McCann Health 2015

McCann Health

622 Third Avenue

New York, NY 10017

Telephone: 646-865-3017

Website: mccannhealth.com

 

“In 2014, McCann Health successfully developed new ways of working, integrating for clients in a new world of more extensive stakeholder overlap and tailoring our offering to the new life sciences market needs,” says John Cahill, McCann Health global CEO. “At the same time, McCann Health continues to be the most creatively awarded professional and consumer health communications network – by far – worldwide.”

For the third year in a row, McCann Health was named Healthcare Agency Network of the Year by the Global Awards, the worldwide creative awards show that recognizes the best in healthcare and wellness advertising.

“The Global Awards are a true industry measure of great work and I’m very proud that McCann Health has been chosen Agency Network of the Year again this year,” said Jeremy Perrott, global creative director, McCann Health. “Winning this prestigious award reflects not only on the high caliber of our global creative teams but the strength of our client relationships. Together we are able to deliver the best market solutions and award-winning creative work across multiple offices around the world.

Also in 2014, Perrott was appointed the first-ever chairman of the Pharma Jury at Lions Health, the Cannes Lions bespoke awards festival for the global healthcare sector. McCann Health went on to become the 2^nd most awarded agency and played a leading role in the creation of the new “Lions Health United Nations Foundation Grand Prix for Good” award to honor the best entry for a charity, public service or NGO.

The year’s accomplishments

Over the last year, McCann Health achieved significant growth of 6.5 percent globally. The agency also gained recognition as global thought leaders/ navigators to Pharma 3.0 through its unique proprietary platform, global health experts in the developed and developing world, and as a global powerhouse in medical marketing and consultancy, executives say.

At the beginning of 2014, McCann Americas welcomed Amar Urhekar as the new president of the Americas. A McCann Health veteran with proven leadership and experience in managing and leading individual markets and regions, he has spent the past year expanding the culture of growth and integration, bringing all the agencies together, and taking the network’s relationships with clients to the next level. Under Amar’s direction, McCann Health North America continues to grow steadily, with more than 130 new employees and more than 45 new assignments across all McCann Health agencies in 2014.

In Asia Pacific, Graeme Read was elevated to president and Mark Worman took on the new role of head of global marketing. Over the last five years, APAC has supported the success of McCann Health by being the single most awarded region, most notably earning the Campaign Asia’s Specialist Agency Network of the Year for Asia Pacific, four times in five years. China has won the Agency of the Year accolade for four years, between 2010 and 2013, and Japan an unprecedented five straight years, between 2010 and 2014.

In Europe, with Michel Nakache at the helm, McCann Health’s influence is unsurpassed with a stronghold of healthcare dedicated agencies in the main markets across the region, executives say. Clients such as Novartis and AstraZeneca with global and regional headquarters in Europe are extending their relationships and discussions with McCann Health. This has spurred double-digit growth in the past year, an achievement in itself but exceptional given the economic challenge within the region, executives say.

McCann Global Health, led by Andrew Schirmer, continued its upward momentum, with an important new global assignment from Johnson & Johnson, continued work with UNICEF, and greater overall access and revenue from its current campaigns. “As one of the few healthcare agencies with a global and public focus, McCann Global Health has a unique and distinctive offering, providing advertising and marketing that reaches isolated audiences and can truly resonate with them, making them an unmatched creative and strategic agency, and a much needed and appreciated resource for the global health community,” executives say.

Structure and services

According to network leaders, McCann Health saw a spectacular year end finish, with every agency in the network gaining significant wins and showing solid growth, positioning the network for a successful 2015. 

In North America, McCann HumanCare had a year of explosive double-digit growth under the leadership of newly appointed President Leo Tarkovsky, with even better expected in 2015. McCann Humancare added 12 new assignments from a wide range of clients including USPS and Reckitt Benckiser and diversified its offering from almost entirely pharma to more than 40 percent OTC.

McCann Torre Lazur (MTL), with Bill McEllen as president, won 2014 Med Ad News Agency of the Year and saw a 20 percent success rate of all U.S. launches in 2013 (see profile on page 80). Having won the Agency of the Year for the seventh time in 2014, MTL has further built on its growth and awards equity with nominations in three prestigious categories in 2015. In addition, MTL was single handedly responsible for launching 20 percent of new molecules approved by the FDA in 2013.

McCann Echo TL rechristened itself to become McCann Echo, and with Sonja Foster-Storch as president, achieved spectacular overall growth and creative performance (see profile on page 76). As a result, it was nominated for Agency of the Year in Category II. In 2013, McCann Echo was a Med Ad News finalist and won the Most Admired Agency of the Year.

McCann RCW, under the leadership of President Susan Duffy, integrated more fully into the McCann Health global network, added several new accounts including AZ Diabetes, AZ Immuno Oncology, Seattle Genetics, and Eisai and expanded its offer, boosting digital, planning and creative capabilities.

McCann Managed Markets, led by Kim Wishnow-Per, is now a 50-staff agency working with a variety of clients across the United States. It is one of the few managed markets agencies to win a creative award, for its work on the Bob Woodruff Foundation.

According to network leaders, McCann Pharmacy Initiative is building upon the expertise of McCann Health in the ever-changing pharmacy landscape and the role of pharmacists in the new world of the Affordable Care Act. Sandra Carey, an experienced and qualified pharmacist and regulator herself, is leading this exciting initiative.

McCann Complete Medical and Double Helix have become increasingly integrated under the leadership of Charlie Buckwell, CEO. His role in further globalizing the two agencies and strengthening their primary branches of insightful discoveries and strategic consulting has led to great success from both agencies. This group experienced record growth in 2014 and given the market environment and the industry’s need for compliant, innovative communication programs is set for a spectacular 2015, executives say. 

Future plans

“The last five years in healthcare communications have been about diversification,” Cahill says. “The next 10 will be about integration – the ability to put things together in novel ways will separate the agencies and determine which ones will succeed. This needs connectivity like we’ve never seen before, the kind of connectivity we have built over the last seven years at McCann Health.”

Cahill adds, “The network integration we’re seeing across all of our agencies in every region over this past year has put McCann Health in a fantastic place to capitalize on enhanced digital health platforms, and improved healthcare professional-patient information management programs, both in our professional and consumer businesses in the Americas and globally.”

To underscore the network’s commitment to integration in North America, McCann Health brought together the senior leaders from agencies across the region for the first time to align on, commit to, and implement strategic imperatives and plans that will spiral the network’s growth and success going forward, executives say. The Honorable Kathleen Sebelius, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services and one of the key architects of the Affordable Care Act, agreed to be the keynote speaker at a McCann Health meeting in North America

According to Urhekar, “With every McCann Health employee uniting under the McCann Health umbrella, we can better understand the rapidly changing healthcare environment, what it means for healthcare communications, and best enable our clients to successfully navigate the changing healthcare landscape in the months and years to come.”