Harrison and Star: 2022

Harrison and Star 

1285 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019
212-727-1330 • [email protected] • harrisonandstar.com

 

QUICK FACTS

Accounts
Active business clients 21

Brands by 2021 sales
Brand-product accounts held 42

 

Services Mix

Healthcare professional advertising 80%
DTP 20%

 

Client Roster

AZ Diagnostics
Bristol Myers Squibb
Eisai
Foundation Medicine
Genentech
Gilead Sciences
Jazz Pharmaceuticals
Merck
Nektar
Novartis
Novocure
Organon
Roche Diagnostics
Santen
Siemens Healthineers
Stemline
Syndax
Takeda
Y-mAbs
Zymeworks

 

After generating some impressive momentum in 2019 and 2020, H/S put its creative prowess on full display in 2021 by producing a broad array of branded, unbranded, and pro-bono work that caught the eye of many leading industry shows and publications, managers at this agency say. They point to prestigious nods such as a Bronze Clio award as well as multiple Gold and Bronze LIAs. “By year’s end, H/S found itself ranked No. 1 on Lürzer’s Archive’s list of top advertising agencies in the United States – a first in the agency’s history,” management says.

Recent Accomplishments

Throughout 2021, the agency continued to churn out important, brand-defining work, including a Descovy for PrEP campaign leveraging the artist, activist, and cultural icon Keith Haring. “Bold and celebratory, the campaign promoted a groundbreaking treatment with a posthumous endorsement by the Keith Haring Foundation,” agency executives say.

“As creativity soared to new heights, client partnerships were sealed,” H/S managers say, and the agency won new business from Pfizer, earning its trust to take on one of their leading oncology assets. Tasked with finding new ways to reach community oncologists who were slow to adopt the treatment, “H/S quickly rose to the challenge.”

According to the agency’s leadership, as a trusted creative partner, H/S led the launch of multiple therapies, including the expanded use of Veklury (remdesivir), which was recently FDA-approved to treat nonhospitalized patients at risk of progression to severe COVID-19, hospitalization, or death.

“Helping to bring this product to market while navigating the complexities of a pandemic proved to be an extremely rewarding endeavor that further solidified the agency’s commitment to deliver work that makes a difference across communities,” H/S executives say. This dedication to creative excellence and making a real difference to patients inspired a new class of talent to join H/S, including the welcomed addition of Tara Erickson as president.

Agency leaders have expressed their excitement about Erickson’s clear vision for future growth, fueled by her vast experience across consumer/patient, professional healthcare, and non–healthcare advertising, in both the US and global markets. “The world has changed, and our markets have changed,” Erickson says. “We’re paying attention to that and we’re not just going to follow it, we’re going to get ahead of it, and that means growing our offerings, growing our client roster, and growing in personal development.”

Structure and Services

Furthering the evolution story, H/S has expanded its footprint to include a second agency – H/S ANYWhERE. Built upon the same core principles, management says H/S ANYWhERE stands as its own full-service, agile agency that has already produced work for key clients such as Eisai, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Merck, and Organon. “True to its name, the agency is fully remote, and employees can work from anywhere,” H/S executives say. “This new model transcends geographies to access a broader pool of talent, no matter where they’re located.”

H/S has continued to broaden its reach and its mission by partnering with Genentech and CIEN+ on an ongoing cancer screening initiative helping to identify and address health disparities in the U.S. health care system through education, advocacy, and improving outcomes for underrepresented communities, including Black and Hispanic Americans, agency executives say.

In 2021, the agency’s Color of Health team helped provide an important service for Genentech, and the collaboration produced a campaign about women’s breast cancer screening. Erickson sees further growth for Color of Health in 2022, noting, “This remains a priority for us. We want to be working with all the accounts, finding new ways to collaborate to bring about healthy change in the communities we serve.”

Future Plans

With a renewed focus on culture and individual/professional growth, coupled with a solid existing foundation of creativity, leaders at the agency say they are as energized as ever to drive bigger and better results for clients in 2022.

Echoing the same readiness for this year is newly minted Executive Creative Director Daniel Jay. He says at the top of his list is “fostering an open and inclusive creative culture that drives diversity in the work and at the agency, while encouraging others to bring fresh, innovative ideas to life that our clients have yet to even dream of.”

In parallel, H/S is expanding its Omnichannel expertise by building an industry-leading Omnichannel group. Erickson explains, “We are going to build out our nonpersonal expertise at scale. We named Paulette Robinson as head of our new Omnichannel group, and we have full confidence that this is going be an amazing team to bring about new offerings for our clients in 2022.”

This year represents an opportunity to begin bridging the gap between physicians and patients, according to H/S executives. As CEO Mario Muredda says, “We’re seeing and feeling the disconnect between physicians and patients. We want to assist and make it so that both physicians and patients can understand each other and have the most beneficial conversations possible. And we are well on our way to building a proprietary offering that will do just that.”

Philanthropy/Citizenship

At H/S, agency managers say the focus is “on using ingenuity to lift up lives and improve health while actively working to eliminate healthcare disparities and developing creative that moves audiences and inspires them to take action.” They add that this focus is reflected in the philanthropic work that the agency has produced for two pro-bono clients: the Dream Foundation, which provides end-of-life dreams that offer inspiration, comfort, and closure for terminally ill adults, and Family Reach, which aims to remove the financial barriers between cancer patients and their treatment.

This desire to give back opened the door to further engagements, including with the Cardiovascular Research Foundation, which asked H/S to spearhead the development of a campaign to increase awareness of cardiovascular health risks in women.

H/S lent a creative hand to Hyacinth, New Jersey’s largest and first HIV service provider, which helps people living with HIV and works to stop the spread of the epidemic. The agency has collaborated with Hyacinth for years on work that combats stigmas and promotes Hyacinth as a judgment-free center for people with HIV to access medical assistance.