I had the amazing opportunity to speak at the Digital Pharma Summit in Brussels last week, organized by Digimedia and Mediquality from Medscape. This event is a fantastic opportunity to see the latest trends in the sector. It has been built around the very hot topic: Prioritizing customer-centricity in Pharma.
The Digital Pharma Summit 2024 focused on several pivotal topics within the pharmaceutical industry, emphasizing customer centricity, digital engagement, and innovative marketing strategies. The event began with an introduction by Denise Silber from Basil Strategies, who outlined nine key trends in customer centricity and their potential impact on the pharma sector. These trends include:
- Personalization at Scale
- Integration Across Channels
- Customer Feedback Loop/Voice of the Customer
- Proactive Customer Service
- Customer-Centric Culture
- Sustainability and Ethical Practices
- CX Tech/Immersive Technologies
- Data Privacy and Security
- Agile Customer Strategies
Customer centricity in pharma
Pierre De Nayer and Jean-Sébastien Struyf from MediQuality & Medscape discussed the challenges and solutions related to achieving customer centricity in pharma. Their engaging and controversial panel detailed the interesting results from the Mediquality 2024 Key Outcomes Research, a must-read report. They shared data demonstrating that Pharma still overestimates the engagement that can be generated through its face-to-face channels. CX is an important component of success, so the challenge is to match the needs of the HCPs with Pharma’s.
Future of pharma marketing
Following this, Lesly Janssens and Wouter Labeeuw from Delaware explored how AI is enhancing content creation in the future of pharma marketing. Karen Crabbé from Pharma.be provided insights into developing a health data ecosystem within the Belgian pharma industry.
Customer experience
Stephanie Brulet from Novo Nordisk shared a case study on reinventing their approach to engaging with physicians, highlighting the importance of customer experience. I particularly loved how she stated: “We have the same discussions now in Pharma CX that we had 10 years ago in the Energy sector.” We definitely have to improve and accelerate in the sector following the trends. Doctors, as she said, are humans. So, if they use Amazon, Netflix, and Instagram, they expect no less than a best-in-class digital experience in the rest of their environment.
Role of data as an accelerator
Bob Moens from MoveUP discussed the integration of patient and healthcare professional engagement, emphasizing the role of data as an accelerator. On my side, I presented strategies for achieving deep online engagement with healthcare professionals, while Erik Belleville from Onkowissen focused on the importance of the on-demand format.
This event is definitely a must-attend to stay up-to-date with the trends in digital pharma. It attracted people from Belgium, France, Spain, and Germany, making it very inspiring for any European industry leader. I’ll definitely attend every year if possible.
By Daniela Clape.
