McCann Echo: 2017
McCann Echo
49 Bloomfield Avenue
Mountain Lakes, NJ 07046
Telephone: 973-257-3900
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: mccannecho.com
Winner
Agency of the Year, Category II
Best Consumer Campaign
Accounts
Account wins 21
Active business clients 10
Brands by 2016 sales
Brand-product accounts held 52
Services Mix
Professional Advertising & Promotion (print, interactive, and digital media) 70%
DTP 30% indianpharmall.com
Client Roster
Abbott
Admedus
AstraZeneca
Galderma
GSK Consumer Healthcare
Icon Bioscience
Janssen
Novo Nordisk
Teva
ViiV Healthcare
As Sonja “Sunny” Foster-Storch, president of McCann Echo, sat in a conference room to discuss what makes the agency stand out from the crowd, the caretaker in charge of maintaining the office’s many plants stealthily made her way into the room. Using great care, the woman sprayed each leaf of a towering tropical plant while simultaneously checking its health – a plant physical. She checked the soil with her fingertip and added a conservative amount of water from her watering can before leaving the room and moving to her next patient.
Foster-Storch smiled and laughed at the scene. “That’s exactly what we do here. We nurture growth. It all starts with having the right talent with the right attitude. Once you have that, amazing things start to happen around the agency. Right down to the office plants!”
Fostering a culture that produces award-winning creativity while cultivating exceptional employees has always been the nature of McCann Echo. With the success and growth of 2016 behind the agency, there is a renewed sense of excitement about the future that’s echoing throughout the halls of the Mountain Lakes, N.J. office.
The Year’s Accomplishments
2016 was indeed another year of consecutive growth for McCann Echo – a McCann Health Company – starting with new partnerships, continuing with long-standing relationships, and building with a nearly pitch-perfect year of new business wins.
The year began on the heels of the Janssen Immunology franchise win for McCann Health at the close of 2015, adding several biologic brands for the treatment of Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, and rheumatoid arthritis to the McCann Echo roster. Biologics – considered by many to be the frontier of pharmaceutical innovation – represent a new therapeutic area for the agency, which it has fully embraced scientifically, strategically and creatively, executives say.
Overall, McCann Echo won nearly 100 percent of its pitches throughout 2016, including wins with AstraZeneca, GSK Consumer Health, and Admedus US Medical Technologies. “We’ve really diversified our experience over the past year,” says Danielle White, executive VP, group account director. “It goes to show that the people at our agency are passionate about learning new categories and that we can provide thought-provoking insights and compelling creative within any area of the healthcare industry.”
According to agency leaders, McCann Echo continues to pride itself in its long-standing relationships with organizations such as Novo Nordisk and ViiV Healthcare, helping them build impactful brands for diabetes and HIV, respectively, over several years. “These relationships are as close as ever with a list of products living at the agency that continues to grow each year,” agency management notes. In 2016, McCann Echo saw through the U.S. launch of Tresiba for Novo Nordisk. McCann Echo also continues to grow its partnership with ViiV.
“We’re passionate about these categories,” says Kristy Caraballo, executive VP, managing director. “We’ve been working with these great organizations for so long that you can’t help but become attached to the work and the differences we’re continuing to make in the lives of patients.”
According to agency management, 2016 was another great year for awards for McCann Echo. One of note is the “Toddler Tips” sleep campaign, a pro bono venture for Monmouth Medical Center, taking home a Global Award for best art direction. Galderma’s Soolantra “Tough Topical” campaign of Cannes-Lion fame also continued its two-year winning streak with a slew of additional awards from several different shows.
Structures & Services
As one of the largest agencies within McCann Health, McCann Echo continues to offer solution-based services to help clients effectively reach healthcare professionals and patients, now with the growing support of an expanded scientific strategy department. “The expansion of scientific strategy has done wonders for our creative and strategic insights,” says Jesse Johanson, executive VP, director of strategic planning. “Great creative and sound strategy all start with strong, science-based rationale. And, based on the outstanding creative output and new wins in 2016, we’re better at this than ever before.”
“Like all of our agencies in North America, McCann Echo is fully integrated into the McCann Health family – and that’s what makes our network so special,” says Amar Urhekar, president, McCann Health Americas. “Our clients not only get the attention of their day-to-day folks at the shop, but also have access to the team up the ladder and across McCann Health and McCann Worldgroup agencies. It’s a seamless approach that works incredibly well. We’re especially proud of how this platform has performed for franchises that spread across our agencies, like the Janssen portfolio.”
Future Plans
For 2017 and beyond, McCann Echo leaders hope to help continue to reshape the industry standard of creative ideas. “The age-old tradition of pharma creative is to create an ad-like object, test it with our audience, and place it on the cover of a sales aid or in a journal ad. The idea ends there,” says Juan Ramos, executive VP, executive creative director. “If you look outside of our industry, brands are focused on creating experiences. There isn’t a reason why this approach can’t work in healthcare. It’s been our goal to build brands through creative narratives that drive engagement and brand loyalty.”
Philanthropy/Citizenship
McCann Echo has always supported local nonprofit organizations closely tied to category work relevant to the agency, participating in events at Camp Nejeda, a local camp for children and teens with type 1 diabetes; and New Jersey AIDS Services, a local organization that provides support and services to people living with HIV/AIDS. Last year also included rebranding for Mind Builders, an organization that helps fund a community arts and education center in the Bronx, N.Y. Work included a new logo and website.
“Our industry is about making people feel better – and that goes beyond medication,” Foster-Storch says. “We’ll always take the extra step to do more. It’s the McCann Echo way.”
