What’s to Come in 2025? Swoop Predicts the Top Health Marketing Trends

As we approach the middle of the decade, the healthcare marketing landscape is poised for significant transformation. The impending administration change has especially rattled health marketers, with uncertainty widespread. From data and technology becoming more sophisticated to a growing focus on patient privacy, brands, and agencies must reconsider how they offer personalized messages. 

To help pharma brand marketers and their agencies prepare for the year ahead, Swoop’s thought leaders are sharing their valuable insight on what’s needed to thrive in 2025. 

Balancing Privacy with Personalization

As data becomes more integral to healthcare marketing, balancing patient privacy with the growing demand for personalized communications emerges as a critical challenge. 

Swoop General Counsel and Chief Privacy Officer Ben Chapman foresees heightened scrutiny of companies’ privacy practices and documented policies going into the new year, particularly concerning handling of sensitive data, including consumer health data.  He also thinks it possible that we may see more clarity on the intersection between the intersection of data protected by individual states’ consumer privacy protection statutes and de-identified health information covered by HIPAA. "Transparency is key," Chapman said, noting the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) and several state attorneys general increased focus on ensuring companies provide clear and understandable information about their data practices. “Data collectors should carefully consider the collection and use practices in their privacy policies and consent mechanisms. Companies that clearly communicate their strategies and practices, prioritizing clarity and openness, are taking the right approach,” he said. 

Ultimately, the integration of artificial intellegence (AI) and machine learning (ML) into healthcare necessitates careful management of patient data to enhance disease diagnosis and treatment personalization. Ensuring data is anonymized, securely stored, and responsibly processed is paramount. Chapman anticipates a closer analysis of the algorithms or methods of processing data deployed by these tools to ensure no harmful or unintended source data is used or output is generated. "These tools can enhance disease diagnosis and treatment personalization, but they require access to extensive amounts of data and the source of that data will likely be scrutinized," he warns, highlighting the delicate balance between innovation and privacy.

Swoop Founder and Chief Technology Officer Simeon Simeonov points out the risks associated with targeting health advertisements without the proper privacy safeguards. “An unfortunate industry practice involves the claim that no health information is used in modelled healthcare marketing audiences, because the training data doesn’t look like health data, e.g., has no ICD-10 codes,” he said. “However, even a simple data column of 0s and 1s is health information if the data analyst knows that the 1s mean ‘the patients with the condition I want to target'.”

Simeonov notes that reasonable professionals and the companies that they advise can and do differ in their positions as to whether utilizing this type of implicit health information - i.e., data that looks like what we expect health information to be - is as detrimental to privacy and should therefore be treated the same way as other consumer health information under recent state privacy laws. “Regulators are becoming much more technically savvy and aware of implicit health information,” he said, adding that the “top 15 pharma companies cannot afford to assume risk through the customary practices of their healthcare marketing agencies and vendors who may not be considering the full impact that these state laws may have on their data handling practices.”

Swoop VP of Client Success Kevin Elwell echoes these overarching privacy concerns, predicting state-level regulations will gain prominence. "It’s unlikely we will see a strict federal privacy law passed under the incoming administration," he said, predicting that, “if anything federal is proposed, it will likely be met with gridlock similar to 2024, which will force states to act to protect consumer data by enactive even more and potentially varied individual and state privacy laws.” Elwell emphasizes the need for adaptability in navigating varying privacy laws across states, as this decentralized approach will likely broaden the patchwork of existing localized regulations.  

By prioritizing privacy, marketers are investing in their brand and enforcing consumer confidence. 

The Rise of Data and AI

With AI becoming a standard in tech, healthcare marketers will continue to prioritize data analysis, ML, and Generative AI (GenAI) to refine how they reach their audiences. “AI will push the boundaries of personalized healthcare marketing,” said Swoop President Scott Rhines. “From highly personalized ad copy to precise timing of messages, healthcare marketers who use AI will continue to be game changers in our industry. AI-powered analysis of audience data allows marketers to dynamically adjust healthcare journeys. Innovative pharma marketers can make a difference by finding sustainable, privacy-first solutions, and build trust by demonstrating a commitment to protecting consumers data. The future of pharma marketing isn't just about reaching audiences — it's about reaching them responsibly without compromising on impact. We're not just preparing for the future. We're creating it.”

Targeted engagement is central to enhancing the precision and impact of omnichannel strategies. Swoop Chief Marketing Officer Marcella Milliet Sciorra anticipates a trend towards more sophisticated audience targeting and measurement. "With continued fragmentation of viewership as audiences migrate from linear TV to OTT platforms, including both CTV and streaming, and live sports increasingly shifting to these channels, the industry will fully embrace high-value audience targeting and measurement over traditional demographic-based metrics," she said. This transition is expected to improve marketers' ability to bridge fragmentation, optimize reach and frequency, and drive greater campaign efficiency.

Emphasizing that new tools will improve complex decision making, Simeonov highlights that "generative AI will become much better at helping marketers make sense of data." He notes that while many have used conversational tools like ChatGPT or Gemini, there is a growing opportunity for AI to work on top of enterprise data, including the volumes produced through healthcare marketing. Swoop Piper is leading this charge in advancing AI solutions for pharma marketers. These solutions are tailored to specific therapeutic areas, with assistants assigned specialized roles, such as analysis, creativity, orchestration, and validation. This specialization allows for unprecedented levels of quality and specificity in the insights gathered. 

Broadening the Omnichannel Experience

AI tools will assist the pharmaceutical industry’s evolving omnichannel approach significantly, as marketers adjust to regulatory changes and changing consumer expectations. Beyond engaging patients and prescribers, a complete omnichannel strategy bridges the gap between patients and brands, creating opportunities for improved health.  

EVP Product Eric Redline stresses the need for marketers to develop a more integrated and patient-centric plan. "As drug regimens become more complex and patients are increasingly empowered to ask informed questions about their treatment, the relationship between patients and pharmaceutical companies must better support the patient experience," Redline said. This evolution requires rethinking organizational design and data sharing to create a comprehensive view of patients and healthcare providers (HCPs). Redline suggests that "the industry must continue to create more value-added content, resources, and support functions to drive better patient outcomes," resulting in a seamless patient journey.

To meet these goals, pharmaceutical companies will increasingly seek partners offering a full suite of capabilities to optimize investments and enhance workflow efficiency. Redline underscores the importance of leveraging both new and existing channels. "With increased cross-collaboration, the market will value partners that provide a broad range of capabilities, connecting data and insights into a cohesive ecosystem," he said, indicating a shift towards more integrated solutions. “The industry is also looking to take advantage of new channels and optimize existing channels to build a more connected data platform that provides richer insights and an improved user experience to their customers.”  

Looking Ahead

It’s clear that 2025 will be a year of transformation and opportunity in healthcare marketing. From harnessing the power of AI and data to innovating omnichannel strategies, the industry is poised for significant advancements.

By staying informed and adaptable, pharma marketers can effectively navigate these changes, ensuring they connect with patients, caregivers, and HCPs safely to elevate prescription lift and increase brand loyalty. The path forward is one of collaboration, transparency, and technological advancement.