Harrison and Star: 2019
Harrison and Star
75 Varick Street
New York, NY 10013
Telephone
212-727-1330
Website
harrisonandstar.com
Services mix
Healthcare professional advertising 85%
Other 15%
Client roster
Bausch + Lomb
Bayer
Biogen
Boehringer Ingelheim
BTG
Dream Foundation
Eisai
Family Reach
Genentech
Gilead
Lexicon
Loxo Oncology
Merck
Novartis
Pfizer
Roche
Salix
Stemline
Teva
Zealand Pharma
According to agency leaders at Harrison and Star, “What separates ordinary change from meaningful metamorphosis? What divides the natural ebb and flow of clients and employees, of processes and trends from something larger, something deeper?”
Recent accomplishments
For this agency, 2018 was a time of transformative action. “As we look back, every change we made over the past year was made in the service of agility and creativity,” says Mario Muredda, CEO of Harrison and Star. “And the question at the core of it all was: what does the agency of the future look like – and what’s stopping us from creating that agency now? Our response shaped not only the decisions we made in 2018, but our vision for the future as well. A future that is dynamic, nimble, and measurable. A future that values experiences over features, communities over segments. A future that recognizes that we are remarkable because of our talented people and the work they do – so empowering them to make decisions, encouraging them to share experiences and ideas, and creating paths to professional growth is critical.”
Agency leaders say bringing this future into the present was largely driven by the transformation of H&S into a nimble group of practices under the mantra of “Fit & Fierce.”
“Our previous business model was too static and rigid to accommodate the realities of our future, and we’d become a really large agency, so we launched a multi-practice model that allows us to be ‘small and scrappy’ when it comes to the thinking and creativity we bring to our clients, while still leveraging the power of our network to continue to provide scale and efficiency where they matter most,” Muredda says.
“The willingness to demand more from ourselves and the work we deliver for clients, even with such a strong legacy of building iconic brands, demonstrates the confidence and conviction within these walls to relentlessly identify new areas of growth and potential across the organization,” says Executive VP, Chief Strategy Officer Terese Kung. “The alignment of strategic planning, experience planning, medical, payer strategy, and informatics under one new group – Strategic Services – is another example of an impactful shift to offer clients more of what they are asking for – products and services that are more seamlessly integrated across multiple skillsets.”
As Executive VP, Chief Creative Officer, Mark Friedman believes the compelling campaigns that Harrison and Star created for clients in 2018 are a testament to the power of this transformation. “From racing out of the gate with Biogen’s Tecfidera treatment for multiple sclerosis to rising from the ashes for Stemline Therapeutics’ Elzonris, a breakthrough therapy for blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm – this work embodies what is possible for clients of all sizes when creativity is born from deep insights and marshalled in the service of products that are shifting the landscape of treatment for medical specialists and patients alike,” Friedman says.
Agency highlights in the past year included winning new assignments for Biogen’s MS franchise, Merck’s global account for Steglatro, Loxo Oncology’s LOXO-292 molecule for the treatment of RET fusion-positive thyroid cancer and non-small cell lung cancer, and Boehringer Ingelheim’s Gilotrif for metastatic EGFR+ non-small cell lung cancer, in addition to bringing to market new indications for Genentech’s Avastin and Tecentriq.
2018 was a banner year for digital transformation and executional innovation at Harrison and Star, agency leaders say.
“By focusing on improving proficiencies, through educating and inspiring one another, those internal investments had an immediate and exciting impact on our output – from 3D animation and imaging to interactive prototyping to user-driven testing – and have helped clients like Gilead and Genentech with their own digital transformations, as well,” says David Lubofsky, Senior VP, Director of Digital Innovation.
For Paulette Robinson, Senior VP, Director of Operations Services, “innovation demands proper implementation to reach its highest potential. While Harrison and Star has always been recognized as a leader in executional excellence, we have been expanding our offerings of tools and training to continue bringing ideas small and large to life for clients in the face of growing constraints.”
STRUCTURE AND SERVICES
Harrison and Star is one of the leading healthcare communications companies in Omnicom Health Group. Key hires in 2018 included Julieta Smith as Group Planning Director and Michael Sanford as Finance Director. In addition to Muredda, Kung, Friedman, Robinson and Sanford, the leadership team includes: Meredith D’Alauro, Human Resources Director, and Christen Nyarady, Group Director of Graphic Services.
Despite the agency’s high success rate in attracting new accounts and generating organic growth, H&S executives say the key is finding opportunities that are a great fit with the agency and its people. Agency leaders say Harrison and Star also understands that as individuals grow in their careers, the business does, too. Thus, H&S continues to invest heavily in intensive in-house training and mentoring in all aspects of creativity and strategy, as well as leveraging additional opportunities for development through OHG to enhance personal and professional growth. According to management, Harrison and Star’s highly specialized strategic and creative firepower position the agency for continued growth and success in 2019.
Management says there is more to working at Harrison and Star than launching leading products in the industry, as the agency continues to engage its people with a wide range of initiatives designed to keep them “Fit & Fierce.” “Open Mic” lets any employee pitch new business ideas “Shark-Tank” style to senior executives. OHG Fit, a health challenge to support specific charities hosted through OHG in collaboration with Fitbit, encourages Harrison and Star to compete against other agencies in the network.
PHILANTHROPY/CITIZENSHIP
Employees at Harrison and Star also offer their time and talents to several impressive non-profits as their agency of record, a reflection of the agency’s vision to help give a greater voice to health. Family Reach is dedicated to serving as a lifeline for those fighting cancer by providing immediate financial assistance, education, and direction to families before they hit critical breaking points, while Dream Foundation is the only national group granting dreams for adults and their families struggling with life-threatening illnesses. For many years, Harrison and Star has also done pro bono promotional work for the Hyacinth AIDS Foundation, an HIV social services organization. Another longstanding initiative is Caring Hands, which enables agency personnel to volunteer their time and efforts to help with a wide range of charities and advocacy programs. medadnews
