AbelsonTaylor: 2023

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AbelsonTaylor 2023

AbelsonTaylor

433 W. Van Buren St., Chicago, IL 60607 

312-894-5500 • [email protected]abelsontaylor.com

Quick Facts

Accounts

  • Account wins: 8
  • Active business clients: 20

Brands by 2022 sales

  • Brand-product accounts held: 47

Services mix

  • Sales promotion: 39%
  • Video brochures: 32%
  • Broadcast: 16%
  • Magazines: 5%
  • Consumer publication: 5%
  • Other: 3%
Hemgenix, AbelsonTaylor

Finalist | Best Launch Campaign
The first and only gene therapy for hemophilia B has arrived. Hemgenix is helping an entire community realize a new level of freedom from the impact of hemophilia B.

Client roster

  • Aerovate Therapeutics
  • Arcutis Biotherapeutics 
  • Astellas Pharma US
  • Avanos
  • Biogen-Sage
  • City of Hope
  • Cohena
  • Coherus
  • Cooper Medical
  • CooperSurgical
  • CSL Behring
  • Fresenius Kabi
  • G1 Therapeutics
  • Karyopharm Therapeutics
  • Neurocrine Biosciences
  • Pharmacosmos
  • PharmaEssentia
  • Pharmavite
  • Sage Therapeutics
  • Seres Therapeutics/Aimmune Therapeutics
  • Sunovion Pharmaceuticals 
  • Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America 
  • Vericel

Finalist

  • DE&I Champion
  • Heart Award
  • Best Launch Campaign
  • Best Professional Digital Campaign

It was a year of wins and launches at AbelsonTaylor. Executives say along with a bounty of work with existing clients carrying over from 2021, AbelsonTaylor’s brand roster grew throughout the year, with the agency gaining six accounts resulting from the expansion of several long-standing relationships.

“As always, great work that made a client look good is remembered when the client moves on to the next job or brand. It our industry reputation and ability to deliver a return on imagination that are the secret ingredients of our winning pitches,” said Dale Taylor, CEO of AbelsonTaylor.

Recent accomplishments

One of the year’s most significant wins, according to AbelsonTaylor managers, occurred early in 2022 with Biogen and Sage’s zuranolone, in clinical trials for MDD and postpartum depression. The launch of the disease-state awareness strategy and HCP campaign, www.reexaminedepression.com, occurred in the fourth quarter. 

Client wins fueled four major product launches that saw success within weeks of approvals. Most notably, AbelsonTaylor partnered with Arcutis Biotherapeutics on the launch of Zoryve (roflumilast) cream 0.3% for both HCPs and patients in treating psoriasis. 

“The results of the campaign were exceptional with aided and unaided patient awareness of Zoryve increasing rapidly,” agency leaders stated, adding that the agency continues to prepare and lead the launches for Zoryve in potential future seborrheic dermatitis and atopic dermatitis indications in 2023 and 2024.

In January 2023, AbelsonTaylor partnered with longstanding client CSL Behring and launched the first gene therapy for hemophilia B, Hemgenix. “This was a historic moment for patients living with hemophilia B, as it greatly reduces the need for prophylactic therapy and allows patients to generate factor IX for years after a single infusion,” agency executives say. 

Lastly, the approval of a new product for non-surgical eschar removal in patients with severe thermal burns, gave AbelsonTaylor one more launch to close out 2022. 

Continuing work with San Diego-based Neurocrine Biosciences, AbelsonTaylor launched a new HCP campaign for Ingrezza capsules as well as extensions of a DTC campaign that contributed to sequential growth 2022 vs. 2021 driven by record number of new patient starts and continued strength in existing patients’ refill rates.  In 2023, the AbelsonTaylor team will also prep for a new indication for Huntington’s disease chorea for Ingrezza.  

According to agency leaders, its new opportunity shop, ATNutrient, launched at the end of 2021, signed on four brands out of the gate, with potential for two additional brands from prospective clients setting the agency on a strong growth trajectory for 2023. ATNutrient’s first launch was for an anti-VEGF therapy approved as the only biosimilar product interchangeable with Lucentis (ranibizumab injection) for all five of its ophthalmology indications.  The team saw strong results within four months of launch, helping more patients access anti-VEGF therapy. ATNutrient was also retained to help plan line extension launches for an oncology biosimilar of pegfilgrastim.  ATNutrient has also been busy preparing two global and U.S. biosimilar launches with Fresenius Kabi.

“With a stellar slate of clients, AT outdid itself in accolades in 2022, with 26 overall awards and 26 finalists in major industry contests,” executives say. “Of all AT’s winning work, the ‘Menopause My Way’ campaign, for hormone-free menopause symptom reliever NatureMade Equelle, earned the highest number of honors, bringing home half the heavy metal with 13 total trophies.”

In staffing news, executives point out that AbelsonTaylor brought on 79 “bright new minds” across 19 states, as the agency opened its roles to access the best talent nationwide. Enhancing its recruitment marketing capabilities, AbelsonTaylor brought aboard Pearson Brown as director of marketing and communications to oversee internal and external communications and employer branding. 

The agency rebranded its Human Resources department to the employee-centric People Experience Team and implemented more liberal remote work options, flexible time off, and increased parental leave and short-term disability benefits. Leaders say the agency’s investment in people also focused on building a culture of psychological safety, which rewards vulnerability and diverse thinking, allowing creativity and innovation to thrive. 

To support the rapid pace of workforce growth and the expanding programs, AbelsonTaylor welcomed Lisa Brigham, director of talent and acquisition; Alyssa Crance, learning  and development manager; Skylar Hanson, people coordinator; and Brielle Sarullo, talent acquisition specialist. 

Structure and services

Accompanying its investment in new talent, AbelsonTaylor expanded capabilities across both strategic service and production teams. Rebecca Visconti joined as VP, marketing intelligence to lead development of the agency’s holistic performance report suite and multi-touch marketing attribution capabilities for clients, incorporating a data science expertise with the addition of Shawn Lee, associate director of data science. On the media team, Mike D’Orazio, director of ad operations, and Megan Encarnacion, director of paid social media, ramped up the agency’s full media activation operations in January 2023. “This allows AT to buy and manage programmatic, search, and social campaigns, increasing efficiency and quality control for AT’s clients,” executives say.

“The partnership between the media and marketing intelligence teams enables AT to execute a ‘digital-first’ approach to engagement strategy using data at the core of the agency’s model,” Taylor says. “We can now measure the success of our targeting, strategy, and creative executions and anticipate the next best interaction for each customer.”

User experience (UX) was also amped up in 2022, with AbelsonTaylor integrating UX designers into brand teams early in strategy development. “With UX teams entrenched in the brands as members of the integrated strategy department, UX plays a significant role in shaping and optimizing the user experience across the brand ecosystem,” executives say.

As diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) took a front seat in 2021 with the addition of a dedicated DEI director at the agency, initiatives ramped up in 2022 to concentrate on representing diversity not only in AbelsonTaylor’s workforce but also in the work itself. “By developing campaigns that are focused on ensuring that brand imagery, language, and audience cultural values are depict inclusively with respect and sensitivity, we connect our brands and their audiences more deeply, reflecting a diverse global audience and their lived experiences,” agency leaders say.

Dose, AbelsonTaylor’s in-house production studio, continues to build up its menu of offerings and will look to develop new revenue streams.

Future plans

The overarching theme at AbelsonTaylor for 2023 is “Team.” “Our goals and objectives are powered by team success, which is driven by every employee’s contribution,” agency leaders say. “Through ongoing training and reinforcement of psychological safety in the workplace, AT aims to support our teams and employees to enable their highest performance. We also will continue to build a strong culture that encourages human connection, through people-first policies, DE&I initiatives, professional development opportunities, recognition programs, and interactive forums that promote connected experiences and collaboration in a hybrid environment. “

In 2023, executives say the agency is focusing on maximizing its potential. “With new offerings through ATNutrient, Dose, and our media department, we are significantly increasing our overall capabilities and will continue to gauge the needs of our clients to evolve our services,” leaders state. “In addition, our goal for 2023 is to expand to build more multi-touch attribution modeling and reporting to better understand and predict the tactics that are driving brand growth.”  

“As we expand our offerings, we also plan to grow our business,” managers state. “We have a sound business model built on delivering great wins for our clients that leads to more wins for the agency, and we aim to ensure our overall client satisfaction scores remain top tier. After 41 years in business, AT continues to prove that valuable experience blended with fresh and audacious ideas yields an industry-leading Return on Imagination, which defines AbelsonTaylor’s brand.”

Philanthropy/citizenship

This year AbelsonTaylor’s corporate social responsibility program HeartsATWork focused on building connections within the agency. Managers say employees got personally involved with Rare Disease Day, by sharing personal stories of PSC, autism, epilepsy, and other diseases that the agency passionately works on for family, friends, and clients.

The agency also stepped up and supported Ukraine with “extraordinary” grassroots efforts, led by two team members whose family and friends were impacted by the conflict. “Through perseverance and keen resourcefulness, they established a complex support network and orchestrated the delivery of emergency care parcels from Chicago to shelters in Ukraine, via Poland, providing those in need with 16,000 pounds of first aid supplies, baby formula, and hygiene products, such as sanitizer and wipes, water filtering supplies for 1,000 families, and a portable sterilizer for medical tools in the field,” executives say.

Another effort involved working with global nonprofit Nova Ukraine, helping the organization increase donations and expand awareness of its humanitarian mission via a comprehensive new social media campaign.  Staff also supported numerous other charitable efforts through AbelsonTaylor’s long-standing relationships with the United Way, Christmas Without Cancer, Night Ministry, Nourishing Hope, and Heifer International. 

AbelsonTaylor 2023

(top row left to right) Keith Stenlund, executive VP, CFO; Lynnette Hunter, executive VP, director of client services; Dale Taylor, chairman and CEO; Jay Carter, executive VP, director of business development
(bottom row left to right) Jeff Berg, president; Jeanine Koch, executive VP, director of project management; Stephen Neale, executive VP, chief creative officer