Excitant Healthcare Advertising: 2021
(left to right) Brian Allex, VP, creative director
Mark Perlotto, president and CEO
Excitant Healthcare Advertising
1410 Meadowbrook Way
Woodstock, GA 30189
Telephone
678-357-1127
Website
excitanthealthcare.com
QUICK FACTS
Accounts
Account wins 5
Active business clients 4
Brands by 2020 sales
Brand-product accounts held 20
$25 million or less 18
$25 million-$50 million 2
SERVICES MIX
Direct marketing 20%
Professional digital/web/mobile 20%
This professional journal ad carrying the core message and campaign imagery ran in gastroenterology and primary care print publications April through December 2020 to support the launch of Talicia.
Professional print 20%
Sales collateral 20%
Consumer digital/web/mobile 10%
Promotional medical education 10%
CLIENT ROSTER
Crown Laboratories
RedHill Biopharma
Resilia Pharmaceuticals
Zoetis
Leaders at Excitant Healthcare Advertising say the agency’s historic strengths of agility and adaptability were put on full display in 2020 in the face of the COVID pandemic. Excitant supported a client’s critical first launch, expanded digital initiatives to account for decreased HCP face-to-face time, added to its roster of clients and significantly grew agency revenue for the year – all while continuing to win creative awards for its work across multiple categories. “If there ever was a year to battle test the Excitant agency model, 2020 was it,” says Mark Perlotto, president of Excitant. “Despite the challenges, the Excitant team delivered for our clients without missing a beat and the agency performance in terms of growth and award wins is a testament to our ability and commitment to help our clients succeed.”
RECENT ACCMPLISHMENTS
From an overall performance standpoint, agency revenue grew significantly in 2020, more than tripling compared to 2019. Excitant executives say the growth had a solid foundation, coming from current brand assignments, new brand assignments from current clients and the addition of new clients as well.
Crown Laboratories, an OTC dermatology company, selected Excitant as a partner in December 2019. As a result of that new client win, the agency was busy in 2020 assisting with strategic planning, packaging design, and other initiatives for Crown’s diverse line of brands including Blue Lizard Australian Sunscreen, Desenex, Keri Lotion, Mineral Ice, Panoxyl, Sarna, and Zeasorb.
The diagnostics division of Zoetis Animal Health, an Excitant client since 2012, also expanded its relationship with the agency. Excitant started work in 2020 on the iSTAT Alinity, a handheld diagnostic analyzer Zoetis assigned to the agency in December 2019. After acquiring Abaxis, Zoetis also consolidated agency support for its Vetscan point-of-care rapid diagnostics test line with Excitant, which was already supporting the Zoetis WITNESS line of point-of-care rapid diagnostics tests.
In addition to the work for Crown Laboratories and Zoetis Animal Health, Excitant was busiest with RedHill Biopharma, for which the agency helped launch Talicia, its first internally developed product, in March. The agency has been tapped to also assist with another brand, Aemcolo, for which RedHill has acquired the U.S. marketing rights.
The Excitant team has a long history of experience in the dermatology category and has been looking for opportunities to leverage that experience and expertise for clients competing in that space. In December 2020, the agency was selected as agency of record for Resilia Pharmaceuticals, a privately held specialty pharmaceuticals company. Resilia acquired the rights to four dermatology brands, including Ecoza (econazole nitrate) topical foam, 1%; Recedo topical gel; the Neosalus line including cream, foam, and lotion formulations; and Neocera, a version of Neosalus formulated with ceramides, all of which are currently marketed in the United States. Work on those brands kicked off in first-quarter 2021. “We are a perfect match for Resilia,” Perlotto says. “We have a great deal of dermatology experience and a track record of success communicating the benefits of unique technologies like Resilia’s foam formulations. The Excitant team is really looking forward to helping Resilia with their initial commercialization efforts.”
Year in and year out, creative excellence has always been a hallmark of the agency and despite its size, Excitant’s creative work has always been able to go toe-to-toe with large healthcare agencies – and often come out on top, according to management. In 2020, Excitant took home a total of 24 creative awards including four Gold, five Silver and 15 Bronze awards from several creative award competitions.
The depth and range of the agency’s creative work was on full display as Excitant collected recognition in a variety of categories including Rx website design, promotional education, pre-launch/market preparation campaign, Rx launch print campaign, Rx launch online campaign, sales collateral, print journal advertising, direct mail, and consumer education.
The Communicator Awards brought the agency two Gold and two Silver awards for its work in the Rx space while the Davey Awards added a Gold and two Silver Daveys to the agency’s trophy case. The Pharma Choice Awards contributed another Gold and a Bronze, while the RxClub delivered 11 Awards of Excellence, the competition’s Bronze equivalent. The 2020 VETTY Awards, a competition for veterinary healthcare creative, rounded out the performance by honoring the agency’s work for its Zoetis client with a Silver Medal and three Bronze awards.
“Excitant’s creativity helps our clients’ brands get noticed by their target audiences, whether they are HCPs, patients or general consumers” Perlotto says. “We look at that as job number one for our clients in today’s competitive environment and our performance at these competitions serve as validation of that focus.”
STRUCTURE AND SERVICES
The agency offers its clients a full-service menu of capabilities structured around a core offering of marketing strategy, creative, and account service. “The majority of the work clients need from an agency fall into those three segments” notes Perlotto. “We then manage any necessary external specialized subject matter or technical expertise for the client which relieves them of the burden while providing them best-in-class offerings.”
According to agency executives, they and their clients have found this to be a more efficient and cost-effective approach than trying to build everything in-house. “Based on Excitant’s success, it’s a model that many clients may want to consider tapping into for their brands,” management says.
FUTURE PLANS
The Excitant team has a wide range of therapeutic category experience in Rx pharmaceuticals but also has a rich history in human diagnostics, medical devices, and animal health that it hopes to build upon with the addition of clients in all of these areas, agency executives say. With a large percentage of innovation in the industry currently taking place outside the confines of traditional big pharma companies, Excitant leadership says the agency is well-positioned for continued growth.
“We have a great track record of helping small-sized to mid-sized companies develop strong identities for their brands and our focus remains with those types of organizations.” Perlotto remarks. “They are often underserved by large agencies or simply cannot afford the large agency cost structure.” Intrigued? Give them a call.
