Excitant Healthcare Advertising: 2020
(left to right) Brian Allex, VP, creative director; Mark Perlotto, president
Excitant Healthcare Advertising
1410 Meadowbrook Way
Woodstock, GA 30189
Telephone
678-357-1127
Website
QUICK FACTS
Accounts
Account wins 10
Active business clients 3
Brands by 2019 sales
Brand-product accounts held 14
$25 million or less 11
$25 million-$50 million 2
Products not yet approved/launched 1
SERVICES MIX
Professional advertising 25%
Consumer advertising 20%
Sales collateral 20%
Direct marketing (postal or electronic) 15%
Interactive/web 15%
Strategic marketing consulting 5%
CLIENT ROSTER
Crown Laboratories
RedHill Biopharma
Zoetis
Excitant’s history is one of both agility and creative excellence, agency leaders say. “Agility is critical when the agency’s focus is on small to mid-sized companies and brands,” says Mark Perlotto, president of Excitant, “We also believe that company or brand size doesn’t mean a client has to compromise on the quality of the strategy, service or creative product it receives.” According to management, the agency has thrived by demonstrating the ability to adapt to each individual client and bring them big strategic ideas and award-winning creative.
RECENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Following on the heels of 2018 when the agency experienced a client being acquired, a brand divestiture and a strategic focus shift in spending at three clients, 2019 was a year of adjustment for Excitant, management says. Despite the challenges faced, agency billings were up more than 38 percent from 2018 to 2019.
During 2019, the work for several small project clients came to a close but the agency responded with winning new clients and ramping up on late 2018 wins. The agency was busy throughout 2019 with pre-launch and launch preparation work for Talicia, the first internally developed product from RedHill Biopharma, a December 2018 assignment win. Talicia is the first new product for treating H. pylori infection in more than 10 years. In late 2019, when RedHill acquired the U.S. rights to Aemcolo, indicated for travelers’ diarrhea, the agency was tapped to also assist with that brand in 2020.
Longtime client Zoetis Animal Health Diagnostics moved responsibilities for its AlphaTRAK glucose monitor for managing pet diabetes to Excitant in January 2019 and the agency hit the ground running developing a multi-award winning “Charmed Life” campaign for the brand. Early in 2020, Zoetis also looked to the agency to assist with its i-Stat hand-held point of care diagnostic analyzer.
During late 2019, Excitant was tapped to support the skin care portfolio of Crown Laboratories, a fast-growing, acquisitive OTC company building a collection of strong established brands as well as developing new innovative formulations. Crown Laboratories brands include Blue Lizard Australian Sunscreen, Desenex, Keri Lotion, Mineral Ice, Panoxyl, Sarna, and Zeasorb.
According to Excitant executives, although modest in size, the agency has always been a consistent over-achiever in terms of creative excellence. 2019 proved to be no different with recognition received from numerous creative award shows and competitions in a variety of categories.
For the second year in a row Excitant work was selected to be featured in the Greatest Creators Supplement to PM360. In 2019, the integrated print, digital and video “Simplicity” campaign developed for the Witness line for Zoetis Animal Health Diagnostics was a featured selection in the supplement. Then, in early 2020, the pre-launch disease state awareness print, digital and video integrated campaign developed for RedHill Biopharma was selected to appear in the 2020 supplement. The pre-launch campaign focused on the link between H. pylori infection and the risk of gastric cancer as well as the problem of antibiotic resistance with traditional antibiotics used to treat H. pylori infection. The campaign was part of pre-launch market preparation for the introduction of Talica from RedHill.
The 2019 Communicator Awards recognized Excitant with a Silver Award of Distinction for the Witness “Simplify your lab. Simplify your life” animated video that was part of the overall “Simplicity” campaign that has won numerous creative awards for its Zoetis client.
Having won a PharmaChoice Award from PM360 in 2018 for its own self-promotion campaign, the agency’s work was again recognized by its peers in 2019. The AlphaTRAK pet glucose monitor “Charmed Life” campaign developed for Zoetis took home the Silver 2019 PharmaChoice Award in the Animal Health category as selected by health care industry-side and agency-side on-line voting.
The Rx Club Awards also recognized the agency’s work for its Zoetis client in 2019. Both the professional journal ad and the promotional deal flyer developed for the Zoetis reproductive family of diagnostic tests took home Awards of Excellence.
The agency has a long history with clients in the animal health space and that experience allowed the agency to again post a number of winners at the VETTY Awards, sponsored by the North American Veterinary Community (NAVC). The VETTY Awards is the only creative competition exclusively for recognizing veterinary marketing and advertising. Excitant took home four awards – a Silver Medal for the reproductive family of diagnostic tests sales promotion flyer and Bronze Certificates for the AlphaTRAK “Charmed Life” Integrated Campaign, the AlphaTRAK “Charmed Life” digital campaign and the reproductive family of diagnostic tests professional journal ad – all for its Zoetis client.
Last but not least, the agency also won its first Videographer Award in 2019. It took home a Gold Award of Excellence for the animated web video “Simplify your lab. Simplify your life” developed for its Zoetis client’s line of Witness point of care diagnostic tests.
STRUCTURE AND SERVICES
Excitant offers its clients a full-service menu of capabilities structured around a core offering of marketing strategy, creative and account service. The agency manages specialized service offerings with external subject matter or technical experts for their clients.
“This allows us to offer a best of breed offering to our clients, rather than trying to build everything in-house,” Perlotto notes. “Focusing on our core expertise and serving as the go-between on behalf of our clients just makes sense in today’s evolved client/agency working relationship.” According to Excitant management, this is a more efficient and cost-effective approach for both the agency and the client.
FUTURE PLANS
The agency has a great deal of historical experience in the areas of animal health, human diagnostics, Rx dermatology and medical devices and thinks those represent the best opportunities for their continued growth. “We’re always looking for ways to bring our experience and expertise to bear for new clients, especially in those particular areas where we feel we have strong experience to bring to bear for new clients,” Perlotto says. If there are any takers, just give them a call.
