AbelsonTaylor: 2016

 

AbelsonTaylor

33 West Monroe

Chicago, IL 60603

Phone: 312-894-5500

Facsimile: 312-894-5530

E-mail: [email protected]

Website: abelsontaylor.com

 

 

Quick Facts

Account wins       25

Number of active business clients          22

 

BRANDS BY 2015 SALES

Brand product accounts held        70

$25 million or less                    11

$25 million to $50 million      15

$50 million to $100 million            9

$100 million to $500 million          8

$500 million to $1 billion                7

$1 billion or more                            5

Number of products yet to be approved/launched    12

 

 

Services Mix

Sales promotion                                 40%

Video brochures                                 30%

Broadcast                                            11%

Magazines                                         8%

Other                                                 6%

Consumer publications                   5%

 

Client Roster

AbbVie

Allergan

Amgen

Astellas Pharma US

AstraZeneca

Avanir

Chiesi

CooperSurgical

CSL Behring

Daiichi Sankyo

Eli Lilly

Fresenius Kabi

Gilead

Grifols

Lumara Health

Nektar Therapeutics

Otsuka

Smith & Nephew

Sunovion Pharmaceuticals

Syneron

Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America

UCB Pharma

 

 

For 35 years AbelsonTaylor has steadily added medical brands, large and small, to its roster. But executives say never has the agency seen such an avalanche of new business and new brands as it did in 2015.

2015 was a spectacular year for independent agency AbelsonTaylor. Revenues rose over 13% as AbelsonTaylor added 25 Agency of Record brands to the already robust roster, making it AOR for 70 brands from 22 clients. AbelsonTaylor also added new services, hired 128 new people, completed more than 1,000 new digital, social and broadcast projects, launched four new brands, and created 13 new campaigns. New brands won or awarded during 2015 will generate more than $40 million in revenue by the end of this year (and executives point out that the revenue from just new brands alone comprises almost as much as that of any single Category 1 agency).

 

The year’s accomplishments

Of the 25 new brands, 20 came without a pitch. The agency is especially proud of these wins because they are emblematic of the trust it has built among current and past clients. These brands were won on real day-to-day performance, not the smoke and mirrors of a pitch. But their pitches worked very well too: the agency took part in 9 full-scale pitches in 2015 and won five of them.

The biggest single win of the year was the assignment of 11 brands from a single company. Dale Taylor, the agency’s CEO, said “In 2016 AbelsonTaylor secured AOR status for the entire U.S. portfolio of CSL Behring’s brands. The agency is incredibly excited to partner with this important $5.5 billion global player in the rare disease space.”

Eleven of the new brands are in the hot rare disease category and 4 are in oncology. AbelsonTaylor is now AOR for six oncology brands, with both U.S. and global responsibilities. Oncology has long been a concentration of the agency, which has launched or promoted 26 brands in this technically challenging market. The agency won four key assignments in the growing immuno-oncology space with global and U.S. responsibilities and won two more brands in the respiratory category from a market-leading client, so that it now represents all the brands in the client’s franchise. Two important brands in the cystic fibrosis market were added to the agency’s current portfolio of CF brands as was a game-changing yet-to-be-launched antiviral for hepatitis. Late in the year, a current client assigned (without a pitch) DTC responsibilities for a dermatology brand that will launch in 2017.

And in addition to new brands, AbelsonTaylor was successful in winning incremental business on existing brands. DTC responsibilities were shifted to AbelsonTaylor for an important neurology brand, and digital responsibilities were moved to the agency for a billion-dollar GI brand.

Creative awards (according to executives, this is one agency that thinks they do matter) continued to roll in. The agency won 19 creative awards in 2015 including Best Patient App, Best Branded Website, Best Digital Campaign, Best Consumer Print Ad, Best DTC TV Spot and Best Integrated Campaign.

 

Structure and services

The account service side of the business took on a new look early in 2015 as the agency implemented a project management structure in parallel with strategy and client engagement group. The dual goals of increased efficiency and speed of job completion are already being achieved. Throughput time has been reduced and write-offs are down.

2016 will see the launch of Nutrient, a new concept of “adsultancy” focused on non-pharma wellness brands. Staffed by planners, senior creative, and experienced healthcare brand strategists, Nutrient’s goal is to mine brand insights using a proprietary methodology and deliver creative concepts and a brand strategy for a fixed fee.

The agency’s stand-alone visualization subsidiary, Dose, also had an amazing year, with solid double-digit revenue growth for both agency clients and companies outside the AbelsonTaylor’s roster. Incremental revenue to the agency and significant cost savings resulting from less use of outside suppliers were seen.

The agency created a separate Experience Design group this year, consolidating UXD specialists into a central group to use their talents more efficiently.

While senior management has remained essentially unchanged for years, four new vice presidents, two on the creative side and two on the account side, were appointed during the year. Overall, 47 staffers were promoted during the year.

 

Future plans

The expansion of business in 2015 seems sure to continue in 2016. The agency is already planning work on 15 new campaigns, 15 new digital programs, and six new brand launches. And pitch requests keep coming in, executives say. As in the past few years, the agency is turning down more pitches than it accepts.

According to its leaders, AbelsonTaylor, while growing dramatically, has stayed true to its roots. “One of the only agencies that never felt a need to rebrand itself (although it did remove the hyphen between the founders’ names about a decade ago), its goals, mission and structure are largely unchanged,” executives say.

Eleven years ago CEO Taylor began the process of selling stock to key employees. A substantial portion of the agency is now owned by 14 employees whose tenure ranges from 10 to 30 years. Some started their careers with the agency while others were brought into ownership after only a few years there. “Ownership aligns everyone’s goals with what is best for the agency, its clients and employees in the long term,” says Taylor.

 

Philanthropy/citizenship

Through its longtime partner Heifer International, the agency is a major funder of a program that benefits families in Tanzania through the East African Dairy Development Program.

AbelsonTaylor’s dedication to independence remains firm. The employee-owned agency has for 35 years charted its own course and focused on what’s best for its clients, its brands, and its staff. “So far, it seems to be working pretty well,” executives say.