PHM @ SXSW 2025

PHM was on the ground at SXSW this year, the annual conference and festival famous for the unique juxtaposition of culture meets marketing meets tech on stages across Austin.

Trendspotting across industries, CEO Andrea Palmer spoke to several audiences of marketers, espousing the lessons health can offer to organizations from any vertical.

On Friday, Andrea joined the SHE Media Co-Lab, speaking with notable panelists on “The Next Frontier of the Menopause Movement”, moderated by Galina Espinoza, Editor in Chief, Flow Space.

Alongside Dr. Jennifer Ashton, Dr. Sharon Malone, Shannon Watts and Hanneke Willenborg, Andrea spoke to the cultural change in the perception of menopause and how the industry can improve access to care. One of the forces impacting this change is the influencer marketplace—said Andrea, “The most interesting change we’ve been able to watch is the inclusion of better information and medical information being published on platforms. There are more people, like influencers, leading the conversation so people are encouraged and supported.” She added, “the age of the influencer community is widely positive thing for this particular category because it brings a human voice and a community to something that 51% of the population is going through…giving it a voice and a platform has actually done wonders.”

Affirming the impetus for brands to connect directly with the heart of human needs, Andrea joined IQVIA’s panel “Scaling the Sex & Gender Health Gap” alongside Nicole Benedetto and Dr. Shawana S. Moore, moderated by Andrew Burkus. The session explored the progress being made in reducing the sex/gender health divide in the U.S. Andrea focused on how personalized digital marketing can drive change, saying that “the data can be, should be, and is a storyteller,” from which marketers can derive rich insights, shortening the patient journey from searching to finding and thus potentially improving outcomes.

Andrea further addressed the role data plays in connecting with audiences during a fireside conversation “Why Health is Relevant to All Marketers” with Swoop CRO Katie Carr on SXSW Brand Innovators Patio Stage saying  “in health, we don’t lack data, we just have to know how to use it…in addition to identifying audiences, understanding what each touchpoint is achieving.” Wielding data with expertise is crucial, but also the timeliness of deployment, as Andrea clarified, “healthcare journeys unfold in real time, so the speed of data is critical. AI offers so much promise to reach patients where they are in that moment.”

With SXSW 2025 coming to a close, the immersion of attendees in cultural conversation offers glimmers of progress ahead, including AI as a tool for augmentation, rather than replacement, and new definitions of authenticity driving relevance for brands. For health, progress is judged not by innovation but by impact, in parting words from Andrea, “only when we understand and connect with someone as a person and not just a patient, we know we’ve done our job.”

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