Concentric Health Experience 2014

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175 Varick Street
New York, NY 10014
Telephone: 212-633-9700
Facsimile: 212-675-2209
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: concentrichx.com

Finalist

AGENCY OF THE YEAR, CATEGORY III
BEST INTERACTIVE PATIENT CAMPAIGN

Quick Facts

Accounts  
Account wins 16
Active business clients 23
Brands by 2013 sales  
Brand-product accounts held 40
$25 million or less 3
$25 million – $50 million 3
$50 million – $100 million 7
$100 million – $500 million 12
$500 million to $1 billion 5
$1 billion or more 4
Services Mix  
Print/collateral/offline promotion 45%
Digital media 15%
Social 15%
Web development 15%
Mobile 10%

Client Roster

Agile
Allergan
The Assoc. of the British Pharmaceutical Industry
EMD Serono/Pfizer
Ferring Pharmaceuticals
Genepeeks
Guerbet
Helsinn Healthcare
J&J UK: Skincare Franchise
Leo Pharma
Medtronic
The Mentholatum Company
Novartis
Onset Dermatologics
Otsuka/Lundbeck
Roche Global
Rouses Point
Sunovion
Theravance
Walmart

From offices in New York City and London, fledging MDC Partners health and healthcare ad agency Concentric Health Experience increased global revenue and headcount by 30 percent. Fueling this performance, executives say, was a healthy combination of organic growth, six product launches and an impressive new business conversion rate of 40 percent, adding six new clients and 16 new brands.

Agency founders Ken Begasse Jr. and Michael Sanzen are confident that Concentric is well-positioned to sustain this growth, stating the agency is built to address the needs of contemporary health brands in the ever-expanding healthcare space. Concentric deploys a modern model of integrated specialists within media and strategy to build healthcare brands that are coherent, connected and solution-oriented.

“Health is not a destination – it’s a journey,” Sanzen says. “Intersecting at various points along the path of wellness are patients, caregivers, physicians, nurses, pharmacists, insurers, and of course, brands. Understanding the important role a brand can play in driving a healthy outcome, across customers, is the first step in helping the world appreciate its value.”

The Year’s Accomplishments

In 2013, leadership’s focus on value and commitment drove growth within new and existing partnerships for Concentric, executives say. Expansion of capabilities in clinical, payer and customer strategy fueled the agency’s ability to help clients grow and transform their brands. This allowed Concentric to launch six brands across the globe in 2013.

Awarded the business in late 2012, the New York office successfully on-boarded and launched four U.S. brands, three institutional brands and one within dermatology. For Medtronic Vascular, Concentric launched NC Solstice and SC Solstice in percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty and has been rewarded with a follow-on launch in 2014.

Concentric helped Guerbet SA crack into the U.S. marketplace with its MRI contrast imaging agent, Dotarem, and helped Theravance with its first commercial launch of Vibativ for hospital-acquired and ventilator-associated bacterial pneumonia and complicated skin and skin structure infections.

Concentric continued its long-standing partnership with LeoPharma and launched its third product in the Taclonex franchise, launching Taclonex Body for full body psoriasis in spring 2013, thus helping the brand continue its leadership position in the branded topical market. In late 2013, Leo tapped Concentric for their fourth launch together with Otrexup, an injectable methotrexate for severe psoriasis, scheduled for 2014. In Europe, Concentric London continued its strong relationship with Roche Global, launching Herceptin SC in breast cancer and MabThera SC within lymphatic oncology. According to executives, each launch was strategically integrated to blunt biosimilar introductions in key global markets. Concentric London now holds six global brand assignments with Roche.

According to agency leaders, brands grow at Concentric. This comes from management’s commitment to build stronger relationships with clients, owning and solving their problems. In 2013, Concentric helped Ferring build the case for consumer promotion in support of Prepopik. Customer research, analytics and test campaign performance metrics proved that the agency’s hunch of directly activating the patient would support new prescription growth for the colon prep. Targeted media, digital promotion and an award-winning unbranded CRC awareness initiative helped Prepopik emerge as the leader in new prescription growth.

With 55 percent of its business mix within emerging media, 2013 marked a year of digital expansion and innovation, agency leaders say. Concentric continued its social media relationship with NovartisExelon and expanded into Novartis Oncology, being awarded the consumer digital and social media business for Exjade.

The year of growth was tempered by the FDA delay of Allergan’s migraine product Levadex and the expected loss to consolidation of Enbrel.

Key new business wins filled the void, including assignments and brands from Serono on Rebif, Roche Global on Herceptin SC and MabThera SC, Helsinn NPD and ROW, Otsuka and Lundbeck’s global co-promote of brexpiprazole, Sunovion’sBrovana and Alvesco, and Novartis’ Exjade; and even expansion into wellness brands such as Nutrisystems and Walmart.

Structure And Services

According to its managers, Concentric Health Experience is a partner-led, global boutique agency with more than 130 employees worldwide, operating in markets from New York and London.

“Health and wellness isn’t a solitary experience, it is shared,” Begasse says. “Health is the driving force behind life’s experiences. This belief enables us to build unique and solution-oriented brand experiences – a concept dubbed ‘Health Forward.’ Strategy is no longer a point in the process, it’s continual and execution requires a creative team that looks more like a innovation team from Apple.”

This has indelibly shaped the service model at Concentric, executives note. Insight-driven strategy is composed of multi-disciplinary, specialized experts in clinical, behavioral, customer strategy and planning. To ensure pull-through, each account benefits from a brand strategist who drives business solutions while supporting account management on the strategic integration of the brand vision.

Technology and user experience experts are embedded into every creative partnership. “Removing silos and encouraging cross-discipline collaboration has resulted in work that is more engaging and efficiently delivered,” says Adam Cohen, partner and executive creative director.

Future Plans

As the lead healthcare agency within parent company MDC Partners, Concentric has helped unite healthcare practices within PR, retail, consumer, and social media under The MDC Health Network. The integration of specialized services helps clients meet the demands of the rapidly evolving promotional health and wellness landscape.

Future plans include a concentrated effort to strengthen the consumer capabilities of Concentric through partnership or acquisition. “The future of healthcare is patient driven,” Sanzen says. “This means leading clients into new areas of opportunity and using ingenuity and insight-driven interactions to build stronger bonds between patients, their health and the brands they choose.”

Philanthropy/Citizenship

Social responsibility and contribution are key values at Concentric, executives say. Believing that a healthy experience can take on various forms, Concentric created two socially powered movements this year: World COPD Day and The Water Project.

For World COPD Day, Concentric challenged everyone to walk a mile (or at least a few flights of stairs) in the shoes of a person with COPD. “Dare To Stair” was a social experience shared through Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Participants captured their “Dare To Stair” experience, raising empathy and money for COPD patients and initiating hundreds of virtual event zones, increasing awareness. The hash tag #daretostair tracked engagement and award prizes for participation.

Concentric also partnered with The Water Project to help Zimbabwe’s Rimbi Clinic, whose ability to serve rural areas was crippled after losing its only ambulance. Concentric sponsored the purchase of a new ambulance while helping the clinic continue to deliver a “healthy experience.”