IQVIA’s Digital Enablement Center of Excellence joined advertisers, marketers, and innovators at SXSW in Austin, Texas in March. Innovation and inclusivity are the foundation of SXSW and the sessions in 2023 held true to these themes. The Health and MedTech tracks highlighted “how technological and social changes are impacting one of the world’s largest industries.” From the dozens of sessions in these tracks, the Digital Enablement team identified these key themes:

The role of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in healthcare marketing

AI/ML are helping healthcare advance to new heights with innovative technology, including:

• Supercomputers and healthcare: Analysis of medical literature by supercomputers is helping shape advancements in disease diagnostics and drug discovery.
• Existing tech adapting for healthcare: Technologies typically seen in other industries are adapting to meet needs in healthcare, such as audio monitoring and image recognition. Both examples uncover sensory patterns correlated to specific therapeutic categories (e.g., respiratory and oncology) and can enhance diagnostic decision making, recognizing predictive patterns to identify certain diseases earlier.
• AI chatbots: Despite efficiencies gained from expedited responses from chatbots and similar technologies, a focus remains on the importance of human involvement with AI/ML, with several sessions asserting it as a requirement for future use.

Technology aiding consumers and physicians

How technology (especially technological advances) aid the work done by healthcare providers and ultimately improve consumer experiences and outcomes was also a central tenant of the tracks.

• Hospital at Home: Going beyond the question of “how will consumers receive care in the future” some sessions focused more specifically on the places where they’ll receive care. The session on Hospital at Home demonstrated the benefits of care received in one’s own space, with early research suggesting reduced readmission rates and improved health outcomes. “Human experience in the wake of illness is optimized,” said Dr. Pavitra Krishnamani, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
• A workforce supported by technology: A common theme throughout the Health and MedTech tracks was the prominence and likelihood of healthcare provider burnout. It was suggested that to scale the system appropriately it needs to have technology be the workforce in ways healthcare providers cannot sustainably support. For example, when advance testing and biometric monitoring area applied to understand one’s health through advancing technology and data capture, it can aid in an improved patient and provider experience resulting in early detection, continuous monitoring, and improved personalized support.
• Speaking of burnout: Physician burnout, in particular, was an arresting topic. Ahead of our arrival at SXSW, we envisioned topics of discussion leading toward technological advancements in medicine so profound that physicians would not be in regular practice as they are today. Instead, it was not technology offering a relief to providers, but rather current and expected trends towards burnout and mental health burdens having deep influence, from professionals leaving the field completely to increasing suicide rates. One panel in particular struck a chord with the audience, It’s 2032 and All the Doctors Are Gone and panelist Ritu Thamman, MD, FASE, FACC, Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, said it best: “We’re not heroes. We’re human and we still need help.”

Technology: Healthcare’s reality check

Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) were two technology stars extending beyond panel discussions to event experiences and exhibit floors. In healthcare, AR/VR technology is utilized to improve and provide new methods for education, training, and patient tranquility.

• Pharmaceutical companies are exploring AR/VR strategies to engage with medical students, physicians, and sales representatives. From virtual reality, in-office surgical procedure training models, to AR product demo training through smart and mobile devices. These innovations are intended to improve the standard of learning in an efficient manner and change the health landscape as it exists today.
• Consumer-facing advertisers like Disney are focused on storytelling, creativity, and innovation to continuously improve customer experiences. Now, they are using AR/VR to further drive storytelling immersion beyond the screen. While this tech was not showcased to heighten healthcare advancements, there was a continuous focus on its customers and especially on those with life -threatening illnesses, to celebrate the ability to allow patients to forget they’re patients, even if for a brief moment in time.
• A new alternative to anesthesia induced sedation using VR as an alternative to putting patients under. There are advancements in digital technology that can immerse patients in virtual worlds, providing enough distraction needed for physicians to perform some surgical procedures without putting someone to sleep.

The future state of healthcare marketing

Healthcare marketers must consider a future-state where their omnichannel marketing strategy is optimized, and several sessions discussed central elements affecting this:

• Privacy: Increasingly, privacy measures are inhibiting certain areas of advertising – particularly in activation and measurement. While crucial for all industries, and none more so than healthcare, how brands approach privacy and compliantly reach audiences with accuracy remains a conundrum. Predictions show that privacy will require change and adaptation within the Ad Tech industry on how marketers engage with audiences.
• Budget: In light of controversial times, do not go dark with your advertising campaigns. Maintaining market strength and awareness of your product is critical and reducing spends can be damaging. Rather, be sure to integrate and reflect current reality within your marketing. When there is downtime, use this to become smarter about your audience(s).
• Are we transitioning from omnichannel to omnidynamic? The way we discuss omnichannel marketing today is overused and not wholly representative of what omnichannel is, and at SXSW that message was front and center. Omnichannel is more than multi-channel amplified, and even still, many marketers who are in an omnichannel mindset and are still executing their strategy as multi-channel, in large part due to challenges outside of their control, whether that’s an absence of alignment on time and resource investments needed, or deficient data and campaign measurement capabilities. Healthcare marketers must consider a future state where their omnichannel marketing strategy is optimized – enter omnidynamic. Omnidynamic represents the interconnected components of marketing strategy converging with the functionality required to deliver and optimize campaigns, resulting in enhanced reach, relevance, and value-driven engagement to audiences in real time. Or, as Andrew Lyle from AstraZeneca shared on the panel Going from Omnichannel to Omnidynamic, “Omnidynamic is predicting where a physician is going next, rather than just getting them to the right message at the right time.”

Final thoughts on SXSW 2023

Innovation in the digital space is key to healthcare marketers and we in IQVIA Digital Enablement left SXSW feeling fueled for the “what’s next” in healthcare advertising. The interconnection of healthcare and tech is top-of-mind more than ever before: from AR/VR in healthcare, to mobile apps for post-surgical orthopedic care, it’s clear that a healthcare evolution is on the horizon. As healthcare adapts, healthcare marketers can and should consider how technology will impact future strategies.

To learn more about these themes and how we can prepare for the future-state of healthcare marketing together, contact Zachary Farrell at zachary.farrell@iqvia.com.