SOLVE(D): 2022

SOLVE(D), an IPG Health Company

100 W. 33rd Street, New York, NY 10001
212-885-3176 • [email protected] • solved.health

QUICK FACTS

Accounts
Active business clients 100

Brands by 2021 sales
Brand-product accounts held 200+

Services Mix
Media – HCP (professional) 35%
Analytics and reporting 25%
Media – DTC/DTP 15%
Data science and advanced analytics 10%
Data strategy 5%
AdTech & MarTech strategy 5%
Data visualization and informational design 5%

Client Roster
Adamas Pharmaceuticals
Allergan
BioXcel Therapeutics
CTI BioPharma
Esperion Therapeutics
Exact Sciences
Gilead Sciences
Insmed
Kate Farms
Kyowa Kirin
Merck and Co./MSD
Novartis
Novavax
Novo Nordisk
Sanofi
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries
Teva Pharmaceuticals
UCB Group

 

“We are SOLVE(D), a global growth accelerator agency dedicated to healthcare,” management says. “We combine the entrepreneurial spirit of a start-up with the capabilities, resources, and expertise of a global network to foster and fuel speed, agility, precision, scale, and impact.”

“We may appear as an integrated data and media agency, which itself is pretty exciting,” says George Musi, managing director of SOLVE(D). “But the value we bring to a wide range of clients is so much more.”

SOLVE(D) serves as IPG Health’s discovery and decisioning engine that drives media and omnichannel activation across moments, mindsets, channels, and journey stages. The agency was born in 2018 within FCB Health and built on the premise of using the right combination of data, analytics, technology, consulting, and media to help build and deliver personalized and relevant omnichannel experiences. “Working across paid, owned, and earned touchpoints, we strive to drive meaningful connections and engagement between brands and their target audiences,” management says.

Recent Accomplishments

In 2021, the agency experienced revenue growth of 45 percent. Agency executives say particularly noteworthy was the addition of Musi, who joined as managing director in June 2021. “We further boosted our leadership bench strength by welcoming seven industry leaders to the agency: James Parisi as head of data & analytics; Alice Dure as senior VP, media; Colin Harewood as head of business operations; Rachel Garfield as senior VP, media; Justin Sorrentino as head of integrated search and social; Kimberley Tempas as group director of data & analytics; and Victor Perng as senior VP, data & analytics. These new additions reflect our continued investment in evolving, enhancing, and elevating its capabilities and offerings to meet the ever-growing needs of our clients.”

During 2021, the agency managed and invested more than $350 million in media on behalf of its clients across traditional and emerging channels, with the focus of moving beyond simply reaching audiences and instead on leveraging data, analytics, and technology to make their media plans and buys smarter, increase effectiveness and relevancy, and drive deeper engagement and action.

“In 2021, we developed Interdependence, an end-to-end proprietary process based on the principles of Adaptive Systems Thinking,” management says.

Interdependence consists of an interrelated and interconnected network of elements: IGNITE, a strategy and innovation framework; CODE, a planning and activation framework that provides the instructions; and ACCELERATORS, a suite of proprietary tools and products.

Additionally, the agency further entrenched and expanded its data, analytics, technology, and media capabilities across both HCP and DTC – including business planning for growth, Labs, SEM, SEO, social media, programmatic/addressable media, partnerships & innovation. “We continued building on our partnership with IPG’s Acxiom, Kinesso, and Matterkind to create and deliver meaningful marketing and media experiences for clients,” agency execs say.

Given the amount of work needing data, analytics, technology, media, and consulting support in IPG Health Europe and its expectations for growth in IPG Health Europe, in first-quarter 2022 the agency launched SOLVE(D) Europe. Primarily based in the U.K., the SOLVE(D) Europe team comprises 10 people and is led by Michael Le Brocq, who was appointed managing director.

Also in the first quarter, the agency launched SOLVE(D) Labs, an innovation, R&D and think tank environment with various perspectives from SOLVE(D), IPG Health, IPG (Acxiom, Kinesso, Matterkind), and external partners.

Structure and Services

“We believe not all great minds look and think alike, and that’s why we value diverse ideas, perspectives, and backgrounds. We are committed to bringing in top talent who collectively contribute a wealth of experience and a depth of knowledge in their respective areas of expertise. At SOLVE(D), we have a multidisciplinary, multifaceted team of driven, spirited, passionate, and nimble thinkers and doers who have come together with a unified vision, focused mission, common purpose, and shared values,” agency executives say.

“Globally, our diverse team consists of 160-plus specialists and practitioners who apply their collective strength, leveraging the right mix of human and technical capabilities, to enlighten, empower, and enable clients to make confident decisions that accelerate impact and growth.”

The agency’s offerings include data and analytics, paid media – general market (GM) and multicultural market (MCM), SEO (organic search), CRM and personalization integration, and strategic consulting and advisory services.

“We believe that establishing and building long-term, enduring client relationships requires four essential elements: trust, value-creation, partnership, and dialogue,” management says. “We service healthcare clients across a spectrum of conditions and therapeutic categories across every subcategory: OTC & DTC pharmaceuticals, healthcare device makers, hospital networks, healthcare providers, insurers, and wellness-related brands. We work with clients across a variety of conditions and categories (cardiology, dermatology, oncology, infectious diseases and vaccines, reproductive health, mental health, etc.) and audiences (HCPs, DTC, DTP, etc.), campaign stages, and product lifecycle stages.”

Future Plans

We will continue to refine and advance the integration of media and data, analytics, and technology to further enhance our media strategy, planning, executional, measurement, and optimization capabilities, providing added value beyond that of many traditional media agencies,” SOLVE(D) managers say.

“We will continue to expand our own proprietary data stack and the tools we have access to for analyzing that data quickly and effectively. We are constantly evaluating new providers and partners who can help us expand our access to data and our ability to digest and synthesize that data quickly and effectively.”

The leadership team says in 2022, product development will be a priority for SOLVE(D). “We are developing methodologies, models, tools, and applications that can be utilized quickly and efficiently across a variety of clients, markets, and business situations to help us and our partners be ever nimbler in an increasingly complex marketplace,” management says.

Philanthropy/Citizenship

In 2021, the agency did work with more than 11 different pro bono organizations including the Crohn’s & Colitis foundation, the COPD foundation, the Gay Men’s Health Crisis, SPARC, the National Autism Association, Defenders of Wildlife, and the Lustgarten Foundation.

Management notes that while financial support for institutions and non-profit organizations dedicated to the public interest is essential, it is not the only effective way of assistance. “We prefer to apply our professional skills in service of good causes, and our work can take different forms. Our teams contribute their time, their creativity, and their expertise, devoting the necessary time to support the organization, or volunteering initiatives.”

Last year, employees contributed time and expertise, and partnered with the New York Women in Communications to conduct a national research study on how COVID-19 has affected women in the workforce. The issues addressed included lack of childcare, pay, gender, and racial inequality.

“The research was designed to uncover the extent of the mental, familial, and financial impacts of COVID-19 on women in the communications field, and to get a better understanding of the forces driving those impacts. The findings will be used to develop a post-pandemic action plan,” SOLVE(D) managers say.

“Our people are also involved in diverse charitable organizations in a wide range of roles: serving in leadership positions in religious institutions, sitting on the boards of local charities, and simply participating in a wide range of charitable activities to benefit the elderly, the poor, and other less fortunate people in the United States and abroad.”