The question of trust.

Summer is here, and somehow half of 2025 is behind us! It’s crazy. 

Amidst the flurry, there’s been one major constant: AI. Nearly every client conversation I’ve had this year has wound its way to it. 

Specifically, how AI can automate marketing. 

There’s no doubt: AI has transformed how we work at Pivot. We move smarter, and faster, sizing up client markets, competing products, and audiences in a fraction of the time. We prototype ideas with a series of prompts. We’ve shifted necessary but tedious tasks to indispensable tools. Our time—our value—is freed up to focus on thought partnership with clients. 

Still, I can’t help but consider the context: the work we do and who we do it for. Trust for healthcare brands has never been lower. Only 18% of Americans have a positive view of the pharmaceutical industry,¹ and only 41% of Americans consider pharmaceutical companies to be trustworthy.² Knowing the organizations we serve and the incredible people working there, these stats pain me personally. So much. Shifting this perception is the driving force for all of us at Pivot. 

Trust for healthcare brands has never been lower. Shifting this perception is the driving force for all of us at Pivot.

The question I keep coming back to: will AI-driven marketing help how pharma brands are perceived—or hurt? 

I decided to ask AI. My friend Claude. 

Me: Do you think AI-driven marketing would help or hurt how pharmaceutical companies are perceived?

Claude: AI implementation in pharmaceutical marketing would likely be a double-edged sword for trust-building. It could significantly help execution while potentially undermining the authenticity that’s crucial for rebuilding consumer confidence.

Me: Interesting, tell me more.

Claude: AI could automate regulatory compliance checks for educational content. It could track complex, long-term correlations between trust initiatives and business outcomes. AI could help deliver relevant information to different patient populations without feeling impersonal or sales-driven.

However, AI implementation could backfire spectacularly if it reinforces the perception that pharmaceutical companies are more interested in sophisticated manipulation than genuine patient care. If consumers discover that their “personalized patient education” or “community outreach” is largely AI-generated, it could confirm their worst suspicions about pharmaceutical companies being profit-driven rather than patient-focused.

Wow.

We’re more convinced than ever that brand soul in healthcare is essential in this revolutionary time.

To me, the path forward is using AI as a catalyst. To create more human connection, not less. Making those moments more timely and personal than they’ve ever been, with greater confidence that they’ll land.

Claude mentioned “authenticity.” That struck me. It’s one of Pivot’s Soul Drivers—authenticity, empathy, clarity, and courage—that guide everything we do. We’re more convinced than ever that these four principles are essential in this revolutionary time. We’ll share more in our Summer Soul series, coming soon.

Until then, enjoy the sun. ❤️