DDB Health: 2017

 

DDB Health New York LLC
200 Varick Street, Third Floor
New York, NY 10014
Telephone: 212-896-1300
Website: ddbhealth.com

 

Winner

Best Launch Campaign

Accounts
Account wins    4
Active business clients    14

Brands by 2016 sales
Brand-product accounts held    23
$25 million to $50 million    1
$50 million to $100 million    2
$100 million to $500 million    7
$500 million to $1 billion    6
$1 billion or more    4
Products yet to be approved/launched    4

 

Services Mix

HCP or HCP-directed promotion     68%
Direct to patient/caregiver    22%
Training and innovation    10%

 

Client Roster

Acceleron
Amgen
Avanir
Boehringer Ingelheim
Celgene
Clovis
Crescendo Bioscience
Gilead
Incyte
Ironwood Pharmaceuticals
Luitpold
Novartis
OPKO Health
Pfizer
Rhodes Pharmaceuticals
Roche

 

 

Agency management declares 2016 as “the birth of a new force in the industry – DDB Health.”

DDB Health united AgencyRx and Flashpoint Medica, two award-winning professional U.S. Omnicom Health Group agencies, into one agency with offices in New York City and San Francisco. The U.S. offering is part of a global network that includes DDB Health Germany in Munich, DDB Health Paris, and DDB Synergy, the scientific and medical education group with offices in London and Philadelphia.

“The merger went remarkably smoothly,” says Jennie Fischette, who was brought in as president of DDB Health US. “We brought together two strong agencies with distinct cultures. Both groups came together to harness the best of both entities and form a stronger agency together. The union has been invigorating and additive to both sides, forming what I believe is an unstoppable agency.”

According to Michael Schreiber, managing partner and executive creative director, “We used the DDB brand as our guidepost. Bill Bernbach, the creative founder of DDB, said many brilliant things but the two that are our guiding principles to this day are 1) you have to be good and nice and 2) you have to stand for something. DDB Health stands for being a force for good health. Being a force means drawing our creative talent to create forces within the marketplace on behalf of our brands. We pride ourselves on our strategic department – consisting of professional strategists, PhDs, MDs, RNs, and technology specialists who drive toward actionable insights – and an incredible team of agency specialists across departments built to pull those insights through. And those specialists aren’t just smart – they are nice. We have brave clients that are remarkable innovators in their own right, making therapies that are truly life changing. With our brands as the engine for our inspiration and our DDB partnership, it’s a perfect alignment of culture and purpose.”

The Year’s Accomplishments

In the first months after the launch of DDB Health, the agency hired a significant number of new employees. DDB Health also quickly went into business development mode and landed four new assignments.

DDB Health added Boehringer Ingelheim’s Spiolto to its roster and expanded its relationship with Amgen. The agency also expanded the Clovis portfolio, becoming global AOR for Rubraca.

Structure & Services

“With the merger, we’ve structured our leadership team to reflect the evolving needs of clients,” Fischette says. “Data integration is a major focus of ours.

Uncovering the actionable insights from reams of customer and brand information has become one of our strongest offerings and truly sets us apart.”

The strategic offering is led by Matt Goff, Amanda Hunt, and Nadia Cervoni. Executives say the team’s unique background and approach to problem solving leads to innovative solutions for our clients.

The account leadership is shared by Doreen Eckert, Eileen Yaralian, and Kevin Gotimer in New York, while the San Francisco office is led by Managing Directors, Nicole Johnson and Patricia Malone. Executives say the San Francisco office represents an opportunity not only to offer local service for West Coast clients but grow the agency’s biotech footprint. Heida Jonsson, director of operations, ensures operational excellence across both offices, managers say.

The agency also had an influx of junior creative talent. “We’ve brought a level of raw talent and energy into the new agency,” Schreiber says. “It’s inspiring to see them contribute in such meaningful ways.”

The agency’s leaders say they are committed to staying closely connected with their clients and their business. Every brand sees regular involvement from senior leadership, as these executives stay apprised of the continually evolving needs of each brand.

Future Plans

DDB Health currently boasts a robust analytics offering that has been strategically integrated into all brand-building activities, executives say. The agency has evolved data analytics from a tactical reporting function into a strategic well of insights that has contributed to large-scale campaigns. This approach to insight-driven data mining is a formal capability that is central to DDB Health’s plan in 2017 and beyond. Executives say this effort will pull together myriad data sources to inform and spark brand action. This offering is being developed in partnership with other Omnicom Health Group entities to scale current methodologies to dig deeper into data and realize better solutions for customers.

The agency has also partnered with consumer giant and namesake DDB. “We established Health@DDB, which takes the best of both agencies to offer fully integrated consumer and healthcare practitioner campaigns,” Schreiber says. Health@DDB has already worked together on multiple assignments.

Philanthropy/Citizenship

DDB Health is also at the forefront of patient advocacy, management says. In 2016, the team participated in more than nine charity events over a six-month period. Generosity is at the heart of the agency’s commitment to being a force for better health.   

“We have four key values,” Fischette says. “Courage, Curiosity, Grit, and perhaps most importantly, Generosity.” Agency leaders say the pro bono work shows the team truly takes each of the values to heart.