When Google announced its intention to withdraw support for third party cookies from its own Chrome browser, it understandably sent shockwaves through the marketing business.

Following hot on the heels of iOS and Firefox making it so users must explicitly opt into cookies and far more stringent regulations brought about by geopolitical developments such as the EU and UK’s GDPR, and the California Privacy Bill.

Facing a future without third party cookies means marketers are having to reconsider how they gather data on their existing and potential customers – both healthcare providers and patients – and deliver the kind of experience the contemporary market demands.

How then can pharma brands switch to new models and plan and execute strategies on collecting first-party data through patient-direct channels?

First Party Data

The new landscape created by Google’s sunsetting of third-party cookies will be one where first party data reigns supreme once again and force brands to develop closer relationships with the audiences they serve rather than sitting back and letting the mighty algorithm do all the heavy lifting for them.

This is more challenging in the pharma business than with an industry such as customer goods as the companies selling the pharmaceutical products do not normally have a direct connection with the end users of those items – having more of a supplier/wholesaler relationship with healthcare providers – but still being required to advertise directly to the end user through commercials either online or through legacy media.

This means, in order for pharma brands to develop their first party data capabilities, they will need to work closer than ever with those healthcare providers and leverage those relationships to gather information of end users and then use that information to drive marketing campaigns.

Of course, such activity will inevitably brush up against the aforementioned data protection regulations which means pharma brands working with healthcare providers in this way will have to ensure all steps are being followed to stay within the parameters of those rules. Customer permission will have to be sought before any data can be collected or handed over and it’s highly likely that such data will have to be anonymized before it can be handed over.

This will of course mean more work for all involved, so communication becomes key. Pharma brands may have to provide healthcare organizations with additional resources or incentives to help motivate them to facilitate this kind of data collection. Resources will also need to be assigned to assuage patients of any concerns they may have regarding the security and privacy of any data which is shared between organizations.

Third-Party Platforms

Perhaps surprisingly, there is still a role for third-party data providers in this new cookieless environment. However, this data will of course no longer be coming from the browsing activity and online behavior of users, but rather from platforms which acquire data through that old stalwart of information gathering – the survey.

"First Party Data Generation is a leading solution for brands trying to build out their foundational first party data,” writes first party data platform provider, Fluent. "For Pharma brands, where direct connection points to their consumers are limited or restricted, [this] can help build out first party profiles with pinpoint targeting and massive scale, removing reliance on third party cookies, and enabling omnichannel initiatives. By leveraging […] survey capabilities, brands can enable permissioned data capture and audience profiling inclusive of self-declared PII, demographics, relevant health attributes, and other custom qualifiers.

Survey data can reach millions of US patients and the data can be formatted to any specification and analyzed to create customer profiles, targeted ad campaigns, and any other marketing purpose pharma brands require. Clearly, there will still need to be incentives for users to sign up and fill out the surveys, but this can easily be achieved with vouchers or perhaps entry into some manner of prize draw.

The data generated by platforms such as Fluent is 100% owned by the brand and is addressable across channels and devices. With the potential to generate many millions of individual deterministic profiles, survey data leveraged in this way provides an elegant method pharma brands can use to cut out any intermediaries – such as healthcare providers – and connect directly with the end users of their products.

Final Thoughts

The cookieless world is going to provide new challenges for marketers working in the pharma space and fresh solutions are needed to establish new first party data disciplines and continue to provide customers throughout the value chain the kind of personalized advertising experience with yields the best results.

The extinction of third-party cookies is sure to be a hot topic at DigiPharma Connect 2024, being held in March at the Westin Hilton Head Island Resort & Spa, SC.

Download our 2023 agenda today for more information and insights on the DigiPharma Connect Experience!