Solstice HealthCommunications: 2017
Solstice HealthCommunications
P.O. Box 454
49 Route 202
Far Hills, NJ 07931
Telephone: 908-306-1100
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: solsticehc.net
Accounts
Account wins 3
Active business clients 8
Accounts by 2016 sales
Brand-product accounts held 10
$25 million or less 2
$25 million to $50 million 1
$500 million to $1 billion 5
Products yet to be approved/launched 2
Client Roster
Amicus
Boston Children’s Hospital
Dyax
IRX Therapeutics
Lilly
Novartis
NovaSom
Pfizer
To some in the industry, Solstice HealthCommunications may seem like the new agency on the block, agency leaders say. They add that the agency’s team members, however, have deep roots in the healthcare sphere, and their collective talent brings clients the years of industry experience, insight, knowledge, and passion their brands deserve.
Cofounded by Nanske and Bill Wood in 2011, Solstice began with four employees and two clients at the Woods’ residence. Since then, say the agency’s leaders, two elements have remained constant: positive change and growth.
The agency relocated to an official office space in Far Hills, N.J., later that year and won its first pitch in 2012. Since then, Solstice has strengthened its digital capabilities to handle the expanding needs of clients, significantly increased its client roster, grown its employee directory to include new rock-star talent, and added more office space to accommodate growing staff.
“Although Solstice may have had a humble start, this agency has the heart and creative power to take on any sized client,” managers say.
The Year’s Accomplishments
Solstice recently added three more clients to its growing roster, executives say. Under a new partnership with Pfizer, the agency is charged with helping to develop editorial content for GetHealthyStayHealthy.com – Pfizer’s unbranded, patient-facing website. The website serves as a source of actionable healthcare-related information across a wide variety of topics.
“This work is in direct alignment with Solstice’s commitment to developing patient- and caregiver-centric information utilizing the agency’s proprietary Clear by Design health literacy principles,” executives say.
Last year also ushered in a new collaboration with Lilly to develop empowering content for patients and their caregivers, spanning several disease categories. And last, but not least, was Amicus Therapeutics and its product, Galafold – a first-of-its-kind therapy for patients suffering from Fabry disease.
In addition, 2016 marked the official launch of the Experience a New Perspective campaign for Afinitor – a Novartis Pharmaceuticals product for patients with advanced neuroendocrine tumors (NET). The campaign, directed to global physicians, highlights Afinitor’s new addition of GI and lung NET to its already existing pancreatic NET indication. It is the first therapy approved for the three major types of this rare cancer, agency executives say.
Solstice leadership was also excited about the official unveiling of another Afinitor creative campaign – this one for advanced renal cell carcinoma (aRCC).
“With the impending approvals of more novel second-line agents, the agency was charged with evolving the current campaign to differentiate the product from competitors and focus on its unique mTOR pathway,” executives say. “Through the Make Time/Watch campaign, aimed at U.S.-based physicians, the agency effectively communicated that time is of the essence for this patient population and that physicians should consider making time for an mTOR inhibitor.”
Internally, the agency experienced new growth with the transition of HealthEd, a creative agency focusing on patient engagement, into Solstice. Executives say this acquisition helps strengthen Solstice’s patient offerings using health educators and behavioral change models.
“With this new philosophy, Solstice has dug deep to strengthen the dialogue between physicians and patients, as well as caregivers, securing their position in terms of the value the agency can bring to their clients,” executives note.
“Putting these types of strategies in place creates a better overall experience and ultimately benefits the brands themselves,” says Nanske Wood, president. “But first, we must focus on overall engagement.”
Structure & Services
Solstice is a privately held, WBENC, WOSB full-service agency that goes beyond the bounds of traditional advertising, according to its leadership.
“The agency has a nimble structure, one that is not hindered by the typical big-agency processes that can cause delays, break budgets, and push brands off strategy,” executives say, adding their mission is that what keeps their clients up at night keeps them up too. “It fuels [our] hunger to help clients put their brands on the right path, which will ultimately help the end user, the patient,” managers say.
“We don’t sell prepackaged ideas. We dig in deep to help clients overcome obstacles,” Nanske Wood remarks.
Often, agencies try to fit client needs into the services they offer as opposed to finding what works best for the client, Solstice leaders say, adding that the agency partners with key stakeholders through every step of a brand’s life cycle – premarketing, prelaunch, launch, loss of exclusivity – with strategic, medical, and creative expertise.
According to Solstice leaders, the majority of the agency’s team members have experience working in big agencies. “At Solstice, they are combining their shared learnings, collective vision, and commitment in new ways within a unique, creatively stimulating culture,” executives say. “This culture, along with the agency’s important launch experience across multiple therapeutic categories, provides clients with successful results.”
Executives say those successful results stem from chemistry between its team members. Solstice cofounders Nanske and Bill Wood have created an extraordinary team by carefully selecting staff members based on their complementary skill sets and personalities. “Finding the right balance between talent and personality is crucial,” these executives say.
Future Plans
Solstice will concentrate on driving behavioral change through overall engagement of healthcare professionals as well as patients. “This makes perfect sense,” agency leaders say. “Our agency and our clients have the same goal – to positively impact patients’ lives, their clinical encounters, and their brand experience.”
Solstice also plans to continue creating the strategic and innovative solutions that can set the stage for change and growth. “Through effective planning, communication, and management, Solstice strives to harness the fundamental forces of the market to help clients realize the greatest potential for their brands,” agency leaders say.
Philanthropy/Citizenship
In the true spirit of the holidays, Solstice executives made it their mission to spread Christmas cheer around the world. Instead of giving traditional gifts to thank clients, Solstice made donations on their behalf to Action Against Hunger. “This global humanitarian organization doesn’t just feed people,” Nanske Wood says. “It helps find sustainable solutions to hunger and access to safe drinking water. I very much look forward to working with them again in the future.”
Also, the agency supports team members who volunteer their own time to various causes such as working in the Morristown Community Soup Kitchen and providing dinners at homeless shelters. “It’s important to encourage these employees,” Nanske Wood says. “The kind actions of just one person have the potential to create a ripple effect of positive change in this world.”
