Marketing healthcare is a complicated business in a digital world that offers up so much data about ad recipients. HIPAA rules severely limit marketers’ abilities to contact people based on their medical conditions. Yet a company called Tomorrow Networks helps pharmaceutical and health services companies deliver targeted mobile messages to prospects based on third-party data and their physical locations.
“We don’t use names, we use what we call ad IDs. We believe the volume and frequency and location of IDs can give you insights into certain behaviors,” says Tomorrow Networks CTO Peter Nilsson of his company’s ConditionLocator DMP. “If you’re looking to target diaper users, we can pretty reliably tell you ‘Here is where you should concentrate.’”
Nilsson said his company’s targeting powers increased greatly this week when it forged a strategic partnership with data-provider Neustar, whose platform follows consumers across devices and touchpoints. “It would take us years to do ourselves what Neustar will do for us. This data will instantly make our predictions better,” Nilsson says.
Often it’s healthcare providers, not end consumers, that Tomorrow Networks helps deliver to its clients. For instance, it can connect via mobile with doctors and nurses—by specialty—at their offices or in healthcare facilities. Its ad platform, which operates through ad exchanges and DSPs, is tailored primarily to iOS devices, taking advantage of iOS features like integrated multimedia support, offline caching, and variable screen positioning.
The company calls on clients’ first-party data, as well as on third-party sources, to target people based on age, sex, profession, and location. “The problem with location is that, the narrower you get, the harder it is to reach an audience,” Nilsson says. “We open up a lot more inventory by creating segments that provide our clients with the best answer possible.”
