Opeyemi Oluwole joined Edison, N.J.-based Hackensack Meridian Health as chief marketing officer in late 2024, and hopes to turn the health system into a nationally recognized brand through personalized marketing and a consumer-focused approach to care.

Becker’s caught up with Ms. Oluwole to discuss what she’s most proud of from her time at the 18-hospital system thus far and what she hopes to accomplish next. The interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.

Question: In talking about your accomplishments so far, what are you most excited about? What comes to the top of the list?

Opeyemi Oluwole: Before I jump in, I think it’s important to give a little bit of background about me and how I ended up in this role. A few years back, my son became critically ill, and at that point, I was not a CMO, I wasn’t a marketer. I was a mom who was looking for answers. And as you know, when people are dealing with critical situations in healthcare, it’s one of the most vulnerable experiences. And that, in addition to my career experiences, have led me to this point and have led me to Hackensack Meridian Health.

My role is more than just a job. It truly is a purpose, driven off of the experience I had with my son. So as I look back at the past eight to nine months at Hackensack Meridian Health, using that as an anchor, I’ve developed a strategic and operating road map that paves the way for what we are going to focus on as a team.

We have launched a new campaign, How Healthy Happens. What makes it so special is that we’re looking at each patient as an individual that goes beyond just their symptoms and really trying to offer personalized recommendations for each of those individuals. That campaign launched in the first half of this year.

The other thing is, a lot of our strategies and campaigns are going hyperlocal. New Jersey is one of the most densely populated states in the country. We have about 9.2 million people on about 7,400 square miles, and we have a vast array of cultures. In order for us to truly break through, going local to each individual county and town and area is important for us to really bring fruit to a consumer base.

One of the initiatives that’s been really near and dear to my heart is the cancer prevention program that we have really amplified. It is putting control in the hands of the consumer. We’ve leveraged influencers as well as off-channel marketing strategies to break through because we know that preventing cancer is better than a person walking in with cancer and us working to cure it.

Q: You’ve worked for other consumer-facing companies, such as Teladoc Health, American Express and Citi. How are you trying to improve the consumer/patient experience in healthcare through marketing?

OO: The first thing is personalization. Consumers have come to expect personalization in every aspect of their lives. It’s no different in healthcare. It’s how we can move from just personalization to truly individualize experiences that can drive better outcomes for consumers. A research study by Accenture showed that 91% of consumers are more likely to shop with brands that have personalized experiences, and we’re really pulling that into everything that we’re doing at Hackensack Meridian Health.

We’ve also been looking at the changes happening with Google and Google search. So AI Overview is really changing the landscape of how we do marketing. More than 60% of searches are no longer people actually clicking to go to brands’ websites. They’re all happening within the ecosystem of mobile, be it on YouTube or just in AI Overviews. More than 84% of queries in healthcare are actually grounded in AI Overview. So we’re beginning to enhance our content, enhance our optimization, leaning into videos, to get the information that consumers need in their hands so that, again, they can live healthier lives.

The final thing is, leaning into videos is also incredibly important. About 63% of consumers go to YouTube to search for health conditions. We are starting to really double down on telling our stories and breaking through to consumers using video as a modality.

Q: Anything else you have planned or in the works?

OO: One of the big things that I’m incredibly excited about is Hackensack Meridian Health being rated as an Honor Roll hospital, so top 20 in the nation and No. 1 in New Jersey.

This is just an incredible platform in order to tell our story. We are already regionally excellent in what we do, but this brings us to national prominence. What this really means, in super simple terms, is people don’t have to go across the Hudson River to get world-class care. It is right here in New Jersey with Hackensack Meridian Health. So I am incredibly excited to continue to amplify that message.

We are also driving innovation that is helping patients. So as marketers, as communications experts, being able to amplify that, to attract and keep New Jersey residents within the walls of New Jersey, but also attract people from New York, Pennsylvania and across the country, I think, is incredibly exciting.

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