Agency leaders talk about their favorite DTC campaigns of the past year.

Med Ad News asked agency leaders what clients are asking for today that they were not asking for a year ago – and what they might be asking for a year from now that they are not asking for today.

To reach payer audiences, companies have to focus far less on promotional tactics and show the value of their products.

The speakers agreed: It’s prime time for the next generation of industry leaders to step up, speak up and be counted in Washington to ensure that policy makers fully understand the value of robust communication to the delivery of efficient and effective healthcare in America. The message came together on May 11 in Washington when a Congressman, inside-the-beltway experts, and key industry CEOs convened with more than 60 up-and-coming stars from the health agency networks, independent agencies, medical publishers, and digital content providers to review medical policy issues at the Coalition for Healthcare Communication’s Rising Leaders Conference.

As the CEO of a nonprofit that greatly depends on support from both corporations and individuals, I appreciate companies that donate their products and services to medical relief and development international NGOs like ours. A large part of our success is the result of relationships we’ve built with the nation’s leading pharmaceutical companies, including Johnson & Johnson, Abbott, AbbVie and Merck.

Why pharma has been slow to engage its customers, and what we can do about it.

After years of intensive and expensive brand building, when a drug hits the patent wall, its equity evaporates overnight. Over the last few years, loss of exclusivity (LOE) has slashed the market share of the most well-known drugs in a matter of months.

The convergence of health and wellness and digital technology has become tremendously significant in the last few years, most notably through the widespread permeation of wearable technology in daily life. And it continues to grow. A myriad of products are now available for monitoring physical activity and lifestyle parameters, and continuing improvements in their biometric sophistication provides users with previously unimaginable amounts of personal data at their fingertips.

Katerina Steele has become associate director of business development and analysis at AbelsonTaylor. Steele was previously manager of new business development. Joshua McCasland was chosen as senior VP, executive creative director, at Giant Creative Strategy. McCasland was VP, group creative director, copy, at Giant.

Frank X. Powers and Lorna Weir have teamed up to form a new venture – Elevate Healthcare Marketing. The reason why, these executives explain in their launch press release, is “Because they believe that truly helping clients raise the value of their offerings in the dynamic world of healthcare now demands a different type of collaboration.”