SFC Group: 2021

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SFC Group LLC

14581 Lakeshore Road

Lakeside, MI 49116

Telephone 

914-441-3660

E-mail 

[email protected]

Website 

sfcgroup1.com

 

QUICK FACTS

Accounts

Account wins 7

Active business clients 15

Brands by 2020 sales

Brand-product accounts held 12

$25 million or less 9

$25 million-$50 million 1

Products not yet approved/launched 2

 

SERVICES MIX

Professional/HCP advertising 50%

Media 20%

Digital 20%

DTC 10%

 

CLIENT ROSTER

The Clearity Foundation

Fresenius Kabi Canada

Fresenius Kabi USA 

Goshen Health

Grifols

Hologic

INVO Bioscienes

Lumiata

Nexus Pharmaceuticals

Smith and Nephew

TriSalus Life Sciences

 

SFC Group is an independent, full-service healthcare agency owned and helmed by Susan Flinn Cobian, who believes that going above and beyond is the only way to go. The agency’s “One Team, One Dream” approach aims to knock it out of the park for their clients each and every day, agency executives say. SFC Group is composed of a team of seasoned, award-winning healthcare pros who share a common dream: to consistently deliver strategic counsel, killer creative, and seamless execution. 

RECENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Founded in September 2018, SFC Group has tripled its client roster year over year. According to agency leaders, starting with a modest four clients, SFC Group won an additional 13 over the course of the next two years. “Adding two global, multi-billion-dollar pharmaceutical companies, a diagnostics company, and a new product launch for a medical device company, SFC Group had to not just grow fast, but grow smart…and it did,” management says. “Considerate hiring of a team of multi-talented, seasoned healthcare marketers was key to keeping up with an expanding client base.”

Susan Flinn Cobian, president and CEO

STRUCTURE AND SERVICES

SFC Group is a 100 percent virtual agency “headquartered” in the Chicago area. Cobian established SFC Group with the intent to be housed in a brick-and-mortar office, but says she quickly realized that going virtual would enable her to cherry-pick top talent, regardless of ZIP code. Team members are currently located in Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, North Carolina, Seattle, Pennsylvania, and Montreal, Canada. According to agency executives, SFC Group has mastered the art of not only tele-commuting but tele-collaborating to produce work that shatters expectations.

SFC Group has created its own unique model to move away from old-school, cumbersome processes and instead, focus on white-glove service and strategy, management says. Cobian is the mastermind behind her namesake and is the primary strategic contact for all clients, delivering an unparalleled level of insight and service. 

Management says SFC Group is unique in two very important ways: it has an exclusive focus on healthcare, which enables the team to hit the ground running at the onset of any new engagement; its team is composed primarily of savvy, senior-level healthcare leaders with deep industry experience, which allows them to act as a strategic extension of each client’s marketing department. The result is an agency that offers equal parts strategic consultation and award-winning creative execution.

As a full-service agency, SFC Group offers clients a comprehensive range of services focused on strategic brand building, brand identity, and creative concepting. These services include media strategy, buying, and placement; digital and tech development including websites, SEO/SEM, app development; thought leadership programs, KOL development, and activation; social media strategy and stewardship including community management, content development, and data analytics; HCP and patient communications including print and digital sales materials, sales training and implementation, speaker bureaus, ambassador programs, nurturing programs, direct mail and market research; DTC communications including research and planning, radio, direct marketing, point-of-care, awareness campaigns, digital and social outreach, advocacy development and partnership facilitation, grassroots outreach, and nurturing; and event marketing including experience engineering and theme development, sales training, national sales meeting programs, conventions/industry conferences, advisory boards, logistics planning, and video production

One accomplishment SFC Group executives say they are most proud of is employees’ ability to work so well together – apart. Distance and time zones have no effect on their ability to connect and collaborate, according to agency leaders. “In 2020, with so many companies thrown into turmoil because of the pandemic, SFC Group was able to guide its clients through the art of tele-collaborating. Helping them adjust to this new normal meant SFC Group was able to accomplish one of its chief goals – to always go above and beyond for each other and their clients.” 

Agency leaders say another proud moment was when SFC Group turned a “gross” subject into something people were happy to talk about. A regional hospital and out-patient system in Indiana wanted to educate people about their risk for developing colorectal cancer and de-stigmatize the conversation about cancer in an embarrassing location. Led by Executive Creative Director Brian Zandman, SFC Group developed the “Share a Stool: Start a Movement” campaign, which encouraged people to take a health risk assessment to see if they qualified for a free Fecal Immunochemical Test (FIT) screening test. Media included high-profile out of home advertising, quirky radio ads featuring poop trivia, a dedicated website and an experiential “Stool Bus” that engaged with members of the community at local events. The agency even strategically installed brightly painted bar stools in restaurants, cafes, and bars across the city and included bathroom advertising. The four-month campaign was the most successful in the cancer center’s history.

At SFC Group, management says clients’ success comes first, but add that awards are always nice to have. And in 2020, SFC Group was a Bronze Stevie winner as Startup of the Year, with Cobian taking a Bronze Stevie Marketing Executive of the Year. 

The Start a Movement, Share a Stool: Goshen Health Colorectal Cancer Awareness Campaign won an Aster Gold, a Hermes Gold, a MarComm Platinum, a Stevie Gold, an MM&M Silver; and three Rx Awards of Excellence. The Discover Clarity in Full Bloom: Karius Infectious Disease Testing won an Aster Gold, a Hermes Gold, a Communicator Award of Distinction, and a MarComm Platinum.

The Esophageal Cancer Awareness: American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy won a Hermes Platinum and a Communicator Award of Distinction: Integrated Campaign. The Only AI Company Built Specifically for Healthcare: Lumiata campaign won a Silver at the Davey Awards and a Gold from dotcom, a Gold from MarComm, and a Gold and Silver from W3. Emerphed Product Launch, NEXUS won an Rx Award of Excellence, a dotcom Honorable Mention, a MarComm Platinum, and a Davey Gold.

FUTURE PLANS

SFC Group is focused on expanding its client roster as well as the team by delivering out-of-the-box solutions to healthcare’s ever-changing challenges. Cobian says her approach is simple: make SFC Group the agency everyone wants to work with – employees and clients alike.

At the end of the day, SFC Group thrives on challenging conventional thinking and disrupting the status quo, and they’re not afraid to think differently about the business or that of their clients. In fact, SFC Group prefers to work with people who are dedicated to making a difference by thinking differently, and every last member of the SFC team is committed to having major skin in the game, management says.

PHILANTHROPY/CITIZENSHIP

Cobian is a member of the Healthcare Businesswoman’s Association and She Runs It as well as an Executive Board Member of Bright Pink, a non-profit that inspires women to practice breast and ovarian cancer prevention. And the entire SFC Group team is actively supporting The Clearity Foundation, a national non-profit focused on helping women with ovarian cancer.