HealthWork: 2017
HealthWork
1285 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10019
Telephone: 212-459-5000
Website: healthworkny.com
Accounts
Account wins 4
Active business clients 9
Accounts by 2016 sales
Brand-product accounts held 6
During 2016, HealthWork redefined the agency’s mission: to create “Limitless Brands.”
“We took a look at the landscape of pharma marketing and saw that with the proliferation of treatments and products in every category, data was mattering less, and the power of creating a brand was mattering more,” says Denise Henry, associate partner, managing director of HealthWork. “So we believe in inspiring all of our clients with the ambition to build vibrant brands and have them express in limitless ways. Our quest to create Limitless Brands means that we think and create across audiences, across channels, across platforms, and push ourselves to think well beyond the traditional boundaries for pharma brands.”
According to agency leaders, this determined way of thinking is not just another platitude from a healthcare advertising agency – it comes from a perspective that is fundamentally different. Executives insist that is because the offering is different.
“HealthWork is a truly unique joint venture, combining the legendary consumer creativity of BBDO with the world-class healthcare expertise of CDM,” says John Osborn, CEO of BBDO New York. “We’ve been up and running for nearly seven years now, but the joint venture – and our powerful combination of talents and capabilities – still feels like a fresh new take on healthcare marketing. That’s because we believe HealthWork is utterly unlike anything else in the market today.”
The Year’s Accomplishments
The past year saw HealthWork continue to expand its client base, and do work that the team feels pushes the envelope for the entire industry. “One clear highlight for the year was our work for Pfizer and the introduction of the ‘Before it Became a Medicine’ campaign,” Henry says. “Partnering with our clients, we uncovered stories that had never been told before – the inspiration and determination of scientists and the monumental effort that goes into discovering treatments and cures. It was a campaign that shared more about the company and how it innovates through the stories of Pfizer science and scientists.”
“We’re even more proud that we pushed into a new channel to tell the tale, along with some old favorites,” says Chris Palmer, president of CDM New York. “We helped Pfizer create an impactful social campaign across channels that highlighted the stories of real Pfizer scientists and their commitment to discovering cures.”
In 2016, a new client and brand came into the HealthWork fold: Allergan, which enlisted the joint venture to work on its treatment for bipolar mania and schizophrenia. In addition, HealthWork expanded its work with Abbott Diagnostics, adding the company’s new line of lab diagnostics and corporate philanthropy efforts to its responsibilities.
Structure & Services
As a joint venture, HealthWork offers the full suite of services across both consumer and HCP audiences, from strategic development to multichannel execution, from mass media campaigns to HCP sales materials, and from consumer social campaigns to KOL engagement.
As such, HealthWork is structured in a unique and collaborative way. The HealthWork leadership team consists of Osborn from BBDO, Palmer from CDM, and Henry, an employee of both agencies.
“Denise is the secret – that really makes the entire collaboration work,” Osborn says. “She sits in both offices; knows each agency’s culture and strengths intimately; and inspires both CDM and BBDO to think in radically different ways.”
Adds Palmer: “Most importantly, Denise motivates each agency to bring their best to each other – every day.”
Leadership is careful to point out that combining agencies does not mean doubling up on headcount or duplicating efforts. “We believe in a ‘two agencies/one team’ model,” Henry explains. “So we source strategic planning, channel expertise, and production from BBDO, while getting medical insight, regulatory and access expertise, and patient relationship marketing from CDM. Then we unleash the creative power of both agencies, which truly collaborate to get to the best work possible.”
“The collaborative nature of HealthWork is truly special,” Palmer notes. “There’s a lot of admiration, trust, and love among the agencies. That’s come from years of working shoulder-to-shoulder and doing really great work together.”
The dual agency approach also means that the joint venture can tap into emerging expertise from both agencies, whether it’s the deep social proficiency of BBDO or the rare disease capabilities of CDM. “We’re constantly leveraging the best of each agency,” Osborn says. “This helps us continually make what we do together, better.”
Future Plans
A continuing focus of HealthWork is to bring new disciplines in marketing science to healthcare clients, agency leadership explains. “The way consumer brands interact with their audiences is rapidly changing and deeply data fueled,” according to Henry. “We are bringing the cutting-edge data strategy and analytics tools of BBDO to our healthcare brands and it is getting really exciting.”
“We believe data-times-context-times-creativity is an economic multiplier for our clients,” Osborn says. “So we’re constantly pushing new ways to make sure our work is data-led and gets to better results for our pharma clients.”
The HealthWork team is also focusing on bringing the power of Brand Actions to healthcare clients. According to Palmer, “Many pharma brands are used to living within the constraints of conventional thinking, but many of our clients are now seeing the power doing work that goes above the brand – and creates deeper connection and engagement. It’s not always an easy sell, but more of our clients and brands are getting onboard every day. It’s inspiring to see.”
Philanthropy/Citizenship
Given the nature of the BBDO/CDM partnership, the agencies behind the joint venture help out with each other’s philanthropic endeavors. HealthWork is a core contributor to Pharmapalooza, the pharma ad-industry battle of the bands that supports The Children’s Hospital at Montefiore, as well as the American Heart Association, both of which are long-term passions of CDM. Also, HealthWork makes strong, yearlong contributions to the American Red Cross, the primary philanthropic cause of BBDO.
“Like everything we do, we collaborate on things that matter to each other’s hearts and souls,” Osborn says. “It’s just one more way this partnership is truly special.”
