Heartbeat: 2017
Heartbeat
One Penn Plaza, 5th Floor
New York, NY 10119
Telephone: 212-812-2233
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: heartbeatideas.com
Winner
Best Professional Campaign
Finalist
Agency of the Year, Category II
Best Interactive Physician Campaign
Accounts
Account wins 5
Active business clients 13
Brands by 2016 sales
Brand-product accounts held 16
Services Mix
Integrated Marketing 80%
Digital 20%
Following the trend of remarkable success and annual growth, agency executives say 2016 became one of the most groundbreaking years in Heartbeat’s 19-year history as it continued to thrive and further magnify its mark on the healthcare marketing world. The agency reached unprecedented levels with historical highs in staff, number and size of clientele, and a 40 percent increase in revenue.
The Year’s Accomplishments
Heartbeat continued to solidify its standing as a premier consumer and HCP AOR leader, shepherding a wealth of brands through all phases of the product lifecycle, from prelaunch to late-stage reinvention, according to agency management.
Executives say an “incredible” 80 percent of its current client roster is AOR work – the highest percentage of agency of record or multichannel engagements in Heartbeat’s history – “further realizing the long-term goal of the digitally native agency.”
“We are thrilled to have bolstered our relationships with industry mainstays like Bristol-Myers Squibb, Genentech, Johnson & Johnson, Janssen, Pfizer, and Sanofi, expanding our existing collaborations with trusted client partners in new and exciting ways,” agency management notes. “We’re also especially proud to have developed partnerships with incredible first-time clients like Avanir Pharmaceuticals, Pharmacyclics, Regeneron, Shionogi, and Sunovion.”
Agency leaders say all of this new work and rapid growth is not by accident, but as a result of the collective efforts of dedicated employees. According to executives, the agency’s 2016 success spawned a staff increase of more than 30 percent, “with close to 200 energetic Heartbeaters now roaming (or scooting around) our office halls.”
“And speaking of office halls, a bevy of new faces wasn’t the only change that Heartbeat saw in 2016,” management adds. “The company bid adieu to its former TriBeCa home, relocating its New York City headquarters to a much larger space in midtown Manhattan. Despite our affection for the swanky downtown digs that neighbored Beyoncé and Jay-Z, Heartbeat’s account roster and revenue have more than tripled since the 2010 opening of our TriBeCa office, and the company’s staff has increased by more than 150 percent. The new One Penn Plaza headquarters provides significantly more space designed to accommodate the surging staff and further anticipated growth.”
With the move, agency leaders say Heartbeat also now joins multiple other Publicis Health agencies already residing in the midtown location, providing greater access to and collaboration with its sister agencies, and “further exemplifying the network’s ‘Power of One’ philosophy in which all Publicis capabilities are available to each of its clients in a simple, flexible, and efficient way.”
“In the end, our expanded client base, increased AOR leadership roles, office relocation, and growing staff made 2016 an especially exciting year. Adding to that excitement was the critical acclaim accompanying some of our most innovative work to date, as an incredible six different Heartbeat marketing campaigns were recognized with more than 15 major industry awards. These included honors from MM&M, DTC National, OMMA, PM360 Trailblazer, and Pharma Choice.”
Beyond the awards, the agency further cemented its role as a healthcare marketing thought leader, according to executives. “Heartbeat is extremely proud to have partnered with the brilliant minds at Google, McKinsey, and Wharton to develop the healthcare marketing eBook, Pharma 3D: Rewriting the Script for Marketing in the Digital Age,” executives say. “The eBook is the quintessential guide for marketing success in the digitally connected world.”
Agency managers say Heartbeat founder and chairman, Bill Drummy, also continued to inject his thought-provoking and controversial voice into the future-of-healthcare-advertising conversation. Drummy was a featured speaker ePharma Summit, Digital Pharma East, and Digital Pharma West, “daring the industry to evolve with speeches like Pharma in 3D: A Reasonable Guide to Unreasonable Success, and Over the Rainbow: Ethical Marketing for Ethical Pharmaceuticals,” executives say. “As an attendee of mega-conferences SXSW and Exponential Medicine, his conference reports featured in major industry publications kept the marketing community in touch with the larger aspirations and incredible imaginations of the Healthcare and Technology worlds. If that wasn’t enough, Bill was again an active member of the advisory boards for both Pharmaceutical Executive and Google Healthcare – making sure that anywhere and everywhere meaningful discussions on healthcare marketing were taking place, Heartbeat was a participant.”
Structure & Services
Perhaps the greatest change of all for the agency in 2016 was the transformation of its leadership, executives say. Drummy stepped down as CEO after 19 years of running the agency.
“Happily, he still remains part of Heartbeat in a new role as chairman,” executives say. “Going forward, Bill will focus on developing new client relationships, counseling long-standing Heartbeat clients on business growth and innovation, and providing thought leadership for the healthcare industry as a whole.”
Heartbeat’s day-to-day operations are now in the hands of Nadine Leonard and James Talerico, Heartbeat partners and executive management teammates. Leonard is managing director, executive planning director, and Talerico serves as managing director, executive creative director. The pair are anticipated to spearhead Heartbeat’s larger business operations while also continuing to maintain oversight of, respectively, Heartbeat’s Strategy and Creative departments.
All other Heartbeat executive management team members remain part of the company’s leadership, including Linda Bennett, a three-year Heartbeat veteran; Claudia Riegelhaupt and Lee Slovitt, both of whom celebrated their 10-year anniversaries with Heartbeat; Janelle Starr, who celebrated her 12th year; and Jennifer Campanaro, who celebrated 15 years with the agency. “Loyalty is truly a mainstay of Heartbeat’s leadership team,” executives say.
According to management, setting up a new leadership structure was viewed as a key to Heartbeat’s future growth and success.
“But leadership must be combined with a unique agency positioning, and in 2016 Heartbeat honed its focus towards healthcare ‘challenger’ brands,’” executives say. “Challengers may need to break new ground by toppling long-standing thinking or treatment habits; they may be battling as a later-to-market entrant, be part of a staid competitive space, or considered a me-too product. In other words, they must pave new paths to have impact.”
According to agency leaders, “Heartbeat understands that these brands need unconventional approaches to achieve outsized results and that ambitious, innovative, value-squeezing ideas are crucial to their success. Such brands are often led by marketers who are forward thinking, who view risk-taking as imperative, and who yearn for truly game-changing ideas and approaches. Heartbeat’s history as an entrepreneurial company and as a digitally native AOR makes for an ideal partnership to create unique Challenger Brand-building campaigns.”
Philanthropy/Citizenship
For all of Heartbeat’s accomplishments in 2016, the agency’s leadership says, “few rivaled the awe-inspiring effort behind our companywide philanthropy program and culture committee, ‘Upbeat’. Annual events giving time or raising money for a plethora of charitable organizations were continuous throughout the year. These included staples like our Career Day and Back to School Backpacks for underprivileged youth from the Fresh Air Fund, donations to the New York Cares Coat Drive and New York Food Bank, and adopting a family (and showering them with gifts) for the holidays through Sanctuary for Families.”
Last year, Heartbeat employees also delivered “Jared Boxes” for the NY Presbyterian Children’s Hospital, participated in the AHA Walk/Run, and organized clothing, jewelry, and make-up drives for a local women’s shelter. “As always, if it was a worthy cause, Heartbeat was eager and willing to contribute,” executives note.
Agency leaders say Upbeat is also “steadfastly” committed to cultivating a unique company culture, spirit, and sense of family for all Heartbeaters.
“When not embroiled in local philanthropy endeavors, the committee organizes regular team-based competitions to keep employees connected and cross-pollinating,” executives explain. “One month that might mean a Family Feud-style game night, another a guacamole recipe face-off, a pedometer challenge, or a Beyoncé dance class (yes, really). The list could go on and on (meditation classes, pumpkin decorating contests, wine tastings, dessert bars – oops, it did go on!) – but this passionate devotion to company culture is unquestionably the most regularly unsolicited positive feedback Heartbeat receives from employees about why they love the company and, most importantly, why they stay.”
