The Supreme Pod

Supreme Group

Welcome to The Supreme Pod by Supreme Group, where we discuss the art behind effective marketing in life science and healthcare. Every episode, we'll bring you insider strategies and expert interviews on crafting campaigns that drive real impact.

Episodes

  1. Episode 6 - The Rise of AI Platforms in Life Science & Healthcare Marketing

    6D AGO

    Episode 6 - The Rise of AI Platforms in Life Science & Healthcare Marketing

    In life sciences and healthcare marketing, most AI adoption still revolves around a simple chatbot and looks like “prompt, draft, redo.” In this episode, Paul sits down with Sheldon Zhai (Founder and Chief AI Officer, Supreme Group) and Leigh Wasson (SVP AI and Innovation, Supreme Group) to break down what actually drives value: using AI as leverage across the full marketing workflow, not a series of disconnected point solutions. Why “AI strategy” is overhyped but "AI as leverage" is not, and how to think in terms of business leverage Why AI adoption stalls in regulated teams: the pace of change, the drag of recontextualizing, and security/compliance risks How point tools can speed up one step but create downstream bottlenecks (including MLR), and why end-to-end workflows matter What an AI Platform (AIP) actually is, and how it moves teams beyond chat into a connected marketing stack How curated business context (strategy, personas, proof points, approved assets) and live performance data turns AI into an insight machine and performance optimizer, not just a content generator Why regulated marketing should prioritize accuracy, traceability, and governance over speed  Supreme Intelligence: https://supremeopti.com/supreme-intelligence Supreme Group: https://supremegroup.ai 00:00 AI leverage, 100x improvements, and “humans tell you why” 00:37 Welcome and guests (Sheldon Zhai & Leigh Wasson) 01:18 Is AI overhyped? Or is it having a real impact? 02:41 Why AI adoption stalls: pace of change and tool churn 05:01 Agility vs security in a regulated industry 06:12 Why point solutions fail: bottlenecks and recontextualizing  07:54 The data unlock: curated content and live data for real-time optimization 10:29 What an AIP is (and why it goes beyond chat) 13:01 Can we really 10x our impact? 16:32 AIP vs ChatGPT 19:54 End-to-end life sciences workflows  26:34 The security risks of unmanaged AI experimentation  28:53 Application example: sales won analysis yields unexpected insights 35:34 Vibe-coding inside the platform and a “white glove” last mile 46:48 Accuracy over speed in regulated sectors 49:08 Why AI pilots fail: forced top-down vs pull-based adoption 52:45 What’s next: context graphs, platforms over point tools 58:40 Wrap and where to learn more AI adoption, life sciences marketing, healthcare marketing, AI governance, MLR workflows, AI platforms, ChatGPT vs AI platform, marketing operations, human-AI collaboration

    59 min
  2. Episode 5 - Five Trends That Will Define Life Science Marketing in 2026

    JAN 21

    Episode 5 - Five Trends That Will Define Life Science Marketing in 2026

    In this episode of The Supreme Pod, hosts Eric Southwell and Paul Avery, Ph.D., sit down with Supreme Optimization’s EVP of Advertising Mihaela Pupavac, Ph.D. and biotech media founder Joachim Eeckhout to discuss 5 life science marketing trends to watch in 2026: Bing ads as an underused growth lever, modern thought leadership, why podcasting is a trust engine for your audience, AI without the hype, and the fight for bottom-of-funnel visibility. Listen to find out what you should prioritize in your marketing efforts and tactical takeaways for 2026. If you found the episode useful, we’d love it if you could leave us a review or share it with a colleague. Want to hear more from our guests? Check out Joachim Eeckhout’s podcast The Science Marketer (https://thesciencemarketer.com/podcast) and his accompanying newsletter. You can find more from Paul Avery through his podcasts Life, Science and Marketing (https://rss.com/podcasts/life-science-and-marketing/) and Artificially Intelligent Marketing (https://rss.com/podcasts/artificiallyintelligentmarketing/). And if you want more great content from The Supreme Pod, subscribe to our channel on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SupremeGroupPodcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-supreme-pod-life-science-healthcare-marketing/id1832593114 00:00:00 Intro 00:00:47 Meet the Panel 00:06:10 What We’ll Discuss Today 00:07:33 Trend 1: Why Bing Ads Matter 00:10:58 Why Teams Ignore Bing 00:12:46 Where Bing Works 00:18:13 The Automation Trap in Paid Search 00:21:17 Trend 2: Thought Leadership 00:23:07 How to Build Thought Leadership That Works 00:32:34 “Modern” Thought Leadership = Say Something Real 00:35:34 Trend 3: Podcasting Is a Growth Channel 00:38:26 Podcasts Build Trust Before the Sales Call 00:44:35 How Clips, Posts, and YouTube Work Together 00:48:52 Trend 4: AI Without the Hype 00:50:10 Avoiding “AI Slop” 01:00:22 Trend 5: Bottom-of-Funnel Visibility 01:14:10 Q&A

    1h 20m
  3. Episode 4 - The Secrets Behind Effective Thought Leadership in Health Tech with Jodi Amendola

    JAN 6

    Episode 4 - The Secrets Behind Effective Thought Leadership in Health Tech with Jodi Amendola

    In this episode of The Supreme Pod, host Eric Southwell sits down with Jodi Amendola, President of Amendola Communications, a veteran in health tech and digital health PR with over 30 years of experience. Together, they dive deep into the evolution of thought leadership in healthcare marketing, from defining it in today’s social-first world, to using tools like LinkedIn, podcasts, and newsjacking to build authentic, educational visibility. Jodi shares timeless strategies for building trust, consistency, and authority in a crowded health tech market. If you found the episode useful, we’d love it if you could leave us a review or share it with a colleague. And if you want more great content like this, subscribe to The Supreme Group Pod channel on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SupremeGroupPodcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-supreme-pod-life-science-healthcare-marketing/id1832593114 00:00 Cold open: People follow people 00:28 Welcome + guest intro 01:10 What thought leadership really is and why it matters 03:21 How to build a thought leadership program: messaging, cadence, repurposing 10:15 Who should be a thought leader? 15:10 Challenges in health tech communications 18:22 The biggest mistakes in thought leadership and health tech PR 24:07 Navigating the health tech landscape 31:04 Newsjacking explained and real life examples 33:09 Future trends and using AI for health tech communications

    38 min
  4. Episode 3 - The Power of Community-First Marketing in Rare Diseases with Liz Kanter

    11/26/2025

    Episode 3 - The Power of Community-First Marketing in Rare Diseases with Liz Kanter

    In this new episode of The Supreme Pod, hosts Eric Southwell and Paul Avery, PhD talk with Liz Kanter, President of Pivot Design, about what actually works in rare disease marketing. From active listening and advocacy partnerships to co-creating resources with patients and HCPs, Liz explains how she breaks through the pharma marketing “sea of sameness.” Liz also shares a beloved rare disease marketing case study: a therapeutic play kit complete with a stuffed animal “patient friend” that went viral in the children’s primary immunodeficiency community, transformed internal company culture, and is still in use 15 years later. Read more about it here: https://www.pivotdesign.com/work/igi/ Our mission is to provide the types of insights and inspiration from across the worlds of life science and healthcare marketing that you cannot find anywhere else. If you found this episode useful, we’d love it if you could leave us a review or share it with a colleague. And if you want more great content like this, subscribe to The Supreme Group Pod channel on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SupremeGroupPodcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-supreme-pod-life-science-healthcare-marketing/id1832593114 0:00 — Opening & Introductions 1:28 — How Liz Found Her Calling in Rare Disease 3:29 — What Makes Rare Disease Marketing Unique 7:49 — The Role of Empathy & Emotional Intelligence 11:49 — Building Trust With Rare Disease Communities 17:17 — Pivot Wins Rare Disease Agency of the Year 24:44 — Breaking Out of the Pharma “Sea of Sameness” 31:00 — Liz’s Favorite Campaign (Therapeutic Play Kit) 43:38 — Measuring Impact & Rethinking Budgets

    55 min

About

Welcome to The Supreme Pod by Supreme Group, where we discuss the art behind effective marketing in life science and healthcare. Every episode, we'll bring you insider strategies and expert interviews on crafting campaigns that drive real impact.