Biolumina Group: 2021
Biolumina Group LLC
1285 6th Avenue
New York, NY 10019
Telephone
347-327-0692
Website
biolumina.com
QUICK FACTS
Accounts
Account wins 5
Active business clients 8
Brands by 2020 sales
Brand-product accounts held 12
$50 million-$100 million 1
$100 million-$500 million 4
$500 million-$1 billion 1
$1 billion or more 4
Products not yet approved/launched 2
SERVICES MIX
Professional advertising 50%
Digital 35%
Relationship marketing 15%
CLIENT ROSTER
AstraZeneca
FerGene
Janssen Oncology
Legend Biotech
Novartis Pharmaceuticals
Pfizer
Pierre Fabre
Seagen
Curiosity continued to be the driving force of yet another year of record growth for Biolumina and proved to be the key to thriving during a pandemic, according to management, adding that the agency had its strongest year ever in terms of new business wins, increased talent acquisition, internal promotions, and expanded offerings.
RECENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Biolumina continued its streak of record-breaking growth that first began when President and CEO Kirsten A. Kantak relaunched the agency more than five years ago. “2020 was a year of seismic global change that revealed a lot of ingrained inequities and communication chasms,” she says. “But, it also presented an opportunity to reevaluate and take action in order to achieve more as a society, and to evaluate our responsibility in driving change within our area of the industry. Within the oncology realm in which Biolumina specializes, this sense of purpose and passion helped the agency move forward with focus to achieve significant success.”
The agency had multiple new business wins, the majority stemming from the new world of fully virtual pitch presentations. New business growth included global and U.S. agency of record assignments from AstraZeneca for a significant multi-indication oncology brand and from Seagen in the HER2+ breast cancer category for HCP and patient work. The agency also expanded its global business at Janssen Oncology and was awarded the company’s multi-brand prostate cancer franchise. The agency also experienced record-breaking organic growth and executed several launches and label updates for AstraZeneca and Pfizer.
Biolumina leadership says the agency’s mantra for bold and inspired work continues to be Creative with Purpose. “As an agency focused exclusively in oncology, the work we do is meaningful, fulfilling, and, yes, even fun,” says Chief Creative Officer Diane Iler-Smith. She points to examples such as the COVID-19 MythBusters campaign, “Don’t Be Blind to the Truth,” which won Gold in the Pharma Choice Awards and the AstraZeneca “Treat like it’s 2020” disease education campaign.
Leadership talent increased in 2020 with the additions of Dorothy Chin, senior VP, creative director/copy, Amy Schachter, senior VP, associate creative director/copy, and Sean Kinney, senior VP, associate creative director/art. Jason Geipel also joined as senior VP, director of strategy. On the account team, Biolumina added Sarah Hill, senior VP, management supervisor and Greg Mellas, senior VP, management supervisor. In total, 82 new hires joined Biolumina due to the agency’s record growth.
STRUCTURE AND SERVICES
To support the continued and future growth of the agency, the Medical and Strategic services group nearly doubled in size, with more than half of the staff holding advanced degrees. This group, with regard to depth and breadth of oncology expertise, has played a key role in the agency’s success.
At Biolumina, the pandemic inspired new ways of working and demanded innovative approaches to collaborate and fuel idea generation, agency leaders say, adding that new virtual workshop offerings were a big success, with close to 70 sessions conducted across the agency’s client roster since March 2020.
Biolumina continued to expand its Customer Experience group under the leadership of industry veteran, David Cherry, senior VP, director of customer experience. Biolumina leaders say from an Experience Planning team delivering actionable segmentation, messaging, and channel strategies, through a UX and Development team focused on impactful and useful tactics, to an Analytics team determining success metrics and measuring every tactic against them, Biolumina was prepared to help its clients support patients and HCPs digitally and make an impact in the new world of virtual congresses.
One of the things that makes Biolumina special is its environment of inclusivity, where everyone is encouraged and expected to have a voice. “All of our teammates are asked to bring their authentic selves to work every day. ‘Happy Conflict’ workshops are mandatory, encouraging and teaching how to engage in positive, intellectual debate, which results in better work, better communication, and better anything and everything.”
FUTURE PLANS
Biolumina is on a mission to ignite the passion for oncology in others. “Oncology marketing today is vastly different than it was 10 years ago. It’s not only about the clinical data. It’s exciting, inspiring, and creative! Oncology is one of the most rapidly changing disease areas with the most investment in new scientific discoveries. It is the area of healthcare with the most innovation and advances – leading to longer survival and even cures. Just imagine a world where there are choices, clearly understandable, that lead to outcomes never expected before in this disease. That’s the world that’s emerging thanks to new innovations, and that’s the world Biolumina is supporting.”
Top row: David Cherry, senior VP, director of customer experience Second row: Jenna Goscienski, senior VP, director of operations; Chris Lee, director, human resources Third row: Kyle Wormser, senior VP, creative director, copy; Brenda Aske, senior VP, managing director of strategy; Troy Clark, senior VP, creative director, art; Judy Kides, senior VP, finance director Fourth row: Laura MacSwan, senior VP, managing director, account; Kyle Grazia, senior VP, group creative director, art; Anne Brown, senior VP, creative director, copy; Danielle Cranwell, senior VP, managing Director, account Bottom row: Diane Iler-Smith, chief creative officer; Kirsten Kantak, president and CEO; Dorothy Chin, senior VP, creative director, copy; Jad Daccurso, senior VP, managing director, account; Austin Wei, senior VP, group creative director, art
PHILANTHROPY/CITIZENSHIP
Biolumina expanded its philanthropic work in 2020, guided by the agency’s vision to be the delta and create positive change in the world. In the spring, the agency answered the United Nations Global Call for Creative to educate on the COVID-19 pandemic with three campaigns “Don’t Be Blind to Truth,” “Get Factinated,” and “Miss My Go-to.”
Biolumina developed a comprehensive communication strategic framework for The Family Reach Foundation, an organization dedicated to eradicating the financial barriers that accompany a cancer diagnosis. The agency also worked with For Pete’s Sake Cancer Respite Foundation to develop an in-service program for oncology nurses that has helped increase nominations of people in need of a break from the cancer experience.
For November’s National Gratitude Month, the agency held a Gratitude Drive that resulted in over 1,000 thank you emails sent to colleagues and a donation to In God’s Love We Deliver, an organization dedicated to alleviating hunger and malnutrition in people with serious illnesses.
According to executives, Biolumina is proud to be an anti-racist organization, fully supporting the Black Lives Matter movement and taking racism in any form seriously. “The agency is incorporating diversity and inclusion education and discussions into the organization, educating employees on unconscious bias and the impact it can have in our day-to-day decision making, and actively recruiting from historically Black colleges and universities,” Biolumina leaders say.
Management adds that the agency is, was, and will continue to be an active participant in Omnicom OPEN Pride, a network-wide initiative dedicated to fostering an inclusive and opportunity-rich environment for Omnicom’s LGBTQ+ community. Biolumina employees also contributed to and support the Equal Justice Initiative and the NAACP legal defense fund.
