DDB Health: 2023

DDB Health

200 Varick Street, New York, NY 10014 

212-896-1300 • [email protected] •  ddbhealth.com

Quick Facts

Accounts

• Account wins: 9
• Account losses: 2
• Active business clients: 15

Brands by 2022 sales

• Brand-product accounts held: 29
• $25 million or less: 3
• $50 million-$100 million: 3
• $100 million-$500 million: 7
• $500 million-$1 billion: 6
• $1 billion or more: 3
• Products not yet approved/launched: 7

Services mix

• Professional advertising: 40%
• Digital across HCP and patient: 25%
• Direct to patient: 25%
• Social across HCP and patient: 10%

Client roster

• AbbVie
• Aldeyra Therapeutics
• Amgen
• ARS
• AstraZeneca
• Boehringer Ingelheim/Lilly
• Bristol Myers Squibb
• Idorsia
• Merck
• Novartis
• Roche/Genentech
• Pfizer
• Syros Pharmaceuticals
• Taysha Gene Therapies
• Y-mAbs Therapeutics

DDB Health has spent the last year stocking up,” the leadership team says, with the agency adding significant new clients, major brand launches, an impressive talent pool, and a growing set of offerings.  

“DDB Health is an agency that acts with urgency,” executives say. “It is vitally important that life-saving medicines be brought to market, and DDB Health recognizes that health can’t wait. It’s a purpose that fuels its people-first culture and drives its mantra: Dare to Do Boldly.”

Recent accomplishments

According to managers, DDB Health had “an amazing year of impressive growth,” while diversifying its portfolio and providing staff with a variety of opportunities to grow. The agency added new clients and assignments from Boehringer Ingelheim, Lilly, AbbVie, and Pfizer, with new brands ranging from innovative, category-shaping oncology treatments to breakthrough delivery devices to ultra-rare indications to general medicine blockbusters.

“Our client roster and disease category experience are more diversified and evenly dispersed than ever in our history,” says Jennie Fischette, president and CEO. “We have great and growing relationships with long-standing clients and are excited about the new additions to our family.”

As well as new clients, DDB Health added another agency to its network, executives say, with the launch of DDB Health WEST in 2022. The new agency allows DDB Health to handle conflicts and further expand, giving the group with two North American full-service offerings. Headed by Lyla Lalji, executive VP, client service director, DDB Health WEST has already expanded its roster with organic and new business growth, according to executives, adding that the agency handles work from large pharmaceutical blue-chip clients and small entrepreneurial companies.

“We have more than 200 offices worldwide with DDB Health flagships in France, Germany, London, and Barcelona. WEST is an important step forward for us in North America,” Fischette says. “Bold work comes from bold collaboration and expansion.”

In 2022, DDB Health also launched Craft Academy, a continuing education program for the agency. “In addition to the impressive training we already get as a part of Omnicom Health Group, Craft Academy provides employees with certification for specific areas of expertise,” says Michael Schreiber, managing partner and executive creative director. “By partnering with premier institutions, you can become a certified expert in everything from patient writing to digital animation.”

Schreiber adds, “It’s all part of our dedication to people first. As they grow, we grow, and ultimately our clients benefit from that expertise.”

The leadership team says DDB Health is proud of its
people-first mentality and backs it with several programs aimed to support its talent holistically. This year, DDB Health received certification as a “Great Place to Work” based on input from agency employees.

Structure and services

According to managers, in 2022, data was put at the core of all strategic approaches, with DDB Health maintaining its breadth of offerings while infusing data and analytics throughout every department and function.

“We’ve invested tremendously in our experience team in the last couple of years and that has been aimed at helping our clients move toward omnichannel,” says Eileen Yaralian,  managing partner, director of strategic services. She notes that some clients are further along the adoption continuum than others. “We want to be able to move them along through this suite of strategic specialists, and it all starts with data.”

DDB Health has assigned a data-savvy strategic lead to every one of its brand assignments, executives say.

Eric Cale, senior VP, group strategy director, recently joined DDB Health’s senior strategic ranks. According to managers, Cale has already played a critical role in building out an impressive team and taking DDB Health’s omnichannel capabilities to the next level. “We now have the top talent and depth it takes to plan, execute, and optimize connected, dynamic, and behavior-changing brand experiences,” Yaralian says.

Future plans

The agency plans to continue to grow its specialty science offering, managers say, with DDB Health leveraging its deep medical and oncology talent pool and experience in its growth plan.

“We have the right mix of general medicine and specialty brands in our portfolio,” Fischette says. “There are few agencies that can creatively hit it out of the park on mass market pharma and rare disease. Michael and his team consistently do that.”

As the industry continues to evolve, DDB Health will continue its commitment to omnichannel, leaders say. “We always take a data-driven approach,” Yaralian says. “We understand different customer mindsets depending on where they are geographically located and what phase of the treatment journey they’re in.” 

According to executives, it comes as no surprise that in addition to all the new business it won in 2022, the agency will leverage its growing network of offerings.

“We have a solid plan for the future,” Schreiber says. “We’ve set milestones and are well prepared. But so much of the future is obviously unknown. What will we do in the metaverse, how will we leverage AI, what’s the next technology? These are the questions that we are eager to answer to deliver more bold work.”

Philanthropy/citizenship

DDB Health strongly believes in DE&I, executives say, and has created mission and value statements that helped to inform several strategies that it has put into place. “These values are pulled through in recruiting strategies and agency training, which helps to ensure that its staff, as well as the work they produce, reflects the real world,” managers state.

For the fifth consecutive year, the agency continued its “6 Weeks of Giving” program. “It’s officially a DDB Health tradition,” Fischette says. “In the spirit of generosity, we support the causes that mean the most to our people and the industry.” 

In 2022, DDB Health prioritized food insecurity, partnering with Getting Healthy to donate more than 1,000 pounds of healthy foods and fresh produce to those in need.