Abelson Taylor 2014

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33 West Monroe
Chicago, IL 60603
Telephone: 312-894-5500
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: abelsontaylor.com

Winner

BEST CONSUMER CAMPAIGN
BEST NONBRANDED CAMPAIGN
MOST ADMIRED AGENCY

Finalist

MOST CREATIVE AGENCY

Quick Facts

Accounts  
Account wins 14
Account losses 10
Active business clients 19
Brands by 2013 sales  
Brand-product accounts held 61
$25 million or less 1
$25 million – $50 million 7
$50 million – $100 million 11
$100 million – $500 million 5
$500 million to $1 billion 6
$1 billion or more 3
Services Mix  
Sales promotion 50%
Video brochures 25%
Magazines 8%
Broadcast 6%
Other 6%
Consumer publication 5%

Client Roster

Abbott Molecular
Abbott Nutrition
AbbVie
Allergan
AstellasPharma US
AstraZeneca
Cadence Pharmaceuticals
Daiichi Sankyo
Daiichi Sankyo/Eli Lilly
Eli Lilly
Fresenius Kabi
HealthPointBiotherapeutics
Inspiration BioPharmaceuticals
Kythera Biopharmaceuticals
Mako Surgical
Purdue Pharma
Questcor Pharmaceuticals
Sunovion Pharmaceuticals
Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America
Teva Oncology
Ther-Rx
UCB Pharma
Vertex Pharmaceuticals

According to leaders at AbelsonTaylor, one of the largest independent healthcare advertising agencies, 2014 is shaping up to be a great year because 2013 ended on a huge upswing.

“2014 promises to be a strong year,” executives say. “New business wins at the end of 2013 are now generating major campaign development, our relationships with long-term clients remain strong, the digital component of our business has overtaken the traditional channels, and the focus on building a robust heath and wellness practice has the agency energized.”

According to executives, the agency’s strongest offering and best competitive advantage will continue to be brand strategy, positioning, message development, and compelling creative. As channels will continue to evolve and media will change, what will remain constant is that the partner who does the best job of creating, discovering, and communicating the compelling content that moves these important brands will be the agency that thrives.

The year’s accomplishments

During 2013 AbelsonTaylor added 15 brands to the roster, seven without a pitch. Most of the wins came near the end of the year. One of the most significant wins was the complete respiratory franchise at one of the top 10 pharma companies, the agency’s first assignment with the company. The win came late in the year and work has already begun. AbelsonTaylor was assigned the healthcare professional business for one of the world’s largest biologic brands to go with its longtime DTC agency of record status for the same brand. The agency was also assigned healthcare professional and DTC responsibilities for a major gastrointestinal brand at a longtime client. Additionally, AbelsonTaylor won the Neupro U.S. and global business at UCB Pharma for the restless legs and Parkinson indications. Mako hired the agency for the DTC and HCP promotion of the MAKOplasty Robotic Arm for partial knee and hip replacement.

Fresenius Kabi assigned the agency three brands without a pitch. AbelsonTaylor won U.S. and global launch responsibilities for a new solid tumor agent at a large current client, paving the way for a long-term relationship as its indications grow over the years. “And a perfect way to end the year was the double win at a long term biotech client, for the DTC, online, and off-line assignments for two important cardiovascular brands,” executives say.

The last half of the year saw huge new business wins for AbelsonTaylor, but they did not come soon enough to completely offset the losses caused by loss of exclusivity for key brands and client spending cutbacks for brands facing challenging market conditions. This means revenue was down slightly and profits were flat compared with 2012. “As AOR for over 50 brands, we share both the ups and the downs that our partners have to deal with,” agency leaders say.

According to executives, less of the agency’s work every year involves the printed word. AbelsonTaylor completed 742 digital projects last year, and now 85 percent of the brands use the agency for their digital programs. “In fact, digital, social and broadcast make up most of what we do for clients,” executives say. “But the point is not digital, broadcast, social or print. What makes us successful is not the media we use to communicate, but the content we communicate: thoroughly researched messages, in-depth medical understanding, thoughtful insight discovery, carefully crafted positioning, memorable, impactful creative concepts delivered to patients and doctors in the way they want to access information. Integrated through all media and perfectly compliant with all the rules that govern our industry. Many clients are discovering that multiple agencies and digital vendors are struggling to keep content aligned and compliant while also trying to poach each other’s work is a recipe for inefficiency.”

According to agency executives, AbelsonTaylor has long been a leader in global branding, but 2013 saw a new approach to this part of its business. Although many pharma companies seem to be abandoning the global holding company model, some occasionally still ask for a global network with bricks and mortar around the world. To satisfy this request from a major client, AbelsonTaylor, for the first time, entered into a unique agreement with Omnicom to jointly, and, as it turned out, successfully pitch for their global consolidated business across multiple product lines. “While our commitment to independence remains, this new arrangement presents new opportunities for AbelsonTaylor to serve clients who still need on an on-the-ground presence outside the U.S.,” executives say.

The agency characterizes the work created for existing clients in 2013 as “amazing.” The consumer website for Takeda’s Dexilant was voted Best Consumer Website of the year by AbelsonTaylor’s peers. The agency launched dramatic new campaigns for products indicated for APL, bipolar depression, leukemia, HIV and more. During the year AbelsonTaylor created broadcast spots for drugs for RA, psoriasis, acne and nutritional products such as Glucerna and PediaSure and added five new broadcast campaigns to its DTC reel.

Structure and services

In an “exciting” year on the digital leadership front for AbelsonTaylor, the agency brought on new VP-level talent in technology and digital strategy.

Emily Tower joined AbelsonTaylor as VP/digital strategy and analytics. Tower’s job is to capitalize on the agency’s strong digital capabilities by making sure that they are appropriately integrated into brands’ marketing plans. “As digital tactics become the primary channel by which strategy and creative are deployed, our clients are looking to us to make sure that the integration of messaging is seamless and, importantly, approvable in an increasingly rigorous med-reg environment,” executives say.

Jose Andrade, VP/director of interactive technology, was brought aboard to provide leadership for AbelsonTaylor’s growing digital technology and developer staff, which currently stands at 23. And Brendan Turner was hired to make sure that the Digital production department turns out digital jobs that are of the same quality and effectiveness that clients expect of the agency for traditional media.

AbelsonTaylor has started deploying Adobe DPS applications as fast and affordable digital tools for the iPad. Additionally, the agency has instituted Adobe subject matter experts to make sure everyone stays up-to-date on the latest and greatest tools in the Adobe Creative Cloud suite of software.

The agency has devoted a lot of effort to remaining at the leading edge of technology by sending staffers to events such as SXSW, NAB, Prototype Camp, HOW, AdTech, and the Amazon Developers Conference. At last year’s SXSW conference, AbelsonTaylor had three speakers.

To bring its ideas to life more competitively and efficiently across a wide range of media, AbelsonTaylor created Dose – a group of in-house studio artists who create everything from motion graphics and video editing to retouching and CG.

AbelsonTaylor also hosted the first-ever Quality Assurance Summit for Digital Healthcare Marketing. The focus of the summit was the idea of shifting QA to the left on the timeline – to the beginning. This “shift left” mind-set allows the agency to find problems early, and fix them before they jeopardize timelines, budgets, and, most importantly, the quality of the work. What started out as a small gathering of like-minded people grew to include clients, people from other ad agencies, and QA professionals. “‘Shift left’ is a big idea,” management says. “Such a big idea in fact, that we were chosen to present a panel at the 2014 SXSW conference in March.”

According to agency leaders, health and wellness brands outside of the pharma space will be a major growth target for AbelsonTaylor’s efforts in 2014 and beyond. “Our vast experience in the infant, toddler and aging population space with brands like Similac, PediaSure, Glucerna, and Ensure have given us a deep understanding of how people choose brands that affect their family’s health,” execs say. “With that as a basis, we will be launching a major initiative to build a book of business in the larger H&W space. Our scientific expertise and robust consumer planning capability will be key to this effort.”

Another key will be experienced leadership, executives say. With that goal in mind, Beverly Wright was hired as VP/account director, from Leo Burnett, to head this initiative.

Philanthropy/citizenship

For six years, AbelsonTaylor’sHeartsATWork internal organization that directs its charitable outreach programs has maintained the agency’s commitment to “Finding meaningful ways for AbelsonTaylor employees to share their abundance of compassion and creativity by donating time, skills and energy to benefit the health and well-being of others.”

“We continue to help organizations both big and small and those that are on the international stage as well as close to home,” executives say. HeartsATWork helps smaller organizations that may not have the support of large corporate donors. Once again, the agency sponsored an annual on-site blood drive through the American Red Cross. For the second year, in conjunction with the blood drive, AbelsonTaylor hosted a bone marrow typing event with Be The Match, and sponsored its annual Winterfest that benefited five local charities.

2013 was AbelsonTaylor’s 15th year of offering financial support to Heifer International. Executives say over the years, the agency’s contributions have provided more than 40,000 animals, not counting bees, to families in need around the world. This past year the agency’s contribution to Heifer International was a direct grant to their Horn of Africa rescue program.