Independent HCP media strategy

Defensible HCP media
decisions before the
budget is locked.

Cadence is a founder-led HCP media strategy consultancy, powered by a proprietary planning engine. We help pharma and biotech teams pressure-test audience, channel, budget, and measurement decisions — before spend is committed to agencies, platforms, or publishers. No inventory. No commissions. No platform bias.

Request a strategic diagnostic → See the planning engine
Independent counsel for pharma & biotech — Specialty Rx, Rare Disease, HCP & DTC
Media plans › New plan › AI media plan
Navigate ←→ MR
Step 4 · AI media plan

HCP omnichannel media plan

Specialty cardiology · 6-month flight · Conversion-led

Target HCPs
Audience reached
Eff. freq.
Avg. monthly
Qualified reach
Impressions
NBRx lift
Primary KPI
Recommended channel mix AI-optimized
DSPHCP DSP
29%
POCPoint-of-Care
22%
PUBMed Publisher
19%
PRGProgrammatic
17%
NETHCP Network
13%

Illustrative. Figures are representative of the methodology.

Not a media agency

We hold no media inventory, take no commissions, and sell no impressions. The recommendation is the product.

Founder-led judgment

A senior HCP media strategist owns every decision — from diagnostic to executive-ready recommendation. The strategist signs the work.

A proprietary planning engine

Proprietary planning technology makes that judgment faster, clearer, and more defensible — the engine behind the service, not the service itself.

The problem

Healthcare media planning is
slow, manual, and hard to defend

Most plans are still assembled by hand — across spreadsheets and slides, over multiple planning cycles, by the same parties who benefit from the answer. By the time a plan is board-ready, the window to change it has often closed.

The traditional process

Weeks of manual assembly

  • PowerPoint- and spreadsheet-driven, rebuilt by hand each cycle
  • Multiple planning cycles before a single scenario is testable
  • Trade-offs across audience, channel and budget are hard to compare
  • Rationale shaped by parties with a stake in the outcome
  • Decisions locked in under deadline pressure, not deliberation
The Cadence approach

Decision-ready in days

  • A structured diagnostic replaces the blank-page first cycle
  • The planning engine generates and scores scenarios in one session
  • Audience, channel, budget and constraints evaluated side by side
  • Independent — no inventory, no commissions, no platform bias
  • Every recommendation reviewed and signed by a senior strategist
When to bring in Cadence

The most expensive media mistakes
are made before activation

Audience definitions, vendor assumptions, channel roles, budget splits, and measurement frameworks are often locked before anyone tests them independently. Cadence is the read you bring in while the decision can still change.

Pre-launch · Launch

A launch plan is taking shape and leadership needs a recommendation they can defend in the room where spend is approved.

Budget reallocation

The budget is moving and you need an independent view on where it should go before it is committed.

Vendor & agency review

An agency plan, vendor proposal, or media recommendation is on the table and you want a neutral second read before signing.

HCP audience strategy

NPI-level targeting, specialty mix, or decile logic needs to be pressure-tested against the commercial objective.

Measurement disputes

Attribution, KPI hierarchy, or reporting frameworks are unclear or contested across partners and leadership.

Leadership review

A plan needs to be made defensible — documented rationale across audience, channel, budget, and measurement — before it goes up the chain.

How Cadence works

A methodology, not a deliverable

Four steps take a brand from open question to executive-ready recommendation. The planner accelerates the middle — senior judgment owns the start and the finish.

1
Diagnose

Strategic Diagnostic

We frame the real commercial question — objectives, audience, constraints, and the decision that actually has to be made.

2
Generate

Planning Engine

The proprietary planner generates and scores scenarios across audiences, channels, budgets and geography in a working session.

3
Review

Senior Strategist Review

A 15-year healthcare media strategist pressure-tests the output, applies judgment the model cannot, and sets the rationale.

4
Decide

Executive Recommendation

You receive a documented, defensible recommendation — audience strategy, channel mix, budget logic, KPIs and narrative.

The planning engine

Proprietary technology behind
the Cadence methodology

The planner takes a structured brief and returns scored scenarios — the analytical heavy lifting that used to consume weeks of manual planning. It informs the recommendation. It never replaces the strategist.

Input · structured brief Step 1
Objective
Drive NBRx among high-decile cardiologists
Audience
CardiologyDecile 7–10NPI-targeted
Working budget
2.4M USD · 6-month flight
Geography & constraints
Top 30 DMAsEndemic-firstMLR-aware
Output · scored scenario Strategist-reviewed
A Audience strategy

Lead with decile 8–10 cardiologists in the top 30 DMAs; sequence a secondary tier of decile 6–7 writers on a lower-frequency support plan.

B Channel recommendation
HCP DSP
29%
Point-of-Care
21%
Med Publisher
18%
Programmatic
17%
HCP Network
15%
C KPI framework
Primary
NBRx lift
Reach
Qualified HCP
Frequency
Eff. freq.
Efficiency
Cost / reach
Explore the planning engine →
Case study

Commercial mapping in practice

A specialty cardiology brand — anonymized here as “TVCG” — needed a defensible launch plan in a single planning window. Cadence mapped the commercial journey to audience, channel and KPI, then used the planner to score the trade-offs.

Journey stage
Awareness
Consideration
Trial
Adoption
Audience
All target cardiologists, decile 5–10
Decile 7–10 writers
High-intent decile 8–10
Early adopters & staff
Channel role
Med publisher, programmatic
HCP DSP, HCP network
Point-of-care, HCP DSP
Email, rep-triggered
KPI
Qualified reach
Engaged frequency
NBRx lift
Depth & persistence
Read the full case study
Engagements

A clear path, one decision at a time

Start with the decision in front of you. Each engagement runs on the same planning engine and senior review — and most clients move from a diagnostic into a sprint, then into ongoing governance.

Service 01 · Start here

Strategic Diagnostic

An independent read on a plan, brief, or vendor recommendation already on the table — audience, channel, budget, and measurement pressure-tested, with a risk-and-opportunity summary. The fastest way to start.

Details
Service 02

Commercial Mapping

Map the commercial journey — audience, message, channel and KPI by stage — into a single planning view that aligns brand, agency and leadership before the plan is built.

Details
Service 03

Strategic Planning Sprint

A full planner-assisted sprint from brief to executive recommendation: scenarios generated, scored, reviewed by a senior strategist, and documented into a leadership-ready deck.

Details
Service 04 · Ongoing

Measurement & Vendor Governance

For plans already in market: independent review of vendor recommendations, attribution, reporting, optimization, and QBRs — so the measurement story stays defensible after launch.

Details
Michelle Humes, founder of Cadence Health Media
About the founder

Michelle Humes

Founder & Principal Strategist · Cadence Health Media

A healthcare media strategist with more than 15 years building and defending HCP and omnichannel programs for pharmaceutical, biotech, and health technology brands. Her work spans HCP marketing, omnichannel sequencing, NPI-level targeting, programmatic activation, and commercial strategy — including hands-on experience across platforms including DeepIntent, Doximity, and PulsePoint.

Cadence is the independent practice built around that experience — structured around a proprietary planning engine so that every recommendation carries senior judgment, not just model output.

Full background →

Start with a strategic diagnostic

Bring the decision in front of you. We will frame the question, run it through the planning engine, and show you what a defensible recommendation looks like.

Request a diagnostic → See the planning engine