3 takeaways from Reimagine Pharma Marketing West

by Jim Diefenbach

A few members of my team and I returned from RxDefine’s second Reimagine conference last week - thanks for joining, Jenna Bradford and Jason Story ! - and I wanted to jot down a few thoughts based on the sessions I sat in on and the conversations I had. 

First of all, it was another fantastic two days - a great follow-on to the previous Reimagine conference Christine Duborg and I attended last May. The entire group was incredibly engaged and had great ideas about the future of pharma and med device marketing - I’m confident that everyone who attended walked away with at least two or three “Ah-ha!” moments that they’ll take back to the rest of their team.

For me, there were three main points that stood out for me.

#1. Data is not about statistics - it’s about storytelling

“Data-driven decisions” is one of the key phrases that we’ve been hearing in all areas of marketing for the last few years. But there was a newer data-related phrase that I heard a lot at this conference and that really stood out for me: Data storytelling. 

The point here is that data is great! Statistics, also great. But if you’re just looking at a bunch of numbers and dashboards without an understanding of the story behind then, then it doesn’t really help you much. And just as throwing data at your own team doesn’t necessarily help, throwing data at your consumers and HCPs doesn’t necessarily help either. Because, ultimately, your message is not actually about the data - it’s about telling a story that is backed by that data. 

Don’t get me wrong - I love a good dashboard. But if you want to truly make data-driven decisions, then you have to make sure you and your team understands the story behind the statistics.

#2. All brands need a personalization plan

I want to specifically call out Kevin Hsieh here. I already hyped his session in my pre-event article, and it did not disappoint. Everything he said was spot-on around the concepts of personalization and treating consumers like individuals - to the point where I pretty much photographed every one of his slides for future reference. My favorite stat was that, according to a 2022 survey, 85% of respondents said that speaking to customers regularly is essential, a higher percentage than those who said it was important to have a process for understanding user needs and for conducting user research. 

When you couple this fact with the numbers Kevin showed around how increasingly consumers want to be treated like an individual, the statistics reveal not just a story, but an imperative: Every brand needs a personalization plan.

#3. The key to HCP is omnichannel

Okay, this one isn’t new. But it’s still worth noting because it is such a huge theme, and the content at Reimagine continued to back it up. In particular, Brenda Buechler 's session spoke insightfully to the impacts of COVID on HCP communications. Like it's doing in every industry, digital is changing the pharma world, especially with respect to how people want to receive and consume information. HCPs are people, too - and this trend is applying to them. Especially in a post-COVID environment, where access to physicians is shrinking, it’s essential that you support your field force - and your entire commercial strategy - by adding digital tools to your commercial tool belt. 

My favorite stat on this topic comes from an Accenture study, which reports that 69% of HCPs said that digital education is more helpful now than before the COVID-19 crisis. Life sciences, it’s really time to up our digital game.

As a final note, I want to call out a more personal takeaway from the conference about building connections. I’ve spent my entire career creating connections with other people and learning and becoming better through that process - and I continue to appreciate how much I missed that when the world was shut down. Being at this conference was another reminder of the importance of community, and of how essential it is that we work together to make our industry better. I was thrilled to reconnect with some old friends - and, even more, to help these old friends make new connections with each other, so that they can continue the chain and we can all work together to build a strong, connected network of professionals all working together toward the same goal. (Looking at you, Zoë Dunn !)

Already counting down the days until the next event. Thank you to everyone for such a great show!