The MM+M Podcast

If you’re watching TV, you’re seeing Noom’s ads.  Nestled between Keke Palmer dancing in support of Verizon’s phone plans and the unsettling omnipresence of Liberty Biberty are the weight loss company’s ads featuring chief wellness ambassador Rebel Wilson.  The Pitch Perfect star has long been a partner to the brand and a star in its bubbly advertising, which blankets linear TV, especial...

Healthcare marketing has evolved dramatically over the past several decades, from TV and traditional advertising to search, social, mobile, data and now AI. Each shift has changed how the industry works, but one thing has remained constant. It takes talented people to turn new tools and technologies into meaningful, impactful work. Jennie Fischette, CEO of Remedy Edge, and Kathleen Nanda, chief cr...

MM+M stands for “Medical, Marketing and Media,” representing the primary pillars of our coverage. But maybe there’s room for a fourth pillar, or at least a tweak to the first one: “Medical Affairs.” Today’s episode is going to delve into medical affairs, which have risen in prominence over the past decade to become a key function for drugmakers and their agency partners. As today’s guests will dis...

The biggest night in medical marketing returns on Thursday. The 2026 MM+M Awards will take place at Cipriani Wall Street on October 1, and honestly, it will probably be the biggest night in the 60-year history of MM+M when it’s all said and done. We’re set to bestow honors for the top ad campaigns and educational initiatives, for the lead agencies by category as well as for a pair of leaders who h...

Authenticity has become one of the most overused words in marketing, and audiences are increasingly tuning out brands that rely on generic claims to earn trust. In this episode, we explore how healthcare organizations can work with patient, consumer and HCP creators to build influence through credible, compliant storytelling while avoiding common missteps that can undermine engagement and tru...

Consumers can name the active ingredients in their skincare routines, explain which ones shouldn’t be mixed and define hyaluronic acid. But how well do they understand the healthcare products they use? In this episode of the MM+M Podcast, reporter Bella Czajkowski talks with Marissa Saretsky, chief sustainability officer at Opella, about health literacy, self-care and sustainability for both the p...

Brand awareness has long served as a measure of marketing success. But as AI increasingly shapes how people discover, understand and evaluate healthcare brands, awareness no longer tells the full story. In this episode, industry leaders from Syneos Health, Joe Daley and Matthew Snodgrass, introduce a new definition of success centered on the “framing gap” — the distance between how a brand defines...

Pharma marketers have spent years using data to optimize individual campaign performance. But what happens when that data starts making your entire marketing system smarter? In this conversation with OptimizeRx chief AI officer and podcast host Mike Rousselle, we explore how behavioral and clinical signals can power a continuous learning loop — predicting opportunities, informing activation, measu...

Sickle cell disease has long been a frustrating medical condition impacting a historically overlooked patient population, but now there is something of a medical miracle treatment available. If only it were that simple. An estimated 100,000 Americans live with sickle cell disease, which disproportionately affects people of African descent. Roughly one in every 365 Black births in the U.S. is affec...

The NFL season has kicked off, renewing focus on America’s most popular sport.  While millions of people are eagerly tuning into the action on the gridiron, Johnson & Johnson is trying to focus some of that energy on people living with anxiety and depression.  In May, the pharma giant launched Generation Fine , an initiative to normalize conversations regarding mental health, with a...

September 9, 2025 will go down as one of the most impactful days in the history of medical marketing.  After months of saber rattling, the Trump administration announced that the FDA would crack down on DTC pharma ads on linear TV and social media. Yet September 9, 2025 wasn’t the apocalypse for medical marketing. Sure, there were days that turned into weeks of general unease and worry across...

With the deadline fast approaching to submit for MM+M’s Best Places to Work program , we wanted to bring on a leader with experience fostering the best workplaces in healthcare. That leader is Michele Ehler , the head of talent at UCB. This summer, UCB was recognized as one of Axios’ Top Workplaces in Atlanta.  In this conversation, Ehler offers advice for healthcare companies and medical mar...

Heading into Labor Day weekend, we’ve got a jumbo-packed two-fer episode, with both conversations centering around the number four. First up is an interview with CMI Media Group CEO and 2026 MM+M Woman of Distinction honoree Susan Dorfman as she previews the fourth edition of the CMI Agility conference in Philadelphia . Held on Monday, September 14, Agility serves as the Agency 100 honoree ’s oppo...

Digital advertising has reached a tipping point in healthcare, but the movement of dollars tells only part of the story. Join Emily Welker as she explores how changing audience behavior, AI and personalization are influencing the next generation of healthcare marketing. Drawing from the latest MM+M and Inmar Healthcare Marketers Trend Report, this conversation looks at how leading brands are creat...

Healthcare marketers are under increasing pressure to create more connected, personalized experiences across an increasingly complex healthcare ecosystem. Success requires more than strong communications, it depends on understanding the people influencing decisions at every stage of the patient journey. In this episode, Greg Novello, managing director of Spherico, joins Je...

Science is, in a word, complicated. Fortunately, there’s a drugmaker out there utilizing immersive audio and visual elements to break down some pretty heady concepts in a digestible, yet engaging way. Earlier this month, Regeneron debuted Science Illuminated, which is now available on Spotify .  The series is borne out of the work the New York-based drugmaker has undertaken across a range of thera...

Few things in life carry as much vintage prestige as the presence of a real New York adman.  That rarified air is typically reserved for the likes of a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue, a 1957 Chevy or a Patek Philippe watch. Ellis Verdi is a classic New York adman with more than a few dozen stories to tell. Ellis worked across various brands and ad agencies in the 1970s and 80s before founding his o...

Lola Offenback , MM+M’s editorial fellow, is finishing her second summer working with us.  To quote Herman’s Hermits : “Second verse, same as the first.” Lola has once again exceeded our expectations with her versatility and resourcefulness as a reporter. She returned to MM+M just before Cannes and helped us manage the wave of news coming out of the French Riviera. From there, she took on deeper r...

Matthew Zachary doesn’t need any help to have his voice heard – but we’re giving him our platform anyway. As one of the most prominent cancer patient advocates in the country, Matthew has been at this for a long time, 30 years to be exact.  He was diagnosed with brain cancer in college and survived, kicking off a lifelong career in healthcare advocacy. If you follow Matthew online, you know he is...

Executive editor Jack O’Brien first met Wendy Lund , an honoree from our Pinnacle Awards and Women of Distinction program, in September of 2022. Lund had just left her position as CEO of Agency 100 honoree GCI Health to serve as chief client officer for health and wellness at WPP. Now in her new post as CEO of Stagwell-owned agency Allison, Lund joins this week’s podcast for an in-person interview...

Super Bowl-winning quarterback and 2026 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Drew Brees talks about participating in an awareness campaign to promote ARS Pharmaceuticals’ emergency allergy spray, Neffy.  SHOW DESCRIPTION LONG Drew Brees can add pharma brand spokesperson to his already impressive résumé. This week’s episode features executive editor Jack O’Brien in conversation with the Super Bowl-wi...

Thirtieth birthdays are among the most reflective celebrations that we have. Born out of one of the largest corporate mergers in history, Novartis was founded in 1996 and celebrated its 30th anniversary this year. As such, the Swiss pharma giant is reflecting on its corporate branding down to the color palette as it eyes a future where its R&D operations lead to new drugs on the market targeting a...

Whether you call it soccer or football, people all around the world love the “beautiful game” – including health brands.  When the 2026 FIFA World Cup kicked off about a month ago across 16 locations in North America, there were 48 teams competing for the gold trophy.  But more importantly for our sake, there were also several major health brands marketing and advertising throughout the five week...

At the end of last month, Klick Health nabbed a pair of major honors in Cannes: Healthcare Network and Agency of the Year . This marks a capstone achievement for an agency already enacting plans to expand its reach and capabilities — such as acquiring fellow Agency 100 honoree Oxford PharmaGenesis .  It is indeed a long way to the top, but the view has never looked so good for Klick.  This week, e...

The science on women’s health is still brand new. Women have up to twice the rate of side effects from drugs compared to men, but were only federally required to be included in clinical research in 1993. On the policy front, there’s a 30% lower reimbursement rate for female patients. And only 8 to 10% of the NIH’s funding budget goes to women’s health research, despite women making up half of the...