts Nicole Hamlin, Group Director of Integrated Planning, and Paul Bradley, Director of Analytics, expanded on the significance of various insight signals within data and how these signals play a crucial role in shaping decisions throughout the lifecycle of a media campaign. Hamlin emphasized, “Data is not human… but behind all these data points are an actual people.”
The concept of humanizing data and how these insights can transform healthcare brand experiences was expanded upon, with Bradley highlighting that at Butler/Till, they harness diverse data sets and perspectives to “create purposeful connections with the audience and drive better outcomes.” In this intersection of data and humanity, we pave the way for exceptional experiences while ensuring a customer first approach serves the diverse needs of our healthcare audiences.
We were thrilled to have many of our partners join us for these insightful discussions from our recent panels at SXSW 2024. These thought-provoking sessions explored critical themes in healthcare media, including the transition to a cookieless landscape, the role of artificial intelligence (AI), and both harmonizing and humanizing healthcare experiences. We at IQVIA Digital are privileged to work together with these individuals and their organizations to navigate this dynamic landscape and better harness innovation, data and technology to create exceptional healthcare experiences.
