Rethinking the Role of the Omnichannel Manager in Pharma Marketing.

In our industry, it’s common to respond to challenges by creating entirely new roles. The “Omnichannel Manager” is a great example. Pharma wants to achieve ‘omnichannel excellence’ either because it’s trending or because they believe it will solve their digital engagement challenge. They solve this problem by investing in an ‘omnichannel’ team, who have their own budget, objectives and goals. Yet omnichannel should not be treated as a standalone function if you want the whole commercial team to deliver omnichannel experience for HCPs. It is a core competency that belongs within marketing, medical affairs, and sales teams.

Omnichannel touches nearly every part of digital marketing. In fact, you can often interchange the terms digital marketing and omnichannel marketing with ‘marketing’ (since all types of marketing should have an omnichannel core and include digital channels!).  This  leaves the person in the role of omnichannel manager responsible for almost everything that falls under modern marketing practice, across every brand in the business. When a brand or product manager comes across a problem that might fall within digital marketing or omnichannel, then they throw it over the fence to the experts. The outcome? A disconnect between brand managers and campaign performance. An overstretched, under-resourced Omnichannel Manager. And a lack of shared accountability for results.

Why Distance Creates Disconnect

When marketers are not directly involved in reviewing metrics, optimising campaigns, or defining success criteria, digital marketing strategies are blurry. Digital delivery and metrics are defined and managed by omnichannel but it’s the brand team who better understand their specific market, customers and objectives. What should be collaboration turns into hand-off.

Interestingly, it’s often the omnichannel or digital leads who push for more progressive strategies. These individuals typically bring stronger insights into customer journeys, meaningful engagement, and data-driven optimisation. In contrast, brand teams are more focused on product knowledge and messaging. Neither side works without the other, but the siloed team structure and budget doesn’t allow for the seamless collaboration that’s needed. We end up with slow progress, misalignment and frustration everywhere – including the customers!

The Ongoing Tug-of-War: Specialist Role or Embedded Skill?

I posed this challenge to my LinkedIn, generating fierce debate among the pharma community. Should omnichannel live within the core team, or remain a dedicated function?

Nearly 100 comments and insights told us that it usually plays out like this…

The Case for Keeping It Separate

Omnichannel champions say:

“You can’t expect brand teams to do everything. They’re already stretched managing sales alignment, events, launches, KOLs, and internal reporting. Omnichannel demands deep channel expertise, a data mindset, and constant optimisation. That’s a full-time job in itself.”

They argue that dedicated omnichannel experts can:

• Guide what success looks like across each channel (awareness, traffic, engagement).
• Dive into analytics to fine-tune campaign performance.
• Lead on A/B testing, heatmaps, SEO, and performance benchmarks.
• Provide the focus and consistency that brand teams don’t always have time for.

The Push for Integration

On the other side:

“If omnichannel is core to how we engage, why is it treated like a bolt-on? These capabilities should live within marketing, medical, and sales — not off to the side.”

This view says the very existence of a separate role signals a deeper issue; omnichannel is failing because the right thinking isn’t embedded across the organisation. They believe:

• Teams should be trained to own both brand and channel performance.
• Metrics and campaign impact should be shared, not handed off.
• Omnichannel should be how we work, not who we assign it to.

What Should We Conclude?

Most would agree; the answer is somewhere in the middle.

Omnichannel success often depends on strong collaboration between central experts and brand teams, with clearly defined roles, shared KPIs, and mutual understanding. It’s less about who “owns” it, and more about how aligned the team is in delivering a consistent, connected customer experience. So if we do separate omnichannel skills and develop them within a specific team, we must allow them to work closely with brands, and give them the space and capacity to specialise their knowledge of customers to the brands they support.

The Role of the Right Agency and Consultant Partners

If omnichannel teams don’t have the capacity to work across the detail of all brands, at least you can ensure that brands are connected to partners who do. Working with agencies that understand both the structure and nuance of omnichannel engagement is essential. The right partner can help:

• Build internal capability through strategic support and knowledge transfer.
• Deliver high-quality, compliant campaigns across the right mix of channels.
• Define and track performance standards that align with brand and business goals.
• Connect marketing, medical, and commercial priorities for better customer outcomes.
• Align with your central omnichannel teams to ensure frameworks and processes are applied.

Whether you are looking to improve centrally or execute brand content with more consistency and quality, experienced agency partners can play a key role in bridging the gap between strategy and delivery.

Where Do We Go From Here?

We need a more rounded set of competencies across pharma marketing teams. That doesn’t mean removing roles. It means equipping people with the right mix of skills, support, and shared responsibility.

As teams become more integrated and strategy-focused, the need for a truly separate omnichannel function may naturally evolve. But for now, progress depends on stronger collaboration, clearer ownership, and a shared understanding of what success looks like.

This is not just a topic for omnichannel leads or digital specialists. It is a wider conversation about how cross-functional teams plan, execute, and measure impact together.

If you’re part of a medical, marketing, or commercial function, consider how responsibilities are currently divided. Are digital and omnichannel capabilities being developed across the team, or handed off to a specialist? Are internal structures helping your teams deliver a connected customer experience, or adding friction?

These are the kinds of questions best explored in team settings — strategy days, planning sessions, or informal workshops — where there’s space to step back and challenge how things are done.

If you would like to explore how to bring this conversation into your organisation, we are always happy to talk.

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