Elevate Healthcare: 2020

,

Frank X. Powers and Lorna Weir, managing partners

Elevate Healthcare

930 Harvest Drive, Suite 430

Blue Bell, PA 19422

Telephone 

215-710-1077

E-mail 

[email protected]

Website 

elevatehc.com

 


QUICK FACTS

Accounts

Account wins 5

Active business clients 12

Brands by 2019 sales

Brand-product accounts held 32

$25 million or less 10

$25 million-$50 million 12

$50 million-$100 million 4

$100 million-$500 million 3

Products not yet approved/launched 3

SERVICES MIX

Marketing communications 100%

CLIENT ROSTER

Alexza Pharmaceuticals

Alfasigma USA

Aspen Green

DePuy Synthes

EyePoint Pharmaceuticals

Foundation Fighting Blindness

Galen US

Grifols

Johnson & Johnson

Medexus Pharma USA

Recordati Rare Disease

Zyla Life Sciences 

 

“”Elevate: It just sounds like an agency with a higher purpose,” says the management team. Elevate founders Frank X. Powers and Lorna Weir, both experienced agency presidents, joined forces in 2015 to found Elevate with a mission to build a rare organization that can maintain incredibly high-touch engagement and high standards of excellence and bring exceptional value both to clients’ brands and to the marketplace. They say they wanted to “elevate” the role of an agency for a key sector of underserved clients and the industry. 

Elevate’s position as champion of challenger brands is also a key part of the story since its inception. In case you think that may be a limited niche of a few brands, Powers says you might want to think differently. “What the industry has come to realize is that challenger brands are everywhere. They can be a ‘classic’ challenger brand or a market leader with challenges to overcome in order to stay on top.” 

Weir agrees. “We’ve been extremely fortunate to have no shortage of opportunities to support healthcare challenger brands. We’ve clearly identified a pain point with marketers and the climate right now! That alone is one reason we continue to see tremendous growth.”

With Elevate in its fifth year of business, management says the agency continues to grow and stay true to its mission – work with clients whose philosophy, marketing, culture, and needs are aligned with theirs. 

As they move and evolve into the next critical phase of growth, Powers and Weir want to ensure they are not straying from what drove the creation of Elevate – a core of experienced, impassioned, senior-level experts helping clients build brands that help drive intended behavioral change. Weir explains how that translates into new business. “We bring value and make a difference in the context of our model when there is agreement on how to approach the business and align the team, where we work to deploy the right folks at the right time – maximizing impact and efficiency.”

Powers says they will continue to focus on retaining what makes the Elevate model appealing to clients and their own team of experienced experts: selective compatibility. “We look for assignments where we believe there is a good fit and philosophical alignment on the opportunity as a challenger brand and what it takes to compete from a marketing and sales perspective.” 

“Elevate’s 2019 success is proof you do not have to try to be everything to everyone or change your core values in order to grow and serve clients even better,” management notes. As a successful independent agency, Elevate has had the freedom to pursue its mission to bring more value to its clients and the industry. It’s one of the key reasons 2019 was another year of significant accomplishments for the agency.

RECENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS

2019 was a year of achievement and accolades for Elevate, agency management says, for both the creative work (multiple “Campaign of the Year” awards) and for the culture (“Best Places to Work in PA” and a “Top Healthcare Agency Workplace).

Elevate’s founders say beyond the recognition, one of their biggest accomplishments was remaining true to their model and managing growth with purpose. One major factor in being able to do that is the growth has mainly come organically from clients aligned with the Elevate mission. Elevate continues to build its roster of clients who appreciate and value what the agency brings to the relationship – explaining why they entrust Elevate with their brand time and again.

Powers and Weir point to Galen US as an example of a partnership that has flourished over the years. After Elevate helped launch Adasuve, a new class of therapy for agitation associated with bipolar I and schizophrenia, Galen US doubled down with the agency to relaunch Synera, its transdermal technology for needle-stick pain. This trust in the partnership paid off with multiple “HCP Campaign of the Year” awards.  

Another example of client partnership is Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices business unit DePuy Synthes, a leading global medical and surgical device manufacturer that Elevate first engaged with in 2016. Beginning with the Trauma division, management says Elevate has continued to demonstrate a keen understanding of their marketplace and their business objectives.

Fast-forward to 2019, and Elevate says the agency is fortunate to now be working across multiple business units including Trauma, Joint Reconstruction, Spine, and Digital Surgery. This work has also led to cross-sector assignments for the Johnson & Johnson Lung Cancer Initiative. 

Elevate has also added several new business wins based on category expertise and sharp work.  Medexus Pharma assigned the agency brand duties for Rasuvo, a once-weekly, subcutaneous, single-dose auto-injector of methotrexate for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, and juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). Joerns Healthcare, the premier supplier and service provider in post-acute care, asked Elevate to help with the strategy and campaign to revitalize its corporate brand. Recordati Rare Diseases awarded Elevate the branding and strategy for Signifor and Signifor LAR. Alfasigma USA assigned Elevate promotion of its portfolio of prescription nutritional products to help individuals who are suffering from GI disorders, major depressive disorder, diabetic peripheral neuropathy, and mild cognitive impairment. Additionally, Aspen Green assigned Elevate the launch of its USDA-certified organic, full-spectrum hemp extract product line.

STRUCTURE AND SERVICES

According to the leadership team, Elevate’s structure is geared to provide superior client value. Senior experienced leads remain hands on throughout each client engagement and have the knowledge and expertise to quickly respond to situations needing immediate strategic or creative impact.

“With yet another year of purposeful growth under its belt, Elevate has clearly demonstrated that its structure works for clients – and for their talented staff,” agency executives say. “Fewer layers and administrative complexity means Elevate provides a deeper level of interaction and a higher degree of agility, essential skills for brands with the challenger mindset.”

PHILANTHROPY/CITIZENSHIP

Elevate continues to support the Foundation Fighting Blindness with both pro bono work and direct local sponsorship and participation in the Philadelphia region’s VisionWalk, a major fundraising effort for the organization. In conjunction with its unique self-promotion campaign, the agency has a keen interest and invests in several animal rights and wildlife causes. Through the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, Elevate sponsors animals featured in the campaign. For this year’s “Leader of the Pack” ad execution, additional sponsorship and support went to the Wolf Sanctuary of PA. The agency also partnered with Bring Hope Home to help local families in need over the holiday season with food and essentials.