An Apple Watch detected a heart anomaly in the father of Noom CMO Peter Scherr, prompted him to seek care, and led to a pacemaker — a moment industry leaders now cite as proof that healthcare no longer begins at the doctor's office.

"He consulted the device before his doctor," Scherr said during an ADWEEK House Advertising HQ group chat co-hosted with Publicis Health. "It drove home the point that health is everywhere."

The session brought together healthcare leaders to discuss how AI, data, creativity, and culture are reshaping the patient experience. Their starting question: where did each speaker recently turn for health advice? The answers spanned devices, platforms, personal networks, and clinical settings.

Where does the patient journey now start?

Matt McNally, global CEO of Publicis Health, said the industry is building on its long-running focus on the empowered patient. People have more information and tools than ever, but the journey has grown more complex and continuous.

"With the tools we have now, it's our job to help people navigate the healthcare journey," McNally noted.

The need for guidance grows more urgent as health data multiplies. Scherr pointed to the tension created by wearables, apps, blood work, and other inputs.

"There's a lot of data masquerading as answers," he said. "It's very overwhelming."

Do brands move patients or arm them?

For health brands, showing up across the journey requires more than visibility. Katie Baldwin, VP, consumer marketing at AbbVie, said pharma brands must account for what consumers experience before, during, and after treatment — from the emotional reality of living with a condition to barriers that determine whether someone starts or stays on therapy.

Baldwin framed the marketer's job as a dual responsibility.

"Do you move them or do you arm them?" she remarked. "Moving them emotionally is what we trust our advertising agencies to do, and arming them with information is now just as critical."

What does AI change for health marketers?

Fannie McWatt, PhD, head of data and AI strategy at Publicis Health, said brands need to think beyond being findable in AI-powered search environments.

"Everybody's talking about AEO and GEO, but for us, it's more than optimization," McWatt explained. "It's actually looking at where AI is an influencer throughout the entire journey and what information in that particular situation needs to be retrieved at that moment."

She also cautioned that confidence and accuracy are not always the same thing.

"We have to be really careful when we're building the AI algorithms and structuring evidence and providing the context around it," she said.

Has health become culture?

Allison Ceraso, chief creative officer at Digitas Health, said health marketing has entered a more visible era.

"Health isn't in culture," she said. "I think right now health is our culture. They are synonymous."

That broader role demands relevance, credible resources, and emotional intelligence. Ceraso said the best health brands start by understanding the fears, questions, and private moments that shape how people make sense of their health.

Craig Romanok, chief commercial officer at Digitas Health/Publicis Health, put the scale of change in stark terms.

"There's no doubt we are at a moment right now, an inflection point in this category, this industry, that we have never seen before," he said.

Is personalization becoming anticipation?

Connected data can help brands deliver relevant support without crossing into intrusive territory. McNally predicted the next phase of patient support depends on anticipating the next point of friction.

"It's not enough just to know me. That's table stakes," he said. "What do I need next? What am I going to need two weeks from now if I have a side effect that someone else on the product didn't have?"

In health, relevance can build trust or erode it quickly. A consumer may want direction, but not surveillance. Ceraso argued that responsibility is what sets health marketing apart.

"People don't want your product all the time; they need it," she said. "So, you have to come into the conversation with empathy and understanding."

As health becomes more predictive and proactive, technology will only carry the work so far. The true test, per the panel, is whether brands can make critical moments feel clearer, better timed, and more human.