AgencyRx 2015
AgencyRx
200 Varick Street, 3rd Floor
New York, NY 10014
Telephone: 212-896-1300
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: agencyrx.com
QUICK FACTS
Accounts
Account wins 7
Active business clients 9
Brands by 2014 sales
Brand-product accounts held 18
Service Mix
HCP 81%
Patient 19%
Digital 62%
Traditional 38%
Biotech 60%
Pharmaceutical 38%
Device
2015 marks the 10th anniversary since the founding of AgencyRx. Executives say this has been a decade of remarkable growth, accomplishment, and evolution.
“We started with 38 people and one client,” comments Michael Schreiber, president of AgencyRx. “Today we are well diversified in terms of clientele and capabilities.”
Schreiber says he has surrounded himself with a well-rounded leadership group, which includes Fred Kinch, managing partner, executive creative director; Matt Goff, associate partner, director of digital marketing; Amanda Hunt, associate partner, director of strategic services; and Molly Berkeley, director of client services. Kinch oversees art, copy, and user experience, as well as the editorial group. Goff heads up a full-service digital department, including digital insights and strategy, development, analytics, and process. Hunt oversees medical and scientific affairs and account planning; and Berkeley joined last year from BBDO.
“These are leaders who represent ‘Brains, Guts, and Heart,’ our agency mantra,” Schreiber says. “It’s not enough to be smart. You’ve got to have the courage and passion to experiment and do something that’s never been done before.”
Executives say AgencyRx has been at the forefront of innovation for years. The agency was the first to champion a disease-specific social media network with “CML Earth.” Its app “Iron Invaders” was the first patient education app featured in iTunes New and Noteworthy section. Most recently, AgencyRx received a provisional patent for DriiverSeatTM, a technology that executives say will revolutionize the way representatives and healthcare professionals interact.
“DriiverSeat is a case study that reflects what AgencyRx is all about,” Goff says. The brainchild of Lee O’Brien, VP, associate creative director, art, executives say the program is a leap forward in iDetail technology that will narrow the gap between an HCP and a rep during the review of traditional brand content. DriiverSeat does that by creating a shared experience across two iPads.
AgencyRx’s development team, headed by Joe Knouse, VP, director of technology, has brought the platform to life. “DriiverSeat is an authentic game changer; when a rep walks into the office with DriiverSeat it won’t be your Grandma’s office call,” Knouse says. AgencyRx already has clients scheduled to pilot DriiverSeat in 2015.
According to agency leaders, 2014 was a year of digital innovation at AgencyRx. “The entrepreneurial heritage that propelled AgencyRx forward over the past decade has become increasingly valuable to healthcare clients as the world around us becomes more closely connected in new and meaningful ways,” executives note.
In 2014, AgencyRx says it successfully brought many clients into uncharted digital territory with firsts that range from new digital channels to the assembly of KOB (key opinion bloggers) boards. “The environment is evolving at a breakneck pace in unpredictable ways, and AgencyRx is at the forefront,” executives say.
In 2014 AgencyRx fortified its digital leadership with the addition of Jill Friedlander, senior VP, management supervisor, who in a very short time has spearheaded social initiatives to better familiarize clients with the social norms of the digital landscape. Those efforts include the creation of a “rapid-response social media SWAT team” for large conventions, in addition to a suite of tools, such as a ranking algorithm that aids in the assessment of app features and implementation logistics.
Partnering with Friedlander is Kara Rodemer, senior VP, digital strategist, who leads AgencyRx’s Digital Insights team. The Digital Insights team is a cross-functional brain trust that includes UX, content strategists, digital strategists, and data analysts. During the year, the team experienced widespread demand for niched digital approaches that pull through overarching brand objectives – approaches for which they played a role in development. The AgencyRx digital group was instrumental in landing new clients such as CooperVision, a global contact lens manufacturer from the Bay Area.
“Companies that are passionate about the opportunities that digital brings to their business are our most successful partners,” Goff says.
Despite these successes, executives say AgencyRx could not have done it alone. 2014 was a year of digital collaboration, during which partnerships with large technology firms such as Apple and startups such as Figure 1 fueled the creative process to enable high-performing digital solutions that stand out in an ocean of change. As AgencyRx moved into 2015, it continued this effort and is seeking similar engagements with a myriad of healthcare technology partners that range from the Google Glass app Augmedix to the FOVE VR Headset.
Creatively, AgencyRx has made full digital integration a primary goal and now digital creative staff is embedded in every team at the agency. “Having digital as a separate unit within an agency is now as anachronistic as having a separate Vis Aid team,” Kinch says. “The integration squarely aligns with our clients’ needs, which are represented by more than 70 percent of creative output being digital.”
In 2014, AgencyRx recruited Patricia Malone, senior VP, creative director, to expand the agency’s offerings in San Francisco, bringing medical device, health and wellness, and emerging technologies experience to its pharmaceutical and biotech mix. As the creative lead for that office, Malone and AgencyRx offer full-service capabilities from San Francisco, with full access to the wider AgencyRx network resources.
“It’s been exciting to expand our offerings on the West Coast,” Kinch says. “As on the East Coast, we can ensure that clients experience our integrated team approach of account, creative, medical, planning and digital expertise on every brand or project. Our goal is to bring the AgencyRx brand closer to existing and potential healthcare partners on the West Coast.”
According to executives, for 2015, the agency’s primary focus is rolling out its new agency vision of ‘Brains, Guts, and Heart.’
“That means fostering an environment in which people have the freedom to express those traits through open dialogue, giving people the room to explore ideas, and accepting that some of what we propose will be disruptive to our clients’ and their customers’ established ways of thinking,” executives say.
“‘Brains, Guts, and Heart’ have propelled us from a small start-up to a full-service agency with premier clients and brands,” Schreiber says. “I’m incredibly optimistic about where it will take us in the next decade.”
