At A Glance
Pharma marketers can support more informed health journeys when patient and HCP messaging is relevant, privacy-forward, and optimized against meaningful outcomes. In this Ask the Expert conversation, Experian and DeepIntent discuss how health marketers can coordinate education, CTV, activation workflows, and measurement without entering private clinical decisions.Privacy-forward pharma media supports more informed healthcare journeys
Effective pharma marketing depends on reaching patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals (HCPs) with useful information in appropriate, privacy-forward ways. The goal is to make relevant education easier to find, support more informed conversations, and help brands understand how media contributes across the health journey.
In this Ask the Expert session, Natalie Mancuso, SVP, Data Partnerships at DeepIntent, joins Sheila Wirick, who leads the health team at Experian, to discuss how to craft patient and HCP campaigns, privacy-safe activation workflows, connected TV (CTV), and measurement approaches built for pharma.
Why should your media plan start with understanding the patient and provider
The patient-and-provider journey should inform your media plan, as treatment decisions in pharma are increasingly informed, personal, and patient-driven. With more health information available than ever, patients are playing a more active role in understanding their options and participating in treatment conversations. As other industries become more customer-centric, pharma media planning needs to become more patient-centric.
“We’ve got patients who are more informed, more involved in their treatment decisions than ever. The accessibility of data and information and the ways we can consume it with just AI alone is so vast that if we’re not arming people with the right information in real time, we’re missing the boat.”
DeepIntentNatalie Mancuso, SVP, Data Partnerships
This means media should be aligned to where a patient or provider is in the decision journey and what they need at that moment. Early on, media may play an educational role by building awareness of a condition, symptom, or treatment category. Later, it may help support more specific questions, treatment consideration, access, affordability, or adherence.
The patient-provider conversation remains the key boundary. That exchange should stay private and clinically led. Media can play a valuable role before and after those moments by offering information that helps patients and providers feel more informed.
How can brands connect patient and HCP messaging responsibly?
It’s critical for agencies and brands to deliver relevant messaging to inform each stakeholder’s needs throughout the treatment journey, especially ahead of key clinical milestones. To execute this, brands must exercise privacy-forward activation, keeping patient and HCP identity, activation, and measurement paths separate, while using a common workflow layer to support the same brand goal.
Experian helps pharma marketers do this by acting as an independent, privacy-forward identity, data, and workflow layer. We bring together high-fidelity matching, governed onboarding, and non-clinical consumer context, so patient and HCP engagement can be activated more accurately across channels and connected to reporting.
The distinction is not only where each audience is reached. HCPs may be engaged in both professional and personal environments, but their needs are different from patients’. For example, an HCP may receive messaging about co-pay savings for eligible patients, while a patient may receive information about patient support programs. These are different messages for different audiences, but they ladder up to the same goal: informing both parties in a privacy-forward, relevant way.
Hear from Natalie Mancuso in our 2026 State of advertising report
In our 2026 State of advertising report, Natalie shares why identity serves as the connective infrastructure that links planning, activation, and measurement across connected TV (CTV), programmatic, commerce media, and walled garden environments.
What does privacy-forward activation look like in pharma?
Pharma brands often start with fragmented patient and HCP signals. Privacy-forward activation turns those inputs into usable audiences by first confirming that the data can be used, then translating identity in controlled environments that protect personally identifiable information through tokenization or other methodologies.
For DTC, that means building and matching audiences without relying on inferred health conditions from browsing behavior. For HCPs, it means connecting professional identity to verified sources in a way that supports activation and measurement. In a category shaped by HIPAA, state privacy laws, internal review, and consumer sensitivity, building privacy in from sourcing through activation is what makes responsible health media possible.
How can CTV play a more useful role in pharma?
CTV can play a more useful role in healthcare when it’s connected to a larger, privacy-forward plan and not treated as just an awareness channel.
DeepIntent connects CTV and digital exposure data using identity signals, such as National Provider Identifiers (NPIs), hashed email addresses, IP addresses, device IDs, and household signals, where permitted and reviewed. That identity layer helps support sequencing and suppression across streaming, endemic, mobile, and digital settings.
In practice, CTV can introduce targeted education or broad brand awareness, and later touchpoints can provide sequential information in the right channels. Instead of repeating the same message, brands can make pivots based on engagement and context.
“For us, it starts with identity and not panels. When we’re resolving CTV and digital exposures to the same person, we’re leveraging signals so that every touchpoint across streaming, endemic, and mobile is recognized as the same individual, not model lookalikes.”
DeepIntentNatalie Mancuso, SVP, Data Partnerships
For pharma, campaign performance should not be measured by reach alone. A stronger approach looks at whether sequenced engagement contributes to meaningful downstream signals, including:
- Prescription activity
- Provider engagement
- Referral patterns
- Patient compliance
- Adherence signals, where measurement is permitted
Why should messaging and reporting change in pharma?
Pharma campaigns are journeys with changing information needs. Reporting should guide the campaign optimization.
“If I’m launching into a market with a new class of drug, I’m asking what education needs to be put into the market – from both an HCP and a consumer standpoint – to build awareness?”
DeepIntentNatalie Mancuso, SVP, Data Partnerships
Clicks and website visits still have a place, but they can’t tell the full pharma story. DeepIntent processes data in real time, giving brands an up-to-date read on how media connects to campaign engagement. Campaign signals can help teams optimize audience logic, creative, channel mix, or sequencing during a live campaign.
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Explore how privacy-safe pharma activation can make an impact
Experian brings marketing data and identity expertise for health marketing and DeepIntent adds pharma-specific activation experience. Together, we help brands connect patient and HCP strategies responsibly, with privacy built in from the start.
Watch the full video with our experts to hear Sheila Wirick and Natalie Mancuso discuss patient and HCP messaging, CTV, privacy-safe activation, and outcome measurement for pharma brands.
About our experts
Natalie Mancuso
SVP, Data Partnerships, DeepIntent
Natalie Mancuso is SVP, Data Partnerships at DeepIntent and a leader in health-focused AdTech and DSP strategy. With over 20 years of experience growing billion-dollar healthcare brands, she turns complex data into scalable, performance-driven solutions that keep marketers ahead of industry change.
Sheila Wirick
Director of Health Sales, Experian
Sheila Wirick is the Director of Health Sales at Experian with more than 20 years of experience in data and analytics. As Director of Health Sales at Experian Marketing Services, she collaborates with healthcare, pharmaceutical, and nonprofit organizations to apply data and insights that enhance customer retention, brand awareness, and acquisition. She is committed to helping organizations use data to deliver measurable results and meaningful impact.
FAQs
A pharma audience is activation-ready when patient or HCP inputs can be translated into usable audiences with the right accuracy, controls, interoperability, and destination readiness. For patient engagement, that may include privacy-safe cohort construction, caregiver logic, non-clinical enrichment and appropriate exclusion rules. For HCP engagement, it may include governed identity inputs such as NPI, specialty, practice location, professional address and other verified attributes where appropriate.
Pharma brands can sequence messages responsibly by giving each channel a clear role and using audience logic to maintain continuity. CTV and out-of-home can support awareness, social can reinforce the message, search can capture active research and point-of-care or rep-triggered channels can support decision moments. The workflow should preserve separation between patient and HCP identity strategies.
Pharma marketers should measure whether media connects to outcomes such as audience quality, prescription activity, qualified HCP engagement, verified delivery, referral patterns, therapy starts or adherence signals where permitted. These outcomes often depend on partner-enabled workflows, clean rooms, and aggregated outputs rather than direct end-to-end tracking.
Experian acts as an independent privacy-first identity, data, and workflow layer for pharma marketers. We help brands bring together identity, high-fidelity matching, governed onboarding, non-clinical consumer context, and partner interoperability so patient and HCP engagement can be activated more accurately across channels and connected more cleanly to partner-enabled measurement.
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There’s no question that COVID-19 has changed the shopping landscape forever. While the initial onset of quarantines and lockdowns negatively impacted brick and mortar retailers, online shopping soared to levels higher than 2019’s Black Friday/Cyber Monday extravaganza, accounting for $153 billion in spending over April and May1. Many consumers will continue to shop online for the foreseeable future for various reasons, which means marketers must have a greater focus on providing a positive online customer experience. Despite MSN Money’s claim that COVID may have made holiday shopping extinct2—in part because retailers such as Walmart, Target, Best Buy and more are keeping their doors closed on Thanksgiving—it turns out that’s not the case. According to polls taken by Chain Store Age, the pandemic hasn’t impacted consumers’ holiday spending plans, but it has affected how they intend to shop. This sentiment is echoed by Radial, who shared that 60% of consumers plan to shop less in-store this season. Even so, Salesforce noted that respondents to their poll found that consumers value safety and health above all else in their in-store shopping experiences, with 60% stating that social distancing measures were important to them3. So how can you navigate this new shopping normal and make the most of the 2020 holiday season? 1. Leverage data to strengthen communicationsData has always been an important component to a successful marketing plan, but it’s even more important now that shoppers are scattered across multiple devices and shifting their preference from offline to online—or a hybrid of the two. Connecting consumer identities across devices and channels means you can reach customers more effectively, promoting events, items and experiences that are most relevant to them on the channels they frequent most. You can also leverage mobile location data to understand consumer traffic patterns, including understanding which competitors they may visit. Not only will this help you to anticipate their behaviors, but you’ll learn more about their habits and preferences, which in turn helps you to craft messaging that speaks directly to their needs—and encourages their loyalty. 2. Be transparent in your messagingBrick and mortar holiday shopping isn’t totally out of the question this year, it’s just going to look a little different. If you’re still offering customers an offline experience, be open and honest with them about what they can expect. Use your outreach to share information about how you’re protecting employees, sanitizing the store, and making for a safer in-store experience so your customers feel comfortable walking through your doors. (The NRF has excellent resources to help you navigate this as required by state guidelines.)Also, let them know if there are any changes to shopping policies, such as wearing masks, contactless payment, the number of people allowed in the store at one time, return windows and more. The more transparent you can be in your messaging, the more comfortable customers will feel in keeping you in mind for their holiday shopping plans. And if your online business is booming, make sure you communicate any changes in fulfillment or shipping due to safety measures or delivery delays. This will be important messaging to those who may not be traveling to see family this year and are shopping online to have gifts shipped to their loved ones. 3. Offer positive new experiences and perksWhether you’re online or offline or both, customers will feel encouraged to shop when you offer them a little something extra to help make their shopping experience more enjoyable. Curbside pick-up has become an important aspect of this new normal in retail, so make sure you share with your customer whether that option is available to them. If “try before you buy” isn’t available like it may have been in the past, see what you can do to offer a similar experience—for example, many fashion retailers are offering virtual styling services that allow customers to connect with an expert for further insight on fits and cuts that may work for them (or the friends and family they’re shopping for). Some home furnishing retailers provide the ability to “visualize” an accessory or piece of furniture in your home.Free gift-wrapping services are always appreciated, as are in-store experiences for shoppers with kids (but they must be socially distant, of course). Be creative and use data to help inform your decisions so you can create perks and experiences that will really connect with your customer. Even with new challenges, retailers have the opportunity to offer a positive shopping experience through the holiday season and beyond, whether online or offline. And given the stressors of the season, it’s likely consumers will be shopping for themselves as much as they’re shopping for friends and family. As Business Insider put it, “…retailers will need to be more targeted and creative in their approach to Black Friday to get customers to spend,” and having the right data will be key. Download our new Holiday Marketing eBook for trends, tips and tricks to help you plan and execute powerful holiday marketing campaigns. 1https://theblog.adobe.com/online-shopping-during-covid-19-exceeds-2019-holiday-season-levels/ 2https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/covid-19-may-have-made-thanksgiving-day-holiday-shopping-extinct/ar-BB17fmtm 3https://www.zdnet.com/article/covid-19-has-permanently-changed-shopping-behavior/
Cross-device matching and pixel-based foot traffic attribution reporting empower digital marketers with greater control of location-based campaigns.RALEIGH, N.C. (PRWEB) AUGUST 04, 2020 Tapad, part of Experian a global leader in digital identity resolution, and Reveal Mobile, a leader in location-based marketing, today announced a collaboration that combines Tapad’s digital cross-device matching technology and pixel-based attribution features with Reveal Mobile’s VISIT Local, the software that hundreds of digital agencies and brands use for location-based analytics. The partnership is designed to drive improved performance by optimizing ad targeting and messaging for location-based campaigns. Powered by Tapad’s privacy-safe cross device matching, marketers using VISIT Local to power location-based campaigns can enhance how they reach shoppers. When one member of a household shops for groceries, clothes, household goods or any other consumer item, a conversation between multiple members of the household typically takes place beforehand. With cross device matching, marketers can reach everyone who has influence over what to buy and where to buy it. VISIT Local users can expand location-based services with a single click to include devices that share the same household, including targeting across multiple devices owned by the same user, allowing advertisers to maximize messaging and increase their share of wallet among consumers. “VISIT Local has always given our customers access to high-intent location-based audiences. With the addition of cross device matching from Tapad, advertisers can boost audience sizes up to 300 percent while maintaining full confidence in quality and relevance,” says Brian Handly, CEO of Reveal Mobile. “VISIT Local users can now apply multiple criteria and attributes to a single location-based audience, giving them the advanced control and transparency they need.” As reliable attribution becomes increasingly complex for marketers and ad buyers who need to prove value, the addition of Tapad’s pixel-based foot traffic attribution to VISIT Local enables the measurement of actual campaign effectiveness by tying ad views to in-store foot traffic. This new feature, which will be available in VISIT Local this fall, lets Reveal Mobile customers understand who visited a retail location as a result of being served an ad, providing a more accurate view into return on ad spend during and after advertising campaigns. “Tapad’s goal is to empower marketers with digital advertising efficiencies at scale across devices,” says Mark Connon, COO of Tapad. “With cross device matching and pixel-based foot traffic attribution, marketers using VISIT Local can better address the consumer’s preferences and habits, and deliver them consistently actionable information on user behavior. These capabilities advance location-based advertising in ways marketers need and want.” In addition to these new features, VISIT Local’s location-based audience builder now enables marketers to create custom audiences made up of people who have visited different places on different dates. This gives VISIT Local users the ability to segment and create the most highly targeted audiences possible. For example, a marketer who wants to advertise for a chain of restaurants can easily target visitors of different competitors in different cities. Or a marketer who wants to advertise vacation destinations can target people who have been to various resorts at different times of year. Or a marketer who wants to advertise the release of new music can target people who have been to concert venues in different cities on different dates. “Many of our customers need to create highly custom audiences so they can run experiments, test messaging, and run increasingly competitive campaigns,” says Handly. “Everyone who uses VISIT Local can now apply multiple criteria and attributes to a single location-based audience, giving them the advanced control and transparency they need.”To learn more about Tapad’s digital identity resolution products, visit our identity solution page. To learn more about Reveal Mobile’s location-based marketing offerings, visit http://www.revealmobile.com. About TapadTapad, Inc. is a global leader in digital identity resolution. The Tapad Graph, and its related solutions, provide a transparent, privacy-safe approach connecting brands to consumers through their devices globally. Our one-of-a-kind Graph Select offering enables marketers the flexibility and freedom of choice to correlate devices to varied objectives, driving campaign effectiveness and business results. Tapad is recognized across the industry for its product innovation, workplace culture and talent, and has earned numerous awards including One World Identity’s 2019 Top 100 Influencers in Identity Award. Headquartered in New York, Tapad also has offices in Chicago, London, Oslo, Singapore and Tokyo. About Reveal MobileReveal Mobile is a leader in location-based marketing, analytics, audiences, and attribution. Creator of VISIT Local, VISIT Match and VISIT Data, the company’s products help digital agencies, brands and retailers of any size leverage location data to understand and reach the right audiences. Reveal Mobile is CCPA compliant and a member of the Network Advertising Initiative, which conducts an annual privacy certification. The company is based in Raleigh, NC. For more information, visit https://revealmobile.com. Contact us today
As the pandemic took hold of the country and stay-at-home orders were put in place, one of the consumer categories that was most adversely affected was the restaurant industry. But while sit-down restaurants were forced to pivot to curbside delivery and other inventive means to make ends meet, quick-service restaurants (QSRs) that already had a solid delivery program or drive-through in place saw a surge in new guests. “Dinner and a movie” took on a different meaning as people either picked up or ordered in to make date night happen, and QSRs rose to the occasion like never before. With some states beginning phased re-openings of non-essential businesses, some restaurants are now allowed to open so long as they follow social distancing rules or allow for outdoor dining areas. But that doesn’t mean consumers will be ready to race out and participate in this new dining experience. 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All of this can be done using the power of data, but having the right data is key to making the most of your marketing efforts. As you’re crafting your current marketing plans, it’s important to look at all the variables you need to address to create more targeted messaging, thus helping you zero in on your most desired consumer base. The first thing to consider is, how well do you know your guests, and what do you know about them? If you have no insight into their dining habits or preferences, it will be challenging to come up with messaging that will speak to them. But with the right data, you can discover if they frequent your competitor’s locations (and if so, how often), which apps they’re using to order food, which days of the week, and even which meals they are most likely to order. You can also use this information to better understand how often you factor into your customer’s dining plans by understanding if they are beginning to commute again, or continuing to work from home, and if the latter, do they live near one of your locations. Data can also help you discover more about who they are, so you can even further tailor your messaging to their needs. Let’s say your target customer is married with children. Addressing their busy life as a professional and a parent, and sharing how you can ease the burden of dinnertime to make life easier for them, may be exactly the kind of message of support they need to encourage them to reach out to you. Using data based on demographics, lifestyle, behavior, attitudinal and mobile location data can help you cook up a marketing strategy with precision and success, resulting in more diners knocking on your door (or at least, calling for take-out). Another key component to consider is the use of mobile location data, which Zeta Global cites1 as being the most important data chain restaurants can use for their marketing plans. Not only can this data be used to better understand share of wallet and potential up-sell opportunities, but it can also be leveraged to reach out directly to potential new customers that have historically frequented your top competitors. You can also use mobile location data to connect with consumers who may be more drawn to your restaurant because of your delivery or curbside pick-up options, and craft outreach based on that information that will encourage them to order with you. As Hospitality Tech pointed out2, building trust in a post-pandemic world is key for QSRs who want to continue to encourage loyalty with current guests, and entice new ones to place orders. The key to making that happen is data. By deploying marketing messages that resonate, activating them on the channels your guests use most, then measuring the impact of your campaigns, QSRs can create more opportunities for success and customer connection that can translate into real, long-term results. Plus, the right data can help you increase store traffic with high value guests, reactivate guests who haven’t visited in a while and find new individuals who live nearby that closely resemble your current high value guests. Experian has decades of experience in helping organizations better communicate with their customers across all marketing channels. How can we help you? Find out more about our restaurant marketing solutions. 1https://zetaglobal.com/blog/chain-restaurants-need-customer-data/ 2https://hospitalitytech.com/new-marketing-communications-playbook-during-covid-19