The CMO Council highlighted a report on GenAI based on a global survey of 171 business and functional leaders in both B2B and B2C. 79% of these respondents said it will likely or absolutely generate business value in the next 18 months. When asked where GenAI held value, the top answer was repetitive tasks.

However, there is a challenge. 51% are dissatisfied with their current GenAI projects, and the number one culprit is data followed closely by integration.

When asked what was holding back the company's data, the list reads like it was from 2015, or even 2005. Company IT departments have known about this technical debt for years, and those who took it seriously early on are in a much better place.

If you know an IT manager who was worried about data quality 10 years ago, say thank you. Your company is in a better place to take advantage of AI today because of it.

Basis surveyed 171 agency folks, 82 of which were VP or higher, to take the temperature of the industry. Unsurprisingly, the main topic was AI.

When asked what would shape the industry over the next decade, AI stood alone. This was a single-selection question which amplifies the difference but still, it's 20x the next answer.

The sentiment toward AI is backed up by real funding. The 82 VPs were asked what they were planning to fund over the next 12 months. This one was multiple-selection but still AI was over 2x the next largest answer (which, to be fair, was still AI).

Comparing 2023 to 2025 we get a 3.9x increase in daily use of AI. In fact, the number is still 2.4x over 2024. AI usage in agencies is accellerating as workers figure out the best use cases and amp up their workflows.

Agency staff aren't afraid of AI either. Just over 80% say it will be somewhat or mostly positive for agencies and the use cases are robust. Ideation, analytics, and content generation continue to be the top uses.

Marketers both inside pharma / healthcare companies and in agencies (we know you subscribe too -Ed) will enjoy this look into what makes agencies tick in 2025.

Edelman has its fourth annual special report on Trust and Health as part of its Trust Barometer work. This sub-report is based on 16,000 respondents (~1,000 per country in 16 countries) taken in March.

The issue that Edelman found wasn't just that populations are mistrustful of information and motives but that they actually believe that institutions are "out to get them." The wording in the report is "Business, government, and/or NGO actions hurt my ability to get quality healthcare."

As usual, trust is highest with the family doctor. This is the person who has both the health knowledge and the familiarity with the patient to generate that high level of trust.

These doctors remain top of the list for who influenced health decisions as well. Where we see more divergence in the population is when asking about other patients or social media creators.

So far, AI innovations in healthcare are not universally accepted. Developed countries seem to have the most resistance. In this chart we are looking at how many reject the use of AI for patient communication.

Looking at just the averages for two other questions—the use of AI for medical diagnoses or for drug development—shows smaller numbers rejecting the ideas but it's still a mixed bag.

Grab the full report for even more information about institutions and where patients trust information.

AI experts are far more optimistic about AI having a positive effect on society than the average American. This is a self-selected audience of AI enthusiasts though so that makes sense.

One thing that both groups agree on is that medical care is the top employer that will see a positive impact from AI. They just disagree on the magnitude.

Both groups think that doctors will be the least affected professional group, again varying only by magnitude.

Mother's day is this Sunday (you're welcome for the reminder) so here's a stat from Pew Research. The firm asked US teens who they wanted to look after them when they were sick, mom or dad? This is the answer:

PatientView has released the 14th global edition of their Pharma Reputation report and rankings for 2025. This data was gathered from December to March so is very recent even though PatientView accurately states it is opinions from 2024.

Additionally, the group surveys 2,546 patient groups globally across 100 countries so this report is definitely global (372 of the groups are in the US). 

Pharma's reputation hit a local peak in 2022 at 60% "Excellent" or "Good." However, when pulling in data from the 2021 report (Wire issue 484) we see it used to be lower (back then they split the number by condition types). This year's number is a strong "middling."

Still, this shows the gains the industry has made with our primary audience: patients.

It's easy to become discouraged in pharma marketing with all the "armchair quarterbacks" criticizing the industry. However, it's important to focus on our patients and HCP stakeholders to get a real sense of what our true audiences think. This question is "how good or bad is pharma at specific activities" answer of "Excellent" or "Good."

That graphic is a bit of an eyechart but we added ranking numbers for the top 10 activities that patients rated highly. The top three are all about our products (marked red). The bottom number? You guessed it, pricing ("Fair pricing policies") at only 14%.

Is there room for improvement? Of course. Can we take some satisfaction in how our patients rate our products? Absolutely. 

The full press release has some pharma rankings that Wire readers might enjoy, download it and see.

CB Insights has released their Q1 2025 digital health investment report and AI-driven products are posting big numbers. In total, digital health maintaining its allure, with total investments the highest since 2022 on a smaller number of deals.

For that math to work, each deal is much larger than normal and 46% were labeled "mega-rounds." The companies span the space from AI drug discovery, to AI EHR tools, to AI "ambient scribes." The percent of AI funding is, perhaps not surprisingly, the most ever.

59% of Americans say they play video games at least occasionally. This is the same as 2024 but significantly higher than previous years.

40% say this is to de-stress and a further 28% say it's for an immersive environment. This matters because the gamers most attuned to online ads are those playing story-driven or open-world games.

We do have to mention here that this type of behavior question is difficult for respondents to answer accurately, but at least it's directional.

Google is still dominating search with 87% of website referral traffic coming from the platform. 

However, search referral isn't market share. ChatGPT search found this site, called DataGlobeHub, which seems to be a data aggregator. It lists its sources but seems to be AI-generated. We got this AI-search data from there... so grain of salt with this one.

This is GenAI search only (not traditional search) so it won't include the AI summaries now included in the standard Google interface and instead only includes Gemini. For a comparison of all search market share, here's a chart from a site called Originality.ai.

One thing is for sure, the future of search is complex.

Alzheimer's is one of those conditions that produces a lot of worry but also has a lot of uncertainty surrounding it. The Alzheimer's Association has two reports out: Facts and Figures and Perspectives on Early Detection.

91% are actually in favor of pre-symptomatic disease testing, but doubts linger. First, about insurance companies cutting them off if they test positive and then about accuracy.

Those who care for loved ones with Alzheimer's have a tough row to hoe. 59% report emotional stress from caregiving and 38% physical stress. This shows up in work life as well.

Q1 of 2025 was reasonably good for Meta and Google US operations with spending growth of 11% and 9%, respectively.

This data might show an issue with Tinuiti's measurements based on its internal numbers. Here, it looks like TikTok and Pinterest are equivalent spend in the US which is simply not true.

Does this cast doubt on Tinuiti's Meta numbers? Maybe, but the greater scale of Meta will tend to reduce variance.

Google also has large spend in the US so Tinuiti's numbers are likely more accurate here as well.

A study by System1 with 12,000+ TikTok users looks at emotional impact and brand engagement.

Attention is measured by System1 as percentage of ad viewed. So, shorter ads will have an advantage with this calculation. Sure enough, ads under 25 seconds scored better with the System1 algorithm.

Like all social platforms, you need to get your brand front and center quickly. This chart shows higher user approval of ads with strong early branding.

A story about books is an unlikely topic for a digital newsletter, however hear me out.

Barnes & Noble are planning to open 60 stores in 2025, a substantial number considering the headwinds book stores face. Part of the reason seems to be #BookTok. The B&N website even has a section devoted just to those titles.