Medical Advertising Hall of Fame: View from the Top 2016
Executives from leading healthcare communications agencies and networks convened on July 18th at the headquarters of Ogilvy Worldwide in New York City for the Medical Advertising Hall of Fame’s (MAHF) “View from the Top” event. Young professionals from throughout the industry were invited to hear first-hand from various CEOs, presidents, and other executives on what it takes to be a leader.
After dinner and cocktails were served, Robert Palmer, MAHF Chairperson and EVP, Managing Director of JUICE Pharma, kicked off the festivities. “The mission of the MAHF is to document the history of the industry and to provide educational opportunities to a new generation of leaders like many of you. Each year we have a black-tie awards dinner at the Pierre Hotel in New York, and at that dinner we honor retired men and women who have made significant contributions to the medical advertising field. We also honor great creative work and campaigns – print, mass media, digital – with our Heritage Awards. Equally important to all of that, we work to attract next-generation talent with our Future Famers program. Tonight is one example of our outreach to young professionals.”
“There is no one size fits all when it comes to being an effective leader, so it is very appropriate that we have such a diverse group here tonight,” Mr. Palmer said.
Following Mr. Palmer’s opening remarks, a panel discussion was moderated by Sharon Callahan, CEO of TBWA\WorldHealth. The panelists were Matt Giegerich, chairman and CEO of Ogilvy CommonHealth Worldwide; Steve Nothel, partner and chief client service officer of H4B Chelsea, and Louis Massaia, EVP creative director of Saatchi and Saatchi Wellness. Ms. Callahan posed a series of interesting and thought-provoking questions to the panel of industry experts.
“We are here to talk about what it takes to be an effective leader in our industry, and that is giving back,” Ms. Callahan remarked upon her introduction to the crowd of industry professionals. “What you see here tonight are leaders from across the industry, and each and every one of them is dedicated to giving back. They are not just trying to build their own careers, but to build your career as well. We are here to find out about people’s stories and what it takes to be successful.”
Upon being asked why healthcare advertising became the focus for his career, Mr. Giegerich noted, ” … On balance, the ability to point to the context of health and humanity in this specific day and age, actually launching cures to diseases that afflict millions, it really is a noble thing. We do not save lives every day as an advertising industry, but you can track your work to an outcome in this industry that is unlike others where you can say, ‘Well we did this, I was the writer on that campaign that educated physicians about this new mechanism that treats this and these people suffered less as a result of that effort that I put into it,’ and that is a really rewarding part of this business and it always has been for me.”
In discussing mentors, Mr. Nothel noted, “The person I think back on as a mentor, when I was working with him and the lessons he taught me that I use a lot now, is Al Nickel (2012 MAHF inductee). Al did a fantastic job, not only running the agency as a business person, but also it was about the people. If you were with Al, he cared about what you were doing and what was going on with your family. … We are in a people business and that is what it is all about. Giving people the opportunity to be heard as a leader, as someone within your organization who is really important, and to be able to give guidance. So Al was a great guy, and he did a lot for a lot of people. He did a lot for me, and now I do a lot of the things that I learned from him.
Ms. Callahan added, “Al was certainly a mentor of mine too. When I took over his agency as CEO, one thing he said to me was, ‘You have to love the people who you work with, each and every one of them.’ That has really stayed with me, and you felt it from him. He had an amazing skill and quality.”
Regarding work-life balance, Mr. Massaia mentioned, “There is a really cool quote that I love, musicians use it sometimes. ‘You do not work music, you play it.’ The reality of that quote is, it’s true but it takes a lot of work to get to the point where you feel you are playing it. How I relate that to day-to-day life and day-to-day grind is if you are lucky enough to have a great group of people who you work with and you can situate that group where you have some control over it – and you do not have to be the leader of the group to have control over it – just make sure you are the person that does not get in the way of a good idea to effect positivity within a group. You start to formulate this band of people, whether it is the leadership level at the company or it is the team you work with or the group you run. And if you are doing good work, you do not feel the weight of going to work everyday. … So orchestration amongst the group of people you work with on a day-to-day basis has to be healthy or you will never be happy, and you are never going to get to the point where you feel you are playing with advertising, you are always going to feel you are working it or it is working you.”
After the conclusion of the panel discussion, each dinner table included an industry leader who led a roundtable discussion with their younger counterparts to discuss past experiences and future opportunities. The informal lively discussion with senior leadership resulted in a fun and interesting free-forum discussion.
The roundtable participants included:
Ken Begasse Jr. – Founder and COO, Concentric Health Experience
Sharon Callahan – CEO, TBWA\WorldHealth
Jay Carter – SVP, Director of Strategy Services, AbelsonTaylor
Mike Devlin – EVP, Creative Director, FCB Health
Matt Giegerich – Chairman and CEO, Ogilvy CommonHealth Worldwide
Louisa Holland – Co-CEO, the Americas, Sudler & Hennessey
Louis Massaia – EVP, Creative Director, Saatchi and Saatchi Wellness
Jennifer Matthews – President and Managing Partner, The Bloc
Lois Moran – President and CEO, JUICE Pharma Worldwide
Steve Nothel, Partner and Chief Client Service Officer, H4B Chelsea
Meaghan Onofrey – Managing Partner, TBWA\WorldHealth
Robert Palmer – EVP, Managing Director, JUICE Pharma Worldwide
Mike Parisi – Managing Partner, Ogilvy CommonHealth
Robin Roberts – EVP, Director of Client Services, DDB Health
Adrian Sansone – EVP, Managing Director, Digitas Health NY LifeBrands
About the Medical Advertising Hall of Fame (MAHF)
The MAHF was founded in 1996 to:
Document the history of the industry.
Honor the retired men and women who have made significant contributions to the medical advertising profession – MAHF Inductees.
Attract and honor next-generation talent to the medical advertising profession – Future Famers.
Honor industry creatives by recognizing great, retired campaigns – Heritage Awards.
MAHF membership is open to healthcare advertising agencies and publications, and currently consists of the leaders of nearly 40 agencies and publishing companies.
For more information, please visit http://www.mahf.com
