Maximizing Results with Performance-First Patient Marketing with Penn Medicine

THE CHALLENGE

Adapting to a Cookieless Future in Healthcare Targeting

With the availability of third-party targeting declining, a leading healthcare system needed help pivoting toward alternative targeting methods to reach relevant audiences.

The Solution

Implementing Contextual Targeting as a Cookieless Solution

To solve this challenge, we collaborated with the healthcare system to initiate contextual targeting tests for its programmatic campaigns. Contextual targeting is a cookieless solution that involves placing ads based on the content of web pages or blog articles and utilizing keywords to match ad placements with relevant topics.

For instance, if the keyword is “sports injuries,” ads will be placed on web pages discussing sports injuries. This approach allows us to reach a qualified audience while they browse or engage with web pages similar to our ads without relying on cookies.

The Outcome

Promising Contextual Targeting Results

The contextual targeting test yielded promising results. It showed a significant 35% decrease in CPM ($2 lower) compared to the behavioral campaign average. Additionally, impressions increased by 2.5 million.

While the primary campaign goal was awareness and impressions, the engagement rate and clickthrough rate (CTR) remained similar—indicating that we helped the healthcare system continue to effectively reach its relevant audience without using third-party targeting.