CDM New York: 2023

CDM New York

200 Varick Street, New York, NY 10014  | cdmny.com

Quick Facts

Accounts

• Account wins: 3
• Active business clients: 27
  

Services mix

• Sales materials: 40%
• Professional digital/web/mobile/omnichannel: 30%
• Professional print ads: 10%
• DTC/DTP digital/web/mobile/omnichannel: 10%
• DTC/DTP print ads: 5%
• Data/analytics: 5%
  

Client roster

• Merck
• Janssen
• Legend

Winner

• Best Agency Campaign

Finalist

• Best Nonbranded Professional Campaign

CDM New York has more than 30 years of experience in supporting healthcare brands during the most critical phase of their lifespan: the launch into market, according to agency leadership. “In the past three decades, CDM NY helped launch some of the most coveted brands in the industry, from clients such as Pfizer, Bayer, Novartis, and more,” executives say. “And in 2022 alone, 67 percent of its force was actively working on launch brands for 2023 and 2024.”

Recent accomplishments

2022 saw CDM New York continue a new business tear, executives say, with nine pitch wins over the course of 18 months. The  agency welcomed four new AOR clients, including one from the tech space, which uses VR to cure childhood amblyopia.
“Looking forward to 2023, CDM NY will help shepherd in six new product/indication launches, bringing medical breakthroughs in oncology, cardiovascular care, immunology, and gastroenterology.” 

The agency’s work has also been recognized by the industry. In 2022, CDM New York had seven campaigns selected as finalists in the Manny Awards, which made it the second most recognized agency at the event. The campaign “Easier to Find” for CDx was selected as the best professional print campaign of the year. The agency was also recognized overseas, collecting four awards at the British Creative Floor festival.

Structure and services

As a full-service agency, CDM New York gathers both HCP and DTC experience to help drive healthcare brands during their entire lifespan, from pre-launch to in-market, according to the leadership team.  And while the team has always had an eye toward the future, as evidenced by the hiring of John Duffield, senior VP of technology experience, it made serious efforts in 2022 to become “fit for the future.” 

“Christina Kim [chief data strategy officer], John, and Brandon Swift [senior VP, data analytics] have been charged with demystifying the concept of omnichannel for employees and clients alike, and to help CDM outpace others in this area,” notes Chris Barbee, chief strategy officer.

Beyond investing in this key pillar, leaders say CDM has made significant strides to elevate its medical and scientific affairs practice with a Global Scientific Consortium, led by Chief Medical Officer Joel Jacob. 

“The GSC is a collection of scientific experts from across CDM’s global network, organized around specialist communities, that will support existing clients and build new global business,” Jacob says. Built into the infrastructure is real-time consultation; and, if a business request warrants further intervention, a team of specialists can be mobilized to service the client. 

Future Plans

In a visually crowded world, craft is what grabs your attention, and you can feel it in your gut when it’s needed,” notes Felipe Munhoz, group creative director. 

According to executives, Go With Your Gut is an open invitation to the entire agency to come up with bold, unique, first-of-its-kind ideas for their clients. 

“We dig deep into our clients’ strategies, their market, and their target to find unmet needs that they may not have seen yet,” Munhoz says. “Then we turn them into a brief and present it to the agency. They have two weeks to generate ideas, without guardrails or limitations. We then select two winners and bring them to our client.” 

Philanthropy/citizenship

CDM New York nurtures a culture of growth and investment in its people, leveraging a mix of OHG’s resources and its own initiatives to be more inclusive and move careers forward, according to agency leaders. 

In 2021, CDM NY launched CDMRise, an internship designed to expose diverse talent from local NYC high schools to the industry. The program this year extended to college students as well. “At a time when agencies are all making commitments to bringing in more diverse talent, we wanted to find a way to move upstream and get to the root of the issue – many young, talented, BIPOC creative students are unaware of our industry, and are potentially lacking the guidance and resources to build their first portfolio,” says Jane Ma, associate managing partner.

“We issue an agency-wide survey every six months to statistically test employee engagement. In this past round, the highest scores were around our company’s commitment to DE&I, and our employees’ ability to show up with authenticity in the workplace,” Ma says. 

Managers state that CDM NY “doubles down” on inclusivity with CDM Voices, a program led by BIPOC employees that creates a healthy space for discussion and ideas around minorities and inspires DE&I strategies and creative thinking for all their clients. 

“The Daily Check-In” has the entire agency gather for 10 minutes every morning, creating space for important announcements, birthdays, and work anniversary celebrations, and fun presentations by their own people to kick-start the day. “Me Time” on Friday afternoons encourages no meetings, so employees can focus on getting work done before the weekend. And monthly “Love the People” virtual happy hours celebrate new hires and boomerangs. 

“How can we impact the lives of our customers if we can’t first impact the lives of our employees?” Munhoz says.