This post was created in partnership with Publicis Health
Key takeaways
- Healthcare no longer begins at a doctor’s office, and marketers need to adjust to that reality.
- Marketers should consider how to empower patients and help them understand the vast amount of data at their fingertips.
- Health marketers now need to consider how AI plays into the patient journey.
A health journey can now begin long before a formal moment of care, sparked by a smartwatch vibration, a TikTok scroll, or a question typed into an AI chatbot. The shift gives consumers more ways to engage with their health, and marketers many more signals to interpret.
During an ADWEEK House Advertising HQ group chat co-hosted with Publicis Health, healthcare leaders discussed how AI, data, creativity, and culture are reshaping the patient experience.
The first signal can come from anywhere
The conversation opened with a simple question: Where did each speaker recently turn for health advice? Their answers reflected a journey that now flows among devices, platforms, personal networks, and clinical settings.
The range of responses underscored how far health influence has moved beyond the doctor’s office. Peter Scherr, CMO of Noom, shared that his father’s Apple Watch detected a heart anomaly, prompting him to seek care that eventually led to a pacemaker. “He consulted the device before his doctor,” Scherr said. “It drove home the point that health is everywhere.”
Matt McNally, global CEO of Publicis Health, said the industry is building on the long-running focus on the empowered patient. People have more information and tools than ever, but the journey has become more complex and continuous. “With the tools we have now, it’s our job to help people navigate the healthcare journey,” McNally noted.
The need for guidance is becoming more urgent as health data multiplies. Scherr pointed to the tension created by wearables, apps, blood work, and other inputs. “There’s a lot of data masquerading as answers,” he said. “It’s very overwhelming.”
Navigation requires emotion and evidence
For health brands, showing up across the journey requires more than visibility. Katie Baldwin, VP, consumer marketing at AbbVie, said pharma brands need to account for what consumers experience before, during, and after treatment, from the emotional reality of living with a condition to barriers that can shape whether someone starts or stays on therapy.
Baldwin framed the challenge facing marketers and agency partners as a dual responsibility. “Do you move them or do you arm them?” she remarked. “Moving them emotionally is what we trust our advertising agencies to do, and arming them with information is now just as critical.”
Equipping consumers with trustworthy information has become more challenging as AI tools become part of the health journey. Fannie McWatt, PhD, head of data and AI strategy at Publicis Health, said brands need to think beyond simply being findable in AI-powered search environments.
“Everybody’s talking about AEO and GEO, but for us, it’s more than optimization,” McWatt explained. “It’s actually looking at where AI is an influencer throughout the entire journey and what information in that particular situation needs to be retrieved at that moment.”
McWatt also cautioned that confidence and accuracy are not always the same thing. “We have to be really careful when we’re building the AI algorithms and structuring evidence and providing the context around it,” she continued.
Health has become culture
As health decisions move across platforms, communities, creators, AI tools, and everyday conversations, brands have more opportunities to be useful in the places consumers already look for information.
Allison Ceraso, chief creative officer at Digitas Health, said health marketing has entered a more visible era. “Health isn’t in culture,” she said. “I think right now health is our culture. They are synonymous.”
The broader role demands more relevance, credible resources, and emotional intelligence. Ceraso explained that the best health brands start by understanding the fears, questions, and private moments that shape how people make sense of their health.
Craig Romanok, chief commercial officer at Digitas Health/Publicis Health, emphasized the scale of change facing the industry. “There’s no doubt we are at a moment right now, an inflection point in this category, this industry, that we have never seen before,” he said.
Personalization is becoming anticipation
The group also discussed how connected data can help brands deliver more relevant support without crossing into intrusive territory. McNally predicted the next phase of patient support will depend on whether brands can anticipate the next point of friction.
“It’s not enough just to know me. That’s table stakes,” he said. “What do I need next? What am I going to need two weeks from now if I have a side effect that someone else on the product didn’t have?”
In health, relevance can build trust or erode it quickly. A consumer may want direction, but not surveillance. The opportunity is to show up with the right context at the right moment, then make the decision point easier to navigate.
For Ceraso, that responsibility is what makes health marketing different. “People don’t want your product all the time; they need it,” she said. “So, you have to come into the conversation with empathy and understanding.”
As health becomes more predictive and proactive, technology will only carry the work so far. The true test is whether brands can make critical moments feel clearer, better timed, and more human.
Featured Conversation Leaders
- Katie Baldwin, VP, Consumer Marketing, AbbVie
- Allison Ceraso, Chief Creative Officer, Digitas Health
- Matt McNally, Global CEO, Publicis Health
- Fannie McWatt, PhD, Head of Data and AI Strategy, Publicis Health
- Peter Scherr, CMO, Noom
- Craig Romanok, Chief Commercial Officer, Digitas Health/Publicis Health
- Jenny Rooney, Chief Brand and Community Officer, ADWEEK
