Devlin leads new Concentric division	February 2008

Concentric Pharma Advertising has established a new division to show its commitment to consumer advertising.

While Concentric Pharma Advertising has always operated in the consumer space, the formation of its new consumer division is a way to formalize the commitment. Michael Devlin, a former founding partner of CCA Advertising, is heading up the new consumer division, and the agency is moving forward with a philosophy of integrated thinking for its clients.

Concentric’s services are broken down into several areas, with 50% of the business handling professional; 25% in consumer or patient oriented, which comprises customer relationship management, promotion, and education; 10% in managed care; 10% in corporate; and 5% dedicated to sales-force training and motivation. Concentric has experienced 38% growth from 2006 to 2007, and the agency is on track for 27% growth in 2008.

“Right now, the consumer aspect of our business represents 25% of our agency revenue,” says Ken Begasse Jr., partner and director of client services, Concentric (concentric-rx.com). “That is doubled from last year, so that’s why we felt this is a great opportunity and a great time to bring Mike Devlin on to lead the charge and lead the future of the consumer division.”

Three main clients fueling the agency’s consumer growth are Bayer Corp., Discovery Laboratories, and Wyeth Nutritionals. What the agency needed, according to Mr. Begasse, was a leader who would be able to take the group of professionals handling the business and show them the way and help them create the vision of Concentric.

“I will be running the day-to-day operations of the consumer business, which consists of a core team, so that there’s dedicated staff with deep consumer experience,” Mr. Devlin told Med Ad News. “The reason that I think that we’re designing this to be successful is that we don’t look at it as a stand-alone operation down the hall or next door to a professional division; we’re truly an integrated team.”

Mr. Devlin, who is executive VP, managing director, Concentric, believes that the immediate opportunity is to work with the existing book of business at Concentric. The first area of focus is organic growth with current clients. The second area of focus is to attract other like-minded clients who want an agency to step up, which is what Concentric consumer is being built to do.

Mr. Devlin had been executive creative director, CCA Advertising, since November 1999. He founded CCA Advertising as part of the Chandler Chicco Companies. Mr. Devlin led all business and creative development for clients, including Agouron’s direct-to-consumer launch of Viracept, a protease inhibitor for HIV; Novo Nordisk’s corporate branding and various insulin product projects for diabetes; Pfizer’s corporate positioning campaign for the Pfizer Florida initiative; Olympus America’s integrated campaign for all Olympus healthcare divisions; and Eli Lilly and Co.’s corporate campaigns, in support of CSR/philanthropic efforts and B2B managed care campaign.

According to Mr. Begasse, the agency is doing the most with the account for Betaseron from Bayer Pharmaceuticals, which includes everything from the decision kits that patients use to help them decide what multiple sclerosis therapy is right for them, through the actual treatment kits, to the consumer relationship marketing campaign.

“It’s going to be an integrated online program, multiple Websites, both branded and non branded, and it really is empowering the patient to make the right decision,” Mr. Begasse told Med Ad News.

From Mr. Devlin’s perspective, one of the nicest things about coming to Concentric is the fact that there is already a core team at the agency. The agency is working toward integrating all its resources as well as building depths with its online capabilities in the consumer and professional areas. The agency is focused on its work and being respectful of it.

“That is exactly what Concentric has been doing since day one, and its one of the greatest feelings walking into an agency that’s established yet there’s still so much more for us to do,” Mr. Devlin says.