Where is technology falling short for pharma companies’ digital marketing efforts? Internet Brands Executive Vice President Konrad Gerszke, who oversees PulsePoint, discusses the technical challenges that pharma faces when reaching today’s digital-savvy consumers.
From orchestrating the customer journey to personalizing content, the resources that consumers use are shifting. Learn how PulsePoint is helping pharma reach consumers where they are, with content that is relevant to the moment they are living, right now.
Rebecca Willumson:
Hi there. I'm Rebecca Willumson and I'm the publisher of Fierce Pharma. I'm here today with Konrad Gerszke, EVP of Growth Platforms and New Markets Internet Brands, and overseeing PulsePoint. Konrad, thank you so much for joining me.
Konrad Gerszke:
Great to be here. Thank you, Rebecca.
Rebecca Willumson:
Before we begin, can you tell me a little bit about yourself and your role at Internet Brands and PulsePoint?
Konrad Gerszke:
Yeah, sure. Since the acquisition of PulsePoint by Internet Brands, I'm overseeing that company a couple of months now, and at Internet Brands I run a horizontal data analytics platform cutting across all of their health, legal, and other vertical businesses.
Rebecca Willumson:
To kick things off, tell me how have customer and patient expectations evolved in the current healthcare marketplace?
Konrad Gerszke:
I think more and more what we are seeing is that consumer expectations are being shaped by the digital experiences that they have in other platforms and environments. We have a whole new generation of digital natives growing up. What they're looking for is intuitive navigation, recency, real time content personalization, but in a privacy, friendly way and not in an intrusive way.
Rebecca Willumson:
Tell me, how are digital experiences and solutions changing how pharma companies can better meet consumer needs?
Konrad Gerszke:
I think one of the most exciting and interesting areas that is on the horizon is if you think about a digital journey, that I'm on as a consumer or a care seeker or a patient, and if a pharma company or a healthcare provider understands the moments that I am in, as a consumer or as a patient, in that journey serves me relevant content, communicates with me in a relevant way at that moment in my journey, the engagement and the effectiveness of that communication will skyrocket. It will be just a transformational experience for the patient and the consumer.
Rebecca Willumson:
Tell me, where is technology falling short for pharma marketing and what needs to be done?
Konrad Gerszke:
I think there are a couple of basic elements that need to be tackled. In other industries, we see a lot of shift from linear TV budgets to CTV. In pharma, I think there's just not enough creative execution. There's one partner of ours, on the agency side, pointed out recently a competitive separation as a technology component in CTV is missing. We need to figure that out. Another key element around that is journey orchestration and personalization. Underpinning a lot of that is measurement and reporting. If I just look at how, in the past five years the CPG and retail industry got transformed and disrupted on the measurement and attribution side, I anticipate that something like this will happen on the pharma side as well. Becoming way more real time, becoming more predictive and forward looking. All of that is going to shape a whole new set of digital solutions.
Rebecca Willumson:
Very good. That is all the questions that I have for you today, but thank you so much for joining me. I appreciate the conversation.
Konrad Gerszke:
Great talking to you. Bye.
About PulsePoint: