📰 Spotlight on Beth Snyder Bulik, Founder and Editor, Marketing & Pharma

Background

-Name: Beth Snyder Bulik

-Home Base: Philadelphia suburbs

-Role: Founder and editor at Marketing & Pharma (M&P), which she launched solo in October 2024 to provide thoughtful analysis on pharma and healthcare marketing, media, and commercialization.

-Expertise: A seasoned journalist with expertise in pharmaceutical and healthcare marketing. She began covering the pharma marketing beat in 2015 at Fierce Pharma, where she helped build out marketing coverage and advised for the Digital Pharma East conference. Later, at Endpoints News, she launched the publications marketing coverage and the weekly MarketingRx newsletter, which grew to over 60,000 subscribers.

Beat Overview

-Publication: M&P is a 2x / week newsletter (shorter stories published on Wednesdays and a feature on Fridays) that challenges the outdated perception of pharmaceutical marketing as overly restrictive or uninspired, showcasing the next generation of talent, innovative ideas, and new technologies. Beth chose the name to emphasize a “marketing-first” approach, encouraging the industry to prioritize big ideas and connections before navigating regulations. Note that she’ll introduce metered (subscription) access to M&P’s content in early 2025.

-Coverage Areas: Focuses on marketing strategies, commercialization efforts, and creative ideas across the life sciences and healthcare (not restricted to pharma, despite that being the name of the publication). Beth is particularly interested in topics where commercialization intersects with innovation, saying, “I’m willing to go afield. I want to cover R&D, but I want to focus on the commercialization side of it.” She also emphasizes the importance of biotech, noting her take that a lot of companies are thinking about commercialization, patient targeting, and launch strategies even at an early stage.

-Angles of Interest: Beth is drawn to stories with big ideas and strategic thinking. Her coverage aims to challenge industry to flip the script when it comes to mar-comms’ traditional role. She also values behind-the-scenes stories, explaining how she finds “interesting the way things come to be.” Beth emphasizes that she’s not confining herself to purely marketing story angles, “I want to do those kinds of stories—the public health stories that fit, that could be used by a pharma or healthcare company,” for example.

Pitching Tips

-Know the Focus: Beth prioritizes commercialization and marketing topics. Try to stick to R&D news that ties directly to patient targeting, AI, or commercialization efforts like market research, strategy and branding.

–Always Offer Interviews: Beth says most of the time, “I’m not going to do stories without an interview.” She also doesn’t typically publish Q&As or quick news stories derived solely from press releases. She values authentic conversations that showcase a person’s voice.

-Pitch Non-Traditional Sources, Maybe Even Yourself! Beth is open to speaking with a range of professionals, including agency executives and brand managers, noting, “Sometimes it’s better to talk to the brand manager than the CEO because they know what’s going on.”

-Be Concise: A clear, well-written email outlining the idea and key details is sufficient. Skip elaborate decks or lengthy documents.

-Tie It to Strategy: Highlight the “why” behind campaigns or initiatives. Beth is looking for big ideas and insights that go beyond surface-level news, saying, “What were you thinking? What’s the strategy?”

Pet Peeves

–Don’t Focus Solely on Breaking News: While Beth recognizes the importance of timely content, she’s not chasing “commodity news.”

–Avoid Pitching Without a Trend or Broader Context: Beth values ideas that connect to larger trends or industry movements. For instance, she noted that even smaller stories should have “bigger thinking” behind them.

–Don’t Dismiss Unconventional Angles: Pitches that stick to overly traditional pharma marketing narratives may fall flat. Beth is open to creative ideas, including public health campaigns and lessons from non-pharma industries.

–Don’t Pitch Without Considering Longevity: She prefers stories that remain relevant beyond their immediate news cycle. Campaigns with lasting impact or interesting results stand out more than one-off announcements. She says that sometimes pitching a month or two after an announcement with follow-up results and feedback may be more appropriate for M&P.

Events and Conferences

–Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity: Beth plans to attend again in June 2025 and cover live on the ground, so feel free to pitch her executive meetings or any ideas related to it.

-No other immediate plans to attend conferences this year but will cover, as appropriate.

-Beth is open to serving as a moderator for panel discussions at medical or other conferences on relevant marketing and commercial topics. Feel free to reach out to her if you have ideas or needs.

Key Quotes

“My goal in the end is for everybody who reads a story … even if it’s not a direct quote-unquote lesson, that … you walk away with something. It has a takeaway.”

“One thing I keep hearing from pharmaceutical companies, from agencies, from creatives, and others in the industry is that they need to think about big ideas. Companies are so worried about regulations and whether they can get things passed through medical, legal and regulatory. They’re worried about ‘are they going to let us use TikTok or use certain words or images?’ They’re thinking about pharma first. … So my idea for Marketing & Pharma was, let’s flip the script and say, ‘Why not think about marketing and big ideas first, and then pharma?’”

Lightning Round

–Writing Style in One Word: Synthesis (being able to pull it all together).

–Top Three Words Beth Wants Readers to Associate With M&P: Thoughtfulness, usefulness, and intriguing.

–Hope for 2025: “What I hope for … is just to keep on keep writing and uncovering interesting, compelling sometimes news, but strategy and deep-thinking stories.”

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