MIAMI — The pharmaceutical industry has long been considered a laggard in digital advertising innovation, hamstrung by regulatory hurdles and lengthy compliance approvals. But that gap is finally closing as programmatic capabilities mature and creative strategies become more sophisticated.
The shift represents a fundamental change in how pharma marketers approach campaigns, moving away from siloed thinking where data, creative, and measurement operated independently. Instead, the industry is embracing a unified framework that weaves these elements together from the outset.
“Starting with data first, making sure you understand the audience, is key to driving the best performance,” said Francis D’Hondt, svp of addressable health at Kinesso, in this video interview with Beet.TV. “It’s important to sort of weave that creative framework into what you’re trying to do from a targeting and measurement perspective, instead of thinking it as three separate components of the media plan.”
Authenticity drives creative personalization
The push for more personalized pharma advertising is being driven by a recognition that underserved communities have historically been poorly represented in healthcare marketing. D’Hondt sees this as both an ethical imperative and a performance opportunity.
“There are a lot of underserved communities that are impacted by conditions in different ways from others,” D’Hondt said. “The way that marketing has been served to those communities, the way that creatives look, the way that they kind of see the representations of patients has not always been that same sort of proportion to how the impact is driven.”
Dynamic creative optimization allows pharma brands to serve different versions of ads that speak to patients at various stages of their healthcare journey, from early symptom discovery to considering treatment switches. “Having multiple creatives and more dynamic decisioning behind that really makes it go a lot further,” D’Hondt said.
AI accelerates while humans maintain oversight
Artificial intelligence is transforming programmatic advertising across industries, with US programmatic ad spending projected to surpass $200 billion in 2026, according to eMarketer. But in pharma, where compliance requirements can delay campaigns by months, the promise of AI-driven acceleration is particularly appealing.
D’Hondt envisions a near future where AI can speed up the privacy approvals that currently frustrate pharma marketers. “Speeding that up is going to be so impactful to what we can bring to market,” D’Hondt said. “We can’t do that without a level of human oversight and sort of final approval to make sure that it fits in what compliance guidelines are.”
The balance between automation and human judgment remains critical in a category where regulatory missteps carry significant consequences. AI can accelerate creative versioning and partner vetting, but the final sign-off requires human expertise.
Emerging channels drive measurable outcomes
Kinesso specializes in programmatic advertising and marketing technology services, with platforms and tools to optimize the marketing lifecycle, from planning and strategy to activation and measurement.
Connected TV and audio are proving to be fertile ground for pharma innovation, with interactive units and pause ads creating new opportunities for patient engagement. The industry’s shift toward digital is accelerating rapidly, with nearly 80% of healthcare and pharma media ad spending expected to be digital by 2026, up from 64% in 2022.
“We’re seeing a lot of creative assets in CTV specifically, whether you want to talk about an interactive unit, pause ads, things that are driving a little bit more interactivity to the patients,” D’Hondt said.
Kinesso’s parent company IPG has been consolidating its data and technology resources, with the company’s Acxiom data spine now integrated more closely with its addressable media capabilities. D’Hondt emphasized the importance of long-term measurement planning, noting that 2027 planning will begin soon after upfronts.
