FCB Health New York: 2024

FCB Health New York, an IPG Health company

100 West 33rd Street, New York, NY, 10001

212-672-2300 • [email protected] • fcbhealthny.com

 

Quick facts

Accounts

• Account wins: 9
• Active business clients: 43
  

Brands by 2023 sales

• Brand-product accounts held: 98
• $25 million or less: 8
• $25 million-$50 million: 8
• $50 million-$100 million: 9
• $100 million-$500 million: 19
• $500 million-$1 billion: 7
• $1 billion or more: 14
• Products not yet approved/launched: 24

Services mix

• HCP: 50%
• DTC: 50%

Client roster

• AbbVie
• Agios
• Akebia
• Alexion
• Alkermes
• Astellas
• AstraZeneca
• Avrio
• Axsome
• Bexion
• Bioxcel
• Boehringer Ingelheim
• Cooper Surgical
• 

  Winner | Best Medical Device Campaign
  Finalist | Best Health Equity/Social Awareness Campaign
  EQL BAND is the world’s first smartwatch band that uses sound smart technology to accurately hear all heartbeats equally, regardless of skin tone.

  
  Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation
• CSL Behring
• Daiichi Sankyo
• Day One
• DSI/Merck
• Esperion
• Exact Sciences
• Genmab
• Genentech
• Gilead
• GSK
• Glooko
• Immunogen
• Iovance
• Janssen
• Kite
• Kyowa Kirin
• Lilly
• Novartis
• NovoCure
• Ono Pharma
• Otsuka
• Pfizer
• Replimune
• Sanofi
• Sunovion
• Teva
• Travere Therapeutics
• UCB
• Unilever

Winner

• Best Consumer Print Campaign
• Best Medical Device Campaign

Finalist

• Agency of the Year, Category I
• Best Health Equity/Social Awareness Campaign
• Best Social Media Campaign
• Best Consumer Print Campaign

At FCB Health New York (FCBHNY), we meet every challenge with our signature brand of hustle and muscle,” agency leaders say. “It’s in our DNA to charge towards a challenge. From the smallest tasks to the hugest asks, we bring our insatiable energy, relentless grit, and the drive to build, achieve and succeed for our team, our clients, and their businesses.”   

In her global review this year, IPG Health CEO, Dana Maiman shared her thoughts. “Reflecting on the unprecedented global turbulence of the past few years, two things have risen to the top as being all-important regardless of the curve balls that life inevitably will always throw – the primacy of health and the unfailing power of integrity,” she states. 

Executives say throughout 2023, the agency continued to flex its strengths to constantly and consistently deliver with excellence for the smallest clients or the largest brands in the world.

Recent accomplishments

As the largest stand-alone healthcare agency in the world, we are uniquely positioned to throw the full weight of our power behind our client’s unique challenges,” leaders state, characterizing 2023 results as “formidable.”

“Across our client roster, we expanded relationships through organic growth with Pfizer, AbbVie, Sanofi, GSK, AstraZeneca, and Kyowa Kirin, to name a few. We also added exciting new clients, such as Glooko, Genmab, and Travere Therapeutics. This growth helped us welcome 204 talented new employees to FCBHNY, bringing our employee total to 1,473.

According to managers, FCBHNY continues to be a “magnet” for A-list talent from around the industry, including Stephen Russell, CFO – the first to oversee FCBHNY specifically. The agency also brought on David Hayward, Ph.D. as medical strategy director with their biostatistics expertise. “This has enabled us to integrate biostatistics across our brand teams and support our data visualization team, where we added specialists Ripley Cleghorn and data-centric designer, Aakanksha Aggarwal.

“Our creative team has also hired serious muscle with the additions of creative directors Luke Hughett, Sean Lee, Mike Sullivan, and Krista Holmstrom, who we are excited to say boomeranged back to us. She was one of 57 others across all agency departments who chose to come back to their home at FCBHNY this year.”      

Leaders say creatively, the agency saw “some truly fantastic” work hit the market.

“We launched several DTC TV campaigns across an array of therapeutic areas. Our continued partnership with Lilly led to outstanding new work across multiple brands. Our Novartis work for MS featuring Jamie-Lynn Sigler, was recently highlighted in MM+M as being 560 percent more effective than other commercials in the pharma space.

“In rare disease, we had a highly successful DTC TV campaign launch for Ultomiris, the first TV spot done by Alexion. 

“FCBHNY hit the ground running, quickly producing breakthrough multichannel work for both [Pfizer’s] Comirnaty and Paxlovid. The unbranded vaccine work launched in the height of COVID season, with the creative specifically crafted to be location specific, including Times Square for New Year’s Eve, where it earned 140 million views worldwide – in one night.”

The agency also created and produced the first TV campaign for Paxlovid, along with an unbranded out-of-home media campaign highlighting the ongoing risk of the COVID virus. “And not to be outdone, after Lil CG, the charming box that stars in the Cologuard ads, made an appearance on SNL with Woody Harrelson, we quickly crafted a clever social response on X that earned the brand over 4 million views and about as many smiles,” executives say.

On the HCP front, the agency conducted multiple launches for AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo for Enhertu, and also launched Ojjara with GSK, and Truqap with AstraZeneca.

In 2023, the agency received 89 awards across 17 U.S. and international award shows, including Cannes, for creative as varied as The Trial for #ClinicalEquality and EQL Band, as well as ad campaigns for Enhertu, SlowMag, Paxlovid, and Xolair. 

In 2024, the agency launched Influencer ID (IDI), which managers say establishes the network as a leader in the field of social media health influencers.  Its services include identification and engagement, strategy as well as creation, compliance and regulatory support, negotiating, contracting, and relationship management. 

Agency leaders say the “powerhouse” of output at FCBHNY is fueled by technology and data. “This year, we’ve pushed the limits in conversational design, data visualization, and AI.” They added the agency invested over $4 million to stay ahead of the curve in all aspects of AI across all departments.

FCBHNY is often the beta tester for the network, launching new technology offerings and training people to master the tools of the future. “Our AI experts are deeply involved in all areas of our business and even hold weekly office hours so that everyone has opportunities in real-time to experience and roll out the latest advances.” 

Structure and services

This year, the agency continued to evolve and integrate systemic solutions through its EDI+You strategy across the four core pillars of its business: Our People, Our Culture, Our Creative Solutions, and Our Impact. “Our EDI+You strategy now also includes ‘inQ’ [Inclusion Intelligence Quotient] – a proprietary integrated strategic framework designed to ensure inclusive experiences and creative solutions across the network’s 45-plus agencies,” executives say.

At FCBHNY, diversity is paramount, according to agency leaders. “The people who make the work are as diverse as the people we make it for. We actively source new, diverse talent by engaging historically overlooked and underrepresented groups and partner with organizations like Women Who Create and The One Club. Our recruiters come from diverse backgrounds and are trained to break the bias inherent in the talent acquisition process.”

Executives attest that the agency’s workforce diversity has increased again in 2023, with 66.8 percent of employees identify as female, compared to 66.2 percent in 2022, and 36 percent of employees being racially diverse, compared to 34.5  percent in 2022. Additionally,  54.2 percent of the senior management team is female with 15.7 percent being racially diverse.

To ensure that the agency continues to grow and improve its equity for all, executives say it continues to offer courses that keep EDI at the forefront.  These include Chats for Change, described as a dynamic and conversation-based initiative, in partnership with DeEtta Jones, “that equips our people with the skills to have more conscious dialogue in their day-to-day work lives.”

Managers say Employee Relations & Wellbeing is a function dedicated to fostering a culture of equity, respect, and healthy working relationships across agency. “And through flexible work and time off, competitive benefits and a vast array of wellbeing offerings including complimentary membership to Headspace and our partnership with the CCA@YourService, our employee assistance program, we empower our people to be successful in both their professional and personal lives.”

FCBWE is an employee-led diversity and inclusion council, committed to creating interconnectivity and promoting diversity across the network. “FCBWE offers peer-to-peer learning opportunities and activities around critical diversity issues that matter to our employees, all year-round,” executives say.            

Other offerings include Moxie, a professional development program designed to help junior talent thrive with mentors’ guidance and collaborative skills they can use to advance their careers; BetterUp, a one-to-one coaching offering that empowers employees to take ownership of their self-development and career growth; and Write It Forward, which was awarded a Manny Vision Award in 2023 for its continued focus on recruiting, training, and mentoring diverse writing talent from all walks of life for entry-level, science-focused copywriting positions.  

SealX is executive training “keeping our best minds sharp, and skill sets ready for the future of our industry and our community,” executives say. And  the Residency is “our unique offering for employees who come to us from outside the healthcare industry to learn how we work and what inspires us.” 

According to agency leaders, for most organizations, the content supply chain – the process of producing and delivering content that fuels effective customer experiences – is a web of disconnected workflows, teams, and systems. At the same time, content demands are multiplying.

“Last year, IPG Health invested significantly in further building out its content supply chain offering, and the benefits for our agency and our clients have been momentous for creating customizable and efficient communications,” executives say. “IPG Health has integrated applications, harmonized ways of working, connected global production centers, and harnessed AI to create a content supply chain purpose-built for healthcare marketing.”

FCB Health also welcomed Jessica Specker, executive director of global content to the network in late 2023. Managers say in her role, “she’s bringing together the necessary solutions to effectively plan, create, and deliver content quickly and efficiently, collaborating with teams across the network on all aspects of the content life cycle for even more seamless content solutions for our clients.”

Future plans

While we have accomplished so much over the past year, our people remain at the core of our success,” agency leaders say.

“For the first time in our history, we have four generations in the work force – Boomer, Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z,” says Alissa Abramova, director, talent management. “Gen Z started working during COVID and will not experience work the way earlier generations have. To support them, we’ve started our Young Professionals Network, creating a space and a community for young talent to make sure they feel as much a part of the office, wherever their ‘office’ may be. With mentoring from earlier generations, and reverse mentoring from their ranks, they will have the tools and the support they need to succeed.”

The leadership team says it is always looking to the future with the network’s internship program, Bold Beginners, which is an intense nine-week collaborative competition. “Guided by senior talent every step of the way, they generate a full-fledged brand presentation — from strategic planning to creative execution to presentation skills. This year, the cohort will be more than 100 strong, and every year, we hire a good percentage of the graduating college seniors to join our ranks.” 

Philanthropy/citizenship

We are dedicated to pro bono initiatives that help humanity, not just our bottom line,” agency leaders state. “This year, we created EQL Band, which is the first sound-activated smart band that accurately measures heart rates regardless of skin tone. Our Ms. Information social media campaign won an Anthem award for helping counteract COVID-19 hesitancy in the LGBTQ+ community, creating an uptick in vaccinations. In addition, we launched an industry-first, multi-discipline offering designed to help pharma and healthcare companies diversify their clinical trials and ensure more inclusive treatment of all participants.”  

The agency continues to support the mental health of physicians through its work on Disappearing Doctors. “Disposable medical supplies were used to create moving one-of-a-kind personal portraits honoring beloved physicians who had committed suicide,” executives say. “The portraits were displayed gallery style at Columbus, Ohio medical events. Shortly after the work launched, the State Medical Board of Ohio removed the question on the medical licensure regarding a physician’s mental health history. A victory that we hope will be replicated across every state.”

The agency’s commitment to advancing health equity, and specifically clinical equality carries over to its partnership with TOUCH, The Black Breast Cancer Alliance and the Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC). “Our ultimate mission is to end healthcare disparity,” executives say. “We are passionate about doing great work with great people to achieve monumental goals. It is this purpose-driven approach that delivers meaningful, measurable results and puts FCBHNY at the forefront of human health.”