In the rapidly evolving landscape of direct-to-consumer (DTC) marketing, artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as a transformative force. For large pharmaceutical companies and their senior brand marketers, understanding and leveraging AI can significantly enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of their marketing strategies. Here’s how AI is reshaping DTC marketing and what it means for the industry.
Revolutionizing the Content Supply Chain
One of the most promising applications of AI in DTC marketing is in the content supply chain. Traditionally, creating and disseminating marketing content has been a time-consuming and resource-intensive process. AI offers a 50% to 70% improvement in efficiency by automating various stages of content creation and distribution. This includes generating derivatives of original content at the push of a button – maybe translating them across different languages, formatting in different ways – all while avoiding copyright infringement, which accelerates the development process significantly.
Improving MLR Processes
Moreover, AI can streamline the content review and approval process. By leveraging AI to extract claims from clinical/scientific documents and then identify and match claims in new content, the medical, legal and regulatory (MLR) process can be dramatically accelerated. This not only speeds up the process, but also reduces the likelihood of errors, ensuring that marketing materials are both compliant and effective.
EVERSANA INTOUCH is already using AI to make significant strides in improving MLR processes for pharmaceutical companies. Pilot projects with clients have shown encouraging results, with AI helping to match claims, ease reviews and approvals, and connect to dissemination. The technology is proving to be reliable, with minimal error rates, but the key to success lies in changing the way creative and MLR teams work to fully unlock the full potential benefit of these solutions.
By giving agencies more power to inform the MLR process, AI fosters better collaboration between marketers and regulatory teams. This collaboration ensures that marketing materials are not only compliant, but also aligned with the strategic goals of the brand.
Enhancing Creative Processes
AI is also transforming the creative process in DTC marketing. Traditionally, developing a marketing campaign involved storyboarding concepts, conducting focus groups and performing quantitative tests to choose the best options. With AI, the creative process becomes more dynamic and efficient. AI can provide immediate input and feedback, allowing teams to iterate quickly and refine their ideas in real time.
This acceleration means that marketing teams need to reevaluate how they spend their time. The expectation is now to deliver faster and more efficiently. AI enables a more diverse bench of experts to contribute to the creative process, enriching the marketing strategy and ensuring that the final product is both innovative and effective.
Optimizing Media Placements
“Sixty percent of DTC marketing is still in television. How does AI change that?” – Bob Ehrlich, CEO of DTC Perspectives
AI’s ability to analyze vast amounts of data and map out consumer journeys is revolutionizing media strategy, including TV. Instead of monolithic TV ads, nonlinear TV creates significant data and unique opportunities for AI to help integrate ads into a broader set of experiences around each customer, ensuring that media spend is targeted and effective.
Programmatic media and search are also being disrupted by AI with various competitors. With the rise of AI-driven platforms, marketers can now make more informed decisions about where to place their ads, ensuring that they reach the right audience at the right time. This shift demonstrates that
“We’re in a pull world instead of a push world, where there is more pressure to intercept customers where they are, including GenAI platforms like ChatGPT.” – Scott Snyder, chief digital officer at EVERSANA
Because media is being consumed in nonlinear ways, you get more data, and that’s informing more of a holistic DTC marketing strategy and customer experience.
AI is not just a buzzword; it is a powerful tool that is transforming DTC marketing in the pharmaceutical industry. From revolutionizing the content supply chain to enhancing creative processes to optimizing media placements, AI offers numerous opportunities for large pharma companies to improve their marketing strategies. By embracing AI, senior brand marketers can ensure that their campaigns are more efficient, effective and impactful, leading to better customer experiences and improved outcomes.