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DTC-In-Perspective by Bob Ehrlich

The Tidal Wave of Violation Letters: FDA Turns Up the Heat on DTC Advertisers

September 19, 2025 0

When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was nominated, I wrote that FDA could slow direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising simply by finding more ads violative. Reviews are subjective: an ad can be flagged for over-promising efficacy or for distracting visuals during fair-balance disclosures. It now appears OPDP reviewers have been told to be tougher—and the flood of letters proves their intent.

The FDA just released a raft of untitled letters on television DTC ads, citing about 25 branded spots. Normally I’d discuss each case, but given the volume and similarity, it’s more useful to focus on the recurring themes.

OPDP now concludes many ads are misleading because they overstate a drug’s effectiveness—not through a specific false claim, but through the overall impression. Too often, ads show patients transformed into active, happy, contented people, while real-world benefits are more nuanced.

“OPDP is now prosecutor, jury and judge. That is our new regulatory reality.”

Other frequent violations involve fair balance: distracting visuals, rapid scene changes, or supers that are hard to read. Many of the ads now criticized were pre-cleared before airing. What passed once is suddenly unacceptable.

These new violations are a royal pain for marketers, but most are fixable without lengthening commercials. OPDP essentially wants ads to tone down net efficacy impressions and run very plain, even boring, fair-balance segments. This looks like the opening shot in a sustained OPDP campaign to discourage TV use by making ads harder and costlier to produce.

It feels unfair to penalize ads that regulators previously approved. Yet HHS signals a new sheriff in town: Kennedy and his deputies intend to “gun for the bad guys.” Drugmakers will have to rethink the creative vehicles that make commercials engaging. “Fun on the beach” may give way to “fun in the nursing home.”

Expect many more letters. Most DTC advertisers should assume one is coming. And because OPDP now acts as prosecutor, jury, and judge, it will be hard to rebut such subjective assessments. That is our new regulatory reality.

 

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DTC-In-Perspective by Bob Ehrlich

Is This the End of TV Drug Ads?

September 10, 2025 0

Yesterday, President Trump issued a Presidential Memorandum instructing HHS and the FDA to revisit the rules governing direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising for prescription drugs. The policy signals a return to pre-1997 requirements—when television ads were effectively impossible because they required the full Package Insert (PI) disclosure on-screen. Bob Ehrlich, CEO of DTC Perspectives, weighs in on what this could mean for advertisers, consumers, and the pharmaceutical industry.

Bob Ehrlich

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Guest ColumnistSponsored Content

Measurable Outcomes: The Impact of Coordinated HCP and DTC Campaigns

August 14, 2025 0

Patients and providers often engage with health content during overlapping time frames. When HCPs and consumers are aligned, behaviors change and brands grow. While many marketers see HCP and DTC alignment as ideal but difficult to execute, the landscape is shifting.

With the trend toward health consumerization, today’s patients are more informed, empowered, and proactive. Today, 60% of Americans get more medical info online than from doctors (Merck), but many feel overwhelmed and confused by the sheer volume of evolving health content. Consumers now cross-check sources, prioritize “what works for someone like me” relevance, and come to appointments already informed, often driving the treatment conversation.

Still, providers and hospital systems remain the most trusted information sources (McKinsey, 2024), meaning digital-first discovery still needs validation from credible medical authorities.

When consumers ask for a brand and HCPs are already aligned on its clinical value, prescriptions increase. Programmatic strategies like PulsePoint’s that coordinate touchpoints across both audiences can deliver the scale, trust, and impact needed to drive action.

How to Align HCP and DTC Healthcare Marketing

Patients and providers move fluidly through the healthcare journey. Patients come and go based on symptoms, diagnoses, and life events, and providers based on new data, evolving guidelines, and clinical experience. 

To influence behavior on both sides, healthcare brands must move beyond siloed efforts and adopt a unified, real-time approach to HCP and DTC marketing. That starts with investing in health-specific programmatic technology that enables precision, agility, and scale. By activating campaigns based on real-time condition signals, content behavior, or HCP clinical activity—and dynamically adjusting spend, targeting, and creative—brands can keep both audiences in sync as they move through their decision-making journeys. 

Executing this effectively requires four foundational capabilities:

  • Precision Targeting – Reach the right audiences. Use real-time health signals and behavioral insights to reach the most clinically relevant, engaged consumers and the HCPs most likely to treat them.
  • Omnichannel Execution – Deliver responsive messaging. Execute a smart media mix HCPs and consumers actually use, including display, CTV, OLV, native, and more, to ensure engagement regardless of where the audience is spending time. A smart media mix ensures you’re maximizing reach through non-endemic and endemic environments. 
  • Measured Media Effectiveness – Measure what matters. Metrics like NRx lift, ROAS, HCP engagement, and deduplicated audience performance provide a full view of health journey impact.
  • Adaptive Optimizations – Use dynamic insights to drive data-driven adjustments to campaigns in real time, including fine-tuning messages, targeting, channel investments, and creatives to maximize performance.

When executed well, this HCP-to-DTC crosswalk improves marketing efficiency and directly influences patient outcomes and brand growth.

A Real-World Example of Impact

Butler/Till, a leading marketing agency, activated an HCP/DTC omnichannel campaign powered by PulsePoint’s health-first programmatic platform to elevate a gastroenterology brand facing low consumer awareness despite clear clinical advantages.

On the HCP side, the campaign focused on precision targeting and positive prescribing outcomes. Using PulsePoint’s DirectMatch™ technology, the team validated and reached individual HCPs with relevant prescribing activity. To expand beyond the existing target list, Clinical SmartLists™ were used to identify additional providers actively treating the condition or engaging with related brand content. Sequential messaging played a key role in nurturing HCP engagement, retargeting brand site visitors, and tailoring outreach based on behavioral signals to move them closer to prescribing action.

On the DTC side, the campaign centered on contextual relevance and intent-based targeting to drive consumer engagement. PulsePoint’s Health Pages and Health Populations (Plus) were used to identify high-intent users actively consuming condition-related content across the web. To further improve precision, the team built Bespoke Audiences™ using deidentified claims data, targeting audiences with a higher likelihood of condition prevalence. Campaign scale was expanded through integrations with leading third-party audience providers. Brand site visitors were also retargeted to reinforce awareness and deepen consideration along the path to action.

The result? Coordinated exposure met consumers in discovery mode and ensured HCPs were primed to prescribe, creating a powerful crosswalk and connected care journey that drove measurable impact through aligned engagement.

According to a leading independent pharma measurement firm, this integrated campaign delivered the largest NRx lift to date for the brand. It’s being touted as the most successful campaign in the brand’s history. In just six months (January–June 2024), the campaign showed significant scale and brand impact, delivering a positive ROAS of 4.32 across consumer audiences and 6.48 across provider audiences.

Curious what success looks like? Download the full case study here. 

Why the HCP-to-DTC Crosswalk Matters More Than Ever

Healthcare journeys don’t unfold in silos. Patients research, providers prescribe, and, increasingly, their decisions influence one another. That’s why an aligned HCP-to-DTC strategy is no longer a nice-to-have; it’s essential.

When brands guide both sides of the prescription conversation, they build clinical confidence and consumer demand in tandem. With the right data, creative, and channels activated, marketers can deliver synchronized experiences that move audiences toward action. As the success of PulsePoint and Butler/Till’s campaign demonstrates, the most impactful healthcare strategies aren’t linear—they’re crosswalks. And when executed well, they lead to something far more powerful than engagement: measurable outcomes.

Amy Fieber

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Guest Columnist

DTC Marketing in 2025: It’s Time to Rethink the Conversation

July 28, 2025 0

I recently returned from the DTC National conference, and one theme was clear across nearly every session: hotel carpet has endless charm. But also … the traditional direct-to-consumer marketing playbook is overdue for a revamp. In an industry that still leans heavily on the familiar “ask your doctor” message, it’s becoming increasingly clear that our patients — and their expectations — have moved on and evolved. And marketers are being charged with figuring out how to keep up.

The old model of pushing a product message and hoping it sticks isn’t enough anymore. Patient communication boundaries are begging to be pushed, and those who are up to the challenge are standing out in the space. Today’s health-minded consumers expect more. Period. They expect (read: require) brands to meet them where they are, to understand their needs before they articulate them, and to offer information and experiences that make them feel smarter, more confident and more in control of their health journey. Give them what they need and want before they even know they need and want it.

From Product to Platform: Building Brand Ecosystems

One topic that resonated with me (and sits on my mind daily because the pursuit is ongoing and ever-changing!) is the need to reframe brands for engagement versus as standalone products. The old CPG model stood for creating loyalty, identity and community. That still stands, but we also need to go further and help patients navigate a world full of data points, big decisions and an often overwhelming and fragmented health care system. We need to show up as their trustworthy friend.

… Enter AI! We’re learning and building responsive strategies as we go. We’re constantly looking for ways to incorporate meaningful personalization — meeting them in their moments. Whether it’s simplifying complicated treatment options, providing credible lifestyle tips, sharing patient testimonials or delivering emotional support through a diagnosis, our content needs to work harder, smarter and more responsively. Patients don’t want a transactional relationship with their treatment — they want a partnership that integrates into their life, anticipates their needs and evolves with them.

I love a good shortened word or acronym, so when someone referred to DTC as “dedicated to connect” instead of “direct to consumer,” I immediately logged it to memory and couldn’t wait to use it. So here I am using it! [Hold for applause.]

The Road Ahead

The conference painted a clear takeaway: The stakes are higher, the opportunities are greater and the brands that will win are the ones willing to lead the way into a more connected, patient-centric future, giving them reasons to talk to and trust us.

Katie Trueman

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DTC in FocusGuest Columnist

Transforming Data Compliance into a Competitive Edge: The Role of AI in Aligning DTC Marketing and Regulatory Goals

May 16, 2025 0

In the rapidly evolving landscape of direct-to-consumer (DTC) pharmaceutical marketing, data compliance has traditionally been viewed only as a necessity— which is often perceived as a constraint on marketing-driven growth, personalization, and operational agility.

The advent of artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing this perspective, positioning data compliance as a strategic asset that enhances marketing effectiveness, improves data integrity, and reduces risk. Today’s AI technology not only automates and streamlines first-party data collection and handling but also facilitates collaboration, customized reporting, and stakeholder-specific recommendations.

The Evolving Landscape of DTC Pharmaceutical Digital Marketing and Media

In early 2023, the pharmaceutical industry surpassed the technology sector to become the second-largest industry in advertising spending, increasing its share to 14% of total ad expenditures, second only to the retail industry. This significant investment underscores the industry’s commitment to direct consumer engagement as the engine for marketing-driven growth. However, it also amplifies the challenges associated with ensuring that marketing strategies comply with stringent regulatory standards.

A recent study of the data compliance risks on pharmaceutical websites by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and Compliant[1] found that many healthcare and pharma websites failed to meet minimum standards for consumer data collection, consent, and data sharing. Companies like Better Help[2], Costco[3], and many others have found themselves in regulatory and legal crosshairs. Even industry associations have been targeted and found guilty by regulators[4], leaving marketers with no choice but to look for ways to own data compliance themselves.  This has led to a need for new tools to increase efficiency and accuracy in this critical area.

Without ethical guidelines and proper controls, large-scale consumer data collection, processing, and activation expose brands to significant liability and risk—often with minimal transparency or governance.

The rise of AI has expanded data compliance capabilities across multiple applications in the digital marketing business, including the ability to now build, create, analyze, enhance, and interact with consumer data in real-time in a “safe” and consistent manner. Done well, AI can empower marketing, technology, and compliance teams to operate together with greater precision and impact. AI’s ability to integrate compliance workflows with data optimization across websites, media campaigns, and cross-media applications adds unprecedented value for the DTC marketing process.

AI-Driven Data Compliance: A Strategic Asset

Traditional consumer data compliance processes in pharmaceutical marketing are often manual and time-consuming, leading to delays and inefficiencies. And while more than 70% of brands rely on agencies and partners to be educated and act in a legal and ethical fashion, less than one in four used automation to audit and verify data compliance across their digital marketing supply chain[5].

AI helps address these challenges by enabling detailed data compliance testing, verification and remediation across various digital platforms, including websites, applications, and media campaigns. AI-driven tools ensure real-time adherence to regulatory requirements, enabling marketing teams to execute privacy-first media campaigns swiftly and confidently.

Jamie Barnard, CEO of COMPLIANT, emphasizes, “Leveraging AI-driven data compliance is both a sword and a shield. Done right, it can transform this complex subject from a regulatory and business barrier into a competitive advantage. It allows DTC marketers to innovate confidently, technology teams to reduce time allocated and compliance teams to sleep well at night. And it saves money from fines and resources, making the CIO and CFO happy”

Enhancing Data Integrity and Media Quality

In DTC pharmaceutical paid media, the collection and utilization of first-party data are crucial for effective consumer engagement. Finding and marketing to consumers in the healthcare space presents some unique regulatory and legal challenges – not the least of which is privacy and data integrity.

AI-powered compliance platforms continuously audit data collection points, consumer interactions, consent frameworks and other quality metrics to ensure media campaigns are accurate, relevant, and compliant with privacy regulations. This helps both the customer and the company by leading to:

  • Improved Targeting: Ensuring that marketing efforts reach the appropriate audience segments.
  • Enhanced Personalization: Delivering tailored content that resonates with individual consumer needs.
  • Increased Consumer Trust: Demonstrating a commitment to data privacy and security.

Pete Dannenfelser, a pioneer in digital healthcare marketing communications, notes, “The unexpected value add of the integration of AI in compliance processes is that it not only mitigates risk, but also elevates the quality of our data, enabling more precise and impactful marketing efforts. This not only leads to better marketing, but delivers higher quality, more appropriate messaging for the customer.”

Fostering Continuous Collaboration Between Teams

AI facilitates seamless collaboration between compliance and marketing teams by providing unprecedented transparency and control, real-time insights, and automated reporting. This continuous alignment reduces the need for multiple meetings and streamlines communication, allowing teams to focus on strategic initiatives and objectives.

Shailee Vimadalal, a partner at ZS Associates, observes, “Implementing robust AI-driven compliance solutions fosters greater transparency and control, enabling marketing and compliance teams to work in harmony towards shared objectives.”

Real-World Application of AI-Driven Data Compliance in Digital Marketing and Media

Today, data compliance platforms are removing risk and enhancing marketing performance for leading consumer brands worldwide.

Consider a pharmaceutical company launching a new DTC campaign. With an AI-driven compliance platform, the company can:

  1. Confidently Activate Consented First Party Data : AI ensures that first-party data collection methods comply with privacy laws, maintaining data integrity.
  2. Ensure Compliant Media Buying: AI ensures the impressions, audiences and media purchased through agencies/DSPs and from digital media vendors (publishers, SSPs and other 3rd party data sources) are properly consented and have higher data integrity.
  3. Facilitate Cross-Functional Collaboration: Real-time compliance transparency, controls and insights promote a unified approach to campaign development which delivers greater trust and confidence to the organization.

This integration not only expedites campaign launches, but also helps ensure that all regulatory requirements are met, thereby enhancing the campaign’s overall integrity and effectiveness.

The Return on AI-driven Compliance

By embedding AI into compliance processes, pharmaceutical companies can transform a traditionally manual, reactive function into a proactive strategy that drives business value. The benefits include:

  • Operational Efficiency: Streamlining compliance tasks reduces time-to-market for new campaigns.
  • Risk Mitigation: Proactively identifying and addressing compliance issues minimizes the likelihood of regulatory penalties, lawsuits or reputational damages.
  • Enhanced Outcomes: Marketing-driven growth is predicated on finding the right customer, and serving them creative ads in context and with consent. Using data integrity and compliance metrics becomes an additional KPI.

Actionable Steps for DTC Marketers

To leverage AI-driven data compliance in digital media effectively, DTC marketers should:

  1. Assess Current Data Compliance Processes: Identify areas where AI can automate and enhance existing workflows.
  2. Invest in AI-Powered Compliance Tools: Select platforms that offer real-time monitoring and analysis of marketing activities.
  3. Promote Cross-Functional Collaboration: Encourage ongoing communication between marketing and compliance teams to align objectives.
  4. Stay Informed on Regulatory Changes: Utilize AI tools and services to monitor and adapt to evolving regulations, ensuring continuous compliance.

By adopting these strategies, pharmaceutical companies can turn compliance into a catalyst for innovation and a significant competitive advantage in the DTC marketing landscape.

Conclusion

The integration of AI into digital media data compliance marks a pivotal shift in DTC pharmaceutical marketing.

By automating compliance tasks, creating transparency among teams, enhancing data integrity standards, and fostering collaboration between marketing, IT and compliance teams, AI can transform compliance from a regulatory obligation into a strategic growth opportunity.

Pharmaceutical companies that embrace AI-driven compliance solutions are better positioned to navigate the complex regulatory environment, drive innovation, and achieve sustained success in the competitive DTC market.

 

Sources:

[1] 2024 ANA Compliant Website Benchmark Report (LINK)

[2] FTC Better Help announcement (LINK)

[3] Costco sued for Facebook pixel placement on Pharmacy homepage (LINK)

[4] IAB TCF framework judged illegal (LINK)

[5] ANA Compliant report

Ian Wolfman

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DTC-In-Perspective by Bob Ehrlich

Trump’s Drug Pricing Executive Order: What It Means for Pharma and DTC Advertising

May 12, 2025 0

The monumental Executive Order announced on May 12 is sending a chill through the pharmaceutical industry. President Trump is proposing to significantly lower drug prices in the U.S. by implementing a most favored nation pricing model. In essence, this means that for drugs paid for by the government, the price would be set at the lowest rate charged by any developed country.

There’s a lot to unpack here.

First, this doesn’t apply to all drugs—only those covered under Medicare and Medicaid. Most drugs that patients pick up at a retail pharmacy are not impacted. Also worth noting: legal challenges are expected.

Even if drug profits dip, DTC advertising is not the obvious place to cut. More importantly, DTC delivers a solid ROI—and that’s not going to change.

The rationale from the administration? Trump argues there’s no justification for Americans to pay more for prescriptions than people in Europe, Canada, or other developed nations. According to him, we’re subsidizing the world’s pharmaceutical innovation by footing the entire R&D bill, while foreign countries enjoy cheaper prices due to imposed price controls. This Executive Order aims to put pressure on those countries to contribute more—and Trump intends to tie this issue into future trade negotiations.

Even though the order currently targets only a subset of drugs, the broader industry fear is that it sets the stage for sweeping price controls. Could Congress eventually mandate that all branded drugs follow a most favored nation pricing strategy? That would have massive repercussions—crushing drug company margins and threatening the long-term viability of R&D pipelines.

Faced with this possibility, some pharmaceutical companies may even choose to cut off sales to lower-paying countries. That would be a strategic move to drive up international pricing and allow more equitable pricing for American consumers.

So—will this shake up affect DTC investment?

In my view, probably not. Even if drug profits dip, DTC advertising is not the obvious place to cut. Drugmakers still need to drive demand, especially in a competitive landscape. While companies might scale back some expenses, the $8 billion spent annually on direct-to-consumer advertising is modest compared to total promotional budgets and operational costs. More importantly, DTC delivers a solid ROI—and that’s not going to change.

What this Executive Order does indicate, however, is that the pharmaceutical industry is clearly in the crosshairs. This isn’t your traditional business-friendly Republican approach. Trump and Bernie Sanders may not agree on much, but when it comes to populist pressure on drug pricing, they’re surprisingly aligned.

While DTC advertising may escape immediate scrutiny, this move shows Trump is willing to break from the norm. Is a DTC ban still on the table? I’d say not right now—but let’s not be naïve. The populist momentum is real, and DTC marketers should stay alert, committed to responsible and effective advertising.

Bob Ehrlich

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Sponsored Content

NEXT-GENERATION BRAND PLANNING: Some (Unexpected) Worrying Trends Demand a Rethink on Brand Planning

April 14, 2025 0

In our third annual report on the state of brand planning, EVERSANA surveyed nearly 100 brand planning executives across biopharmaceuticals, diagnostics and medical devices. This year, we expanded our assessment by hosting 111 marketing leaders from around the globe at a client advisory board in Napa Valley, California, to hear firsthand about key advancements and persistent challenges in brand planning.

WHAT DID WE LEARN?

While an impressive 87% of respondents reported that brand planning helped meet customer and business goals, one advisory board participant summed up the underlying frustrations quite well: “It feels like we are planning for nine months, then executing for three months.” We hypothesize that some sources of this disconnect in overall satisfaction with the outcomes can be explained through more detailed areas of discussion.

INCREASINGLY EFFECTIVE MEASUREMENT THROUGH DATA AND ANALYTICS

We observed significant year-over-year advancement in leader sentiment regarding data and analytics, with two-thirds not only believing in the effective measurement of success in terms of execution against the brand plan and market results, but also that data and advanced analytics played a growing role in achieving this. Our discussion with leaders revealed two drivers:

  • Leaders have increasingly been pressured through efficiency measures, in response to the macro environment (seen through operational expenditure and headcount rationalization), to demonstrate the value of marketing, medical and market access investments – forcing greater examination of the returns on these investments.
  • Client and service provider data and analytics platforms continue to mature, enabling more client organizations to turn metadata into timely and accurate insights.

PERSISTENT CHALLENGES WITH DIGITAL CAPABILITIES AND GENERATIVE AI

Surprisingly, we continue to see more than half of our industry’s leaders expressing concerns about being equipped and experienced to leverage digital capabilities, specifically generative AI. Upon further investigation, it appears that expectations here continue to grow exponentially from the boardroom and C-suite, even though partners are still in the early stages of adoption and struggling to keep pace with the hype.

PARTNER ROSTER: AN ADDITIONAL SOURCE OF DISCONTENT

Where we observed the lowest satisfaction from leaders and a steep decline over the last three years was in the belief that external partners (e.g., agencies, market researchers, consultants) collaborated effectively and integrated their contributions for the betterment of the brand plan. While the promise of consolidation – particularly in the agency segment of partners – has been to aid this, we continue to hear some clients are feeling uneasy about being forced into working with preferred vendors based on enterprise agreements while remaining on the hook for the outcomes.

CONCLUSION

Brand and portfolio leaders can often feel overwhelmed by the annual brand planning process, as well as the capabilities and partners required to ensure that cross-functional insights, strategy and execution will lead to projected results. In situations like these, EVERSANA’s Next-Generation Brand Planning can be leveraged to partner experienced strategic leads with brand teams to seamlessly and efficiently guide the process, assist integration and enable focus that drives business results.

Want to dive into the full results of our experts’ research and its implications on brand planning? Contact the authors to learn more.

Sean Rapson

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Sponsored Content

Transforming Biopharma’s Approach to Patient Engagement with Direct-to-Patient Programs

April 14, 2025 0

Biopharma companies face increasing challenges engaging patients, and patients face increasing challenges accessing timely, personalized, and convenient healthcare. Despite increased investment in product promotion, 1 in 4 patients still avoid seeking care and treatment because it’s inconvenient¹. This gap between patients and the care they need underscores an urgent call for innovative solutions that not only connect patients to care but also simplify their journey from diagnosis to treatment.

Patients expect more from biopharma. A 2025 research study by ixlayer and Ipsos found that 81% of survey respondents think that pharma companies should help them get the care and medicine they need.²

Configurable direct-to-patient (DTP) platforms are designed to bridge this divide. By connecting the disparate components of the healthcare ecosystem—patients, labs, providers, payments, prescriptions, and more—these platforms empower biopharma companies to support and elevate the patient experience across any therapeutic area.

Connecting the Dots Across the Patient Journey

A patient’s journey to care often involves navigating fragmented systems, unclear processes, and delays. The research shows that patients are increasingly looking to pharmaceutical organizations to streamline processes and help bridge barriers to care, ensuring patients receive the timely, personalized health services they deserve while reducing the administrative burden on healthcare stakeholders.

For biopharma companies, a well-executed DTP strategy means the ability to deliver a more effective and holistic patient experience. By offering a platform that unifies critical components of care delivery, pharma orgs will enhance patient engagement, and reduce barriers to care while keeping providers at the center of every decision.

Meeting consumer expectations for digital engagement improves their perception of biopharma

Patients are actively seeking more robust and personalized digital tools and virtual care options to help them get connected with the right care in a timely and affordable manner, and more than half of these consumers³ expect to be able to find the information they’re looking for in three clicks or less.

ixlayer’s survey of healthcare consumers across several condition areas found they are motivated to use digital healthcare tools like the ones found in DTP programs – and much more likely to think positively of the pharma companies that provide them.⁴ In fact, 65% simply expect pharma companies to be doing so already.⁵

Deploying an integrated, patient-centric experience

Crafting a thoughtful, high-value DTP program is no easy task, especially when pharma companies need to address so many complex challenges. As precision medicine and changing consumer demands add even more pressure to get it right, company leaders need to consider the best way to deploy industry-leading experiences that tick all the boxes for consumers across disparate health needs

A unified solution with a pre-built infrastructure that is completely configurable to meet unique brand needs may be the answer. It also drastically reduces the investment and internal resources required to get started on deploying a holistic consumer journey, from patient onboarding and diagnostics to telehealth services and prescription fulfillment.

With a platform solution, integration is assured from the start, and companies can easily launch a seamless, consistent experience for both patients and internal teams.

ixlayer’s platform, ixEngage, can assist pharma companies with launching and administering fully compliant DTP programs by providing the infrastructure needed for rapid deployment and a seamless, intuitive patient experience. As the healthcare industry continues to evolve, platforms like ixEngage are setting the standard for direct-to-patient engagement, delivering on the promise of personalized, timely, and accessible care for all.

Footnotes:

¹ https://www.zs.com/insights/trends-shaping-pharmaceutical-landscape-2024-and-beyond

² ixInsights 2025 / Ipsos Patient research, Top 2 Box, Base All n=414 individuals with one of the following conditions: respiratory conditions, asthma, COPD, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, dermatologic conditions, psoriasis, or atopic dermatitis. – On a scale from 1 to 5, where 1 is strongly disagree and 5 is strongly agree, please rate how much you agree or disagree with the following statements: “Pharmaceutical companies should provide resources to patients to help them get the care and medicines they need.”

³ https://www.salesforce.com/content/dam/web/en_us/www/documents/reports/ connected-healthcare-consumer-report.pdf

⁴ ixInsights 2025 / Ipsos Patient research: If a digital health solution offered the following features, how likely would you be to use it?; If a biopharma company were to offer a digital solution with the following attributes how, if at all, would it change your perception of the company? Top 2 Box Base All: n=414 individuals with one of the following conditions: respiratory conditions, asthma, COPD, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, dermatologic conditions, psoriasis, or atopic dermatitis.

⁵ ixInsights 2025 / Ipsos Patient research, Top 2 Box, Base All n=414 individuals with one of the following conditions: respiratory conditions, asthma, COPD, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, dermatologic conditions, psoriasis, or atopic dermatitis. – On a scale from 1 to 5, where 1 is strongly disagree and 5 is strongly agree, please rate how much you agree or disagree with the following statements: “I expect a pharmaceutical company to provide additional resources to help me get the care and medication I need.”

Matthew Walsh

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Sponsored Content

The Essential Role of Weather in Health and Wellness Marketing Strategies

April 8, 2025 0

Health and wellness marketers have no shortage of challenges. Staying relevant with health-conscious consumers. Navigating strict compliance regulations. Finding ways to stand out and connect with the right consumer in a stacked marketplace – to name a few.

The rewards are there, though, for brands who can break through. The $1.8 trillion global health and wellness market¹ only continues to grow. And many of those consumers are turning to the powerful influence of weather to make their health and wellness decisions. That’s one reason why we recently modernized and enhanced The Weather Channel app user experience as well as our AI-powered ad tech and back-end data modeling with an extra emphasis on health and well-being. Which brings health and wellness marketers a unique and relevant set of advertising solutions to fuel brand relevance and growth.

Unpacking the weather-wellness connection

The connection is clear: Habitually checking the weather informs more than how to dress for the elements. Recent research shows that weather inspires action to minimize illness, manage symptoms, and maximize time outside; offers a sense of control on quality of life; and guides purchases to maintain a healthy lifestyle. According to consumers in the study:

  • 88% are focusing more on health and wellness in recent years²
  • 76% use weather information to manage their health, up 33% since 2020²
  • 73% are more concerned this year than previous years about at least one health condition²

The go-to health and wellness marketing partner 

Your customers realize weather’s impact, so meet them where they are. Trusted, accurate data, innovative AI in weather prediction, and brand-safe, contextually relevant content from The Weather Company, place your brand in the direct path of qualified audiences and their health decisions. Additionally, by understanding the effect of weather on consumer spending, we can better tailor our advertising strategies to influence purchasing decisions that are directly related to health and wellness.

Better accuracy, better engagement, better performance

A constant companion, weather influences daily habits and decisions, sunrise to sunset. But not all weather forecasts are equal. Or accurate. Not only are we the most accurate forecaster³ and one of America’s most trusted brands,4 The Weather Channel is the preferred weather source used by health-conscious consumers to manage health across all conditions.

76% choose The Weather Channel over a competitor².

Since launching new wellness features in The Weather Channel app, we’ve seen 3x higher clicks into our wellness forecast experiences.5 In fact, compared to the legacy app experience, we’re already seeing:

  • 11% more stickiness5
  • 10% more page views per visit5
  • 8% increase in time spent per daily active user5

This preference for, and engagement with, our digital channels means more reach and a higher likelihood of campaign success. But beyond the lure of our new features, the instability and volatility of Mother Nature herself means more eyeballs, more often, on the forecast.

IQVIA-validated health audiences 

IQVIA, a leader in healthcare intelligence, utilizes rich prescription data to provide insights into the types of visitors on digital platforms. Our new IQVIA partnership has validated that The Weather Channel’s platforms effectively reach qualified health audiences across over 60 health conditions. Notably, we connect with 47% of U.S. psoriasis patients, which over indexes the general population by 32%.6 This collaboration validates our ability to deliver health content to audiences most likely to be treating health conditions and wanting to learn about weather’s impact on their symptoms.

Brand-safe sponsorships

Get your brand seen in the well-placed context of weather information and health resources through sponsorships on our digital properties.

Content sponsorships: With the latest enhancements to The Weather Channel app, we’ve re-imagined the experience to emphasize the weather-to-wellness connection. New editorial sponsorship opportunities help you align your brand with premium, health-related articles and video content created by award-winning journalists and verified by medical reviewers. Trusted advice and resources cover psoriasis, eczema, weight loss, type 2 diabetes, asthma, COPD, arthritis, stress management, aches and pains, and migraines.

Forecast sponsorships: Health-conscious consumers have access to a range of customized forecasts and tools designed for allergies, skin care, colds and flu, and respiratory health. These forecasts use weather data, AI, and insights to help predict how symptoms might change in the coming days and week.

69% check weather proactively for preventative health measures²

We put weather into action to give your audience information and insights that help them ultimately live healthier, happier, safer, and smarter.

Anticipate consumer needs with actionable data signals

By using weather data to inform when and where consumers’ health will be impacted, health marketers can tap into unified, scaled, and predictive signals to help to find and connect with qualified audiences and influence health outcomes.

Weather Targeting

Deliver hyperlocal, targeted, personalized health ads by leveraging an intelligent mix of weather data and health data, including:

  • OTC/prescription sales from IQVIA
  • Anonymized patient reports and aggregated insurance claims reports from Merative
  • Weather science to identify the optimal mix of environmental elements most likely to exacerbate health conditions at a ZIP code level

Audience Targeting

In healthcare marketing, privacy is paramount. Find and connect with your audience using demographic look-alikes with a propensity for specific conditions. These representative audience models are based on:

  • Behaviors and insights from The Weather Channel digital properties, including site interests and frequent locations viewed
  • Anonymized health claims data
  • CDC and other third-party sources

360M+ monthly global The Weather Channel app users6

Beyond the marketing department 

Make weather your business. The Weather Company can help you improve strategies, operations, and profitability across the enterprise. Yes, the same company that uses meteorological expertise and technology to help keep billions of people safe and informed about the weather also helps thousands of businesses increase the bottom line.

Weather Engine™

Help your business adapt quickly and make informed decisions that account for weather impacts. Powered by proprietary AI and machine learning, our Weather Engine helps you take advantage of large, analytics-driven insights across internal processes and consumer-facing touchpoints.

Weather data APIs

Integrate reliable weather data directly into your enterprise applications, business processes, or own custom models. Both weather data and insights are available via APIs with flexible integration services.

Competitive advantage is in the forecast

The influence of weather on daily health and wellness choices isn’t slowing down. Marketers need ways to stand out in a crowded, challenging market. Fortunately, as weather, data, and health continue to intersect, you can trust The Weather Company’s advertising solutions to help you create purposeful, relevant connections and better outcomes for both consumers and your business.

View footnote details+

1 The trends defining the $1.8 trillion global wellness market in 2024, McKinsey, January 16, 2024 Article

2 Weather and Health Impact Study, Sago for The Weather Company, health-affected consumers, March 2024

3 ForecastWatch, Global and Regional Weather Forecast Accuracy Overview, 2017-2022, commissioned by The Weather Company

4 According to a Morning Consult Q1 2024 survey: The Weather Channel brand was the #13 most trusted brand in the US. The surveys were conducted from 1/1/2024 through 3/31/2024, among a nationally representative sample of 1,158 and 35,280 U.S. adults

5 Amplitude, April-July 2024

6 IQVIA Healthratings – MAT June 2024; Data is anonymized and based on 1 month IQVIA sample of TWC audience. TWC has no actual health knowledge of any individual audience member7 According to Comscore, The Weather Channel was the largest provider of weather forecasts worldwide (web and app) in 2022 based on the average of the total monthly unique visitors. Comscore Media Metrix®, Worldwide Rollup Media Trend, News/Information – Weather category incl. The [M] Weather Channel, The, Jan-Dec. 2022 avg

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