Healthcare Communications Agencies 2021 Report: Stir crazy, but still growing
Healthcare Communications Agencies 2021 Report: Stir crazy, but still growing
— After one full year when just about everyone who could was working from home, healthcare advertising agencies have managed to adapt and thrive, using technology to serve their clients, onboard new employees, and create bonds.
By Christiane Truelove • [email protected]
Hey. Hey, how are you doing? Have you eaten something today? Hydrated? Done some sort of self-care? Are you dealing well with home-schooling your kids? If you live by yourself, how are you coping with not really seeing anyone? Did you manage to set up a home office, or are you still working from the kitchen or dining room table? How many Zoom meetings have you had in the last week? Month? Year?
Me? I guess I’m doing OK. I’ve been working from home since 2014, and so has the rest of the Med Ad News crew. It’s like we were made for times like these. But I am particularly thankful for good wifi, Zoom socials, and Instacart.
Last June, we held our first virtual Manny Awards, and as the pandemic continues to drag on, we will once again not be gathering at Pier Sixty in New York. There is a light at the end of the tunnel though, as more of us are getting the vaccine or have already been vaccinated (I got my second jab April 10, and joined “The House of Pfizer”). Perhaps the Manny Awards 2022 at Pier Sixty will not be an impossibility after all.
Another year of growth
Despite the difficulties posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, many agencies detailed in this year’s special edition reported extraordinary growth, with some saying 2020 represented the best performance in their entire history.
According to Category I Agency of the Year Fingerpaint, “Even while moving all employees to remote work, the agency achieved a revenue of more than $85 million – up from $51.4 million in 2019.” Part of this growth came from the acquisition of La Jolla, Calif.-based 1798, a market access agency.
AREA 23 grew by 30 percent – the equivalent of an entire Tier 3 agency, and staff count grew from 600 to 625. “We pivoted with our clients quite early on,” says Renée Mellas, president. “We were pushing virtual booths while our clients were still booking their travel for congresses. So while the types of projects changed across the board, I think our foresight helped preserve the number of projects we worked on, and our growth numbers surely reflect that.”
On the new business front, AREA 23 leadership continued their commitment to limit new business participation in order to focus on client business, but 2020 offered some exceptions. “We declined 33 RFPs last year, and we’re confident it was the right move,” Mellas says. “We did some pitches with existing clients, but remained very selective, making sure not to strain our staff.” The agency acquired 18 new products on its roster.
McCann Health New York claims it had an unprecedented growth of 35 percent, marking its eighth consecutive year of double-digit growth. The agency also had 8 percent organic growth from clients who entrusted it with even more assignments. “Ask our competitors about their winning streaks. We dare you,” management says.
Intouch Group not only grew its revenue by 21 percent over 2019, it launched a seventh affiliate; hired a new chief creative officer; and expanded its global presence. “2020 was – in a word – challenging. At first, there was a lot of uncertainty,” says CEO Faruk Capan. “But we remained laser-focused on our clients, and we doubled down on supporting our employees, and we couldn’t have done it without them.” Management says Intouch Group blew past forecasts to reach $220 million in 2020 and is on track to meet even more aggressive growth goals in 2021.
At FCB Health Network, executives say “our success was beyond astonishing, with revenue growing by the size of two large agencies. Our network won an unprecedented 100-plus new business pitches, with 25-plus major new brand assignments alone. We extended client engagement with global biopharma giants including Novartis, Merck, Pfizer, Lilly, Genentech, and Sanofi, and added new clients to an already extensive roster. With the addition of Bristol Myers Squibb, FCB Health Network works with 19 of the world’s top 20 pharma companies.”
“Every single one of our operating units grew this year, most at levels beyond anything achieved before,” says CEO Dana Maiman.
Syneos Health Communications reported almost 150 new accounts added in 2020. The network’s leaders say half of those clients are new to the roster.
As leaders at AbelsonTaylor put it, “When 2020 began we had a clear vision (pun intended) of our goals for growth and success. That vision did not include a catastrophic global pandemic and economic and political chaos with a side of self-isolation … Yet, as AbelsonTaylor celebrates the 40th year of fierce independence, 2020 was one of our best years ever with 25 percent growth year over year.” In 2020, the Chicago-based agency added an additional seven accounts to its roster.
During the last nine years, CMI Media Group and Compas combined have had more than 20 percent revenue growth year over year, including a “record breaking” nine competitive RFP wins in 2020, and 33.7 percent staff growth.
Real Chemistry acquired seven companies in 2020, which company executives say meaningfully deepened its ability to help clients solve problems. The companies are 21GRAMS, specializing in marketing, advertising, and patient/medical education; Symplur, a healthcare-only social media analytics platform; Discern Health, which is focused on improving health care through quality-based payment and delivery models; Elysia Group, specializing in health economic and outcomes research consulting; Starpower, which does influencer/celebrity/entertainment marketing; and Swoop and IPM.aim, which use machine learning, AI and real-world data to solve big health care challenges.
Real Chemistry marked its 19th consecutive year of double-digit growth, with a 62 percent increase in revenue (from $222 million to $360 million) and a more than 45 percent increase in staff (from 1,100 to 1,600) resulting from new business growth and acquisitions.
Growth was not just restricted to the Category I agencies, as many Category II and III agencies reported a strong 2020.
For Category II Agency of the Year Calcium, 2020 brought 65 percent growth in revenue, and the addition of 66 new employees – more than 50 of them onboarded virtually during the pandemic.
Executives at Category III Agency of the Year winner Brick City Greenhouse say despite the challenges of the pandemic, 2020 was a banner year for the agency, with nearly 100 percent revenue growth. The roster grew by four new clients and 14 new brand assignments, including two concurrent subpart E/H oncology launches, and broadening the client portfolio in the areas of women’s health, immunology, oncology, gastroenterology, and rheumatology.
Agency on the Rise winner Create NYC added millions in sales, according to agency leaders, dramatically increasing its revenue from $17.8 million to $24.1 million. Management attributes this 36 percent growth to executing advertising for more than 100 brands, including blockbusters such as Xeljanz and Opdivo.
At SPLICE Agency in California, the leadership team says 2020 was a fantastic year, despite the challenges of the pandemic. “We experienced 67 percent year-over-year revenue growth, expanded our team with 24 new people from across the U.S., won a few awards, and added many new skills and services,” management says.
closerlook reports that 2020 was a year of strong growth with a double-digit rise in total revenue, significant new brand assignments, and a more than 40 percent increase in staff. By year’s end, the agency reported a 25 percent growth in total revenue from new and existing clients.
Mind+Matter won 15 new client engagements, adding those to an existing roster of nearly 80, including 14 AOR assignments. Mind+Matter was formed through the merger of three Ashfield Health agencies: Cambridge BioMarketing, Ashfield Digital and Creative, and Pegasus.
Centron achieved 45 percent growth, driven by key clients such as Apellis, a new indication launch for Karyopharm, and new business wins such as Ovid Therapeutics.
CrowdPharm celebrated a brand launch for a rare disease, achieved a 125 percent increase in organic growth and a 45 percent increase in new clients, expanded its global network both in talent and in geography, earned six new accounts, and experienced a 169 percent increase in revenue.
Keeping topical in the pandemic
Various agencies and networks profiled in this magazine were proactive in leading their clients to more effective business practices in the pandemic.
For example, in 2020, Intouch partnered with the Digital Health Coalition to conduct new industry research and produce two 70-plus-page COVID-19 whitepapers that offer advice on how to proceed in the “new normal.” “The Aftermath: COVID-19 Insights & Recommendations” addresses changes in professional and consumer communications, the evolution of point of care, the future of the field force, and more. “The Now & the Next in Pharma Marketing” applies quantitative and qualitative research on COVID-19’s impact on pharma, healthcare providers and patients, and looks at what pharma marketers need to focus on to meet the needs of each in the future.
Recognizing that COVID-19 impacted one of its key customers, doctors, executives at McCann Health New York say the agency took the opportunity to revisit its original 2016 Truth About Doctors study and “take a pulse, as doctors have become our pandemic compasses. We compared the data from 2016 with data pulled from 2020 and analyzed doctorness against psychological and emotional parameters to better understand how we can better care for our carers.”
At Evoke, before closing out the first quarter of 2020, the agency swiftly transitioned to working fully remote and created an internal COVID-19 task force to develop innovative solutions within the new pandemic reality. Agency leaders say the task force predicted and monitored the increased adoption of telehealth solutions and the ease with which once staid regulators were giving access to patients and HCPs alike. Many of the task force’s solutions and ideas were published online in a series called “Overcoming COVID-19,” which tackled topics ranging from adjusting tone and content to leveraging an underutilized salesforce.
At EVERSANA ENGAGE, the agency supported advancements in COVID-19 research and remote work. When pharma companies as well as healthcare providers redirected their efforts to battling the COVID-19 pandemic, EVERSANA ENGAGE shifted its energy as well, by providing omnichannel services and HCP support for clients working on COVID-19 testing, vaccine development, and other treatments. “In addition, with a best-in-class digital construct, ENGAGE was able to pivot to a virtual environment, embracing collaboration with patients using co-creation platforms, leveraging video-in-a-box technologies and enabling fully virtual point-of-access experiences,” management says.
Klick Health worked with the U.S. Government COVID Response team to launch the first clinical trial recruitment campaign for COVID-19 therapies. Sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, the ACTIV-2 study is investigating promising treatments for adults with COVID-19.
The Rise Above COVID campaign was created to generate awareness of ACTIV-2, prioritizing communities of color disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. “Sophisticated targeting and grassroot initiatives have been deployed to help overcome barriers that prevent people of color from enrolling,” Klick executives say, including a recently launched effort in Black-owned salons and barbershops in three U.S. cities
Heart Award winner McCann Global Health developed a COVID-19 playbook as a practical guide for people around the world to access actionable, science-based information and resources. The agency highlighted the connection between vaping and contracting and spreading COVID-19 by calling on the most vulnerable population – grandparents – to post videos to social media, imploring their grandchildren to ditch the vape.
The agency’s “Trust Science” campaign for UNICEF positions misinformation and non-scientific theories as the “other virus.”
And its film for the State of New York encouraged the city’s residents to take mask wearing seriously. The film was shown at Governor Cuomo’s daily press conference and then shared across multiple official government platforms. With UNICEF and the World Health Organization, McCann Global is supporting the risk communications and community engagement taskforce to develop global campaigns, and with Asian Development Bank, the agency is developing strategic frameworks to address COVID-19 in ADB member countries.
DE&I Commitment continues
Diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts kicked off last summer were not a mere blip in agency activities, but a deep, ongoing commitment, according to many of the agencies and networks profiled in this issue.
The focus on diversity and inclusion has been a years-long effort at Heartbeat, but the heightened fight for racial justice in 2020 highlighted the criticality of such work and became a model for Heartbeat’s parent, Publicis Health, and the wider agency community, management says.
Led by Michelle Edwards, VP of operations and human resources, Heartbeat formally issued a “commitment letter” in August 2020, outlining goals to create an agency as diverse as the city many Heartbeaters call home: New York. While the agency was already 41 percent diverse, they outlined specific targets for key BIPOC groups and shared a plan for how to achieve them, including getting the entire staff involved in antiracist endeavors through education; developing racially diverse talent; focusing on racially diverse recruitment; amplifying the agency’s antiracist and inclusive work; and extending community outreach.
“While many agencies and networks issued commitments, none were as specific and far-reaching as Heartbeat,” executive management says, adding that the agency plans to issue commitment updates every six months to publicly share progress.
2021’s DE&I Manny Award winner, TBWA\WorldHealth, began its diversity journey in earnest in 2018 when two employees, Karina Salinas and Olivia Nguyen, approached the agency’s leadership team with a vision and, with unanimous support, they founded DIVERS\TEAM—an initiative dedicated to building an agency that is authentically diverse, strategically equitable, and intentionally inclusive of all voices.
DIVERS\TEAM has grown into an agency-wide offering with more than 100 core members. Monthly meetings are held to discuss DE&I topics and identify new opportunities, and a series of surveys were circulated in 2020 to every employee in order to take the agency’s temperature on their progress in DE&I and to identify any weak spots.
DIVERS\TEAM has rolled out a highly successful pilot for the Lifted Learnership Program – a community of continuous learning and mentorship that many members claimed was one of the highlights of their year (the program will be offered on a larger scale in 2021). They also partnered with Omnicom Health Group to host Brave Spaces, an ongoing series of important discussions, including, but not limited to, racial and social justice topics.
As part of a far-reaching five-year DE&I strategic plan for the agency, TBWA\WorldHealth rolled out the Change Ambassadors group, in which leaders within the agency were tapped to be accountable for stated DE&I goals. This strategic plan has helped DIVERS\TEAM and TBWA\WorldHealth continue to put rigor around what it means to be committed to DE&I, both as an agency and as an industry.
During 2020, Syneos Health launched a formal DE&I council comprising 17 members from across the organization including three from the network’s communications business line.
“The council is responsible for developing and overseeing DE&I initiatives that enable us to attract and retain the best talent, truly reflecting society at large, and to best serve customers in a culturally appropriate manner,” the network’s executives say. “We have many established employee resource groups [ERGs], including a Women’s Group, Veteran’s Group, LGBTQ Group, Black ERG, and RISE (Realizing Inclusivity and Success through Equality), a group dedicated to ensuring everyone has the same opportunities to grow and advance as the person sitting next to them. Started in our Columbus GSW office, RISE went from a local community to an ERG in all of our locations.”
“FCB WE, our diversity, equity & inclusion community, did more than we’ve ever done before,” says Julie Finch Balmir, group management director, FCB Health New York. “FCB WE is about people bringing ideas forward and making them happen. It’s where we raise our hands and identify issues relevant to us and do something about them. Our leaders give us the platform to do just that, as FCB Health New York has always seen the diversity of its people as a catalyst for our success.”
In the wake of the BLM protests, according to executives at Harrison and Star, the agency’s Color of Health (COH) initiative took on even greater significance. “H/S has worked in the past with a number of client teams toward identifying and addressing health disparities on behalf of minorities in the US healthcare system,” agency management says. “Through COH, H/S has doubled down, committing resources across all agency disciplines to educate, advocate, and take action to raise awareness and improve health outcomes for Black Americans. Currently H/S teams are partnering with several clients, doing their part to make 2021 a healthier year for all of us.”
“In 2020, we could not escape the profound spotlight on the inequalities that Black Americans face,” according to the leadership team at CDMP. “At CDMP, we realized we needed to look inward on how to be better allies and commit to being a part of real change.” The agency says its DE&I commitments are far reaching and include efforts to increase recruitment, inclusion, and retention of Black, Indigenous, and people of color talent.
With long-standing issues like systemic racism now firmly in the spotlight, AREA 23 leaders say they are determined to take real steps to implement long-term improvements internally, and industry-wide, to create an anti-racist environment. Leading the charge will be the newly formed AREA 23 chapter of FCB WE, the FCB Health Network-wide internal organization focused solely on DE&I. According to Mellas, “Our WE chapter includes co-chairs from account management, editorial, and strategic planning, ensuring that diversity and inclusion initiatives are part of our daily life. The team has already made a huge impact on how we are prioritizing efforts in 2021, from manager training to diversity recruitment.”
Executives at Biolumina say the agency is proud to be an anti-racist organization, fully supporting the Black Lives Matter movement and taking racism in any form seriously. “The agency is incorporating diversity and inclusion education and discussions into the organization, educating employees on unconscious bias and the impact it can have in our day-to-day decision making, and actively recruiting from historically Black colleges and universities.”
Management adds that the agency is, was, and will continue to be an active participant in Omnicom OPEN Pride, a network-wide initiative dedicated to fostering an inclusive and opportunity-rich environment for Omnicom’s LGBTQ+ community. Biolumina also contributed to and supports the Equal Justice Initiative and the NAACP legal defense fund.
At Centron, authentic, open dialogue around societal and racial issues was encouraged at the agency. “Social posts and declarations are easy,” Vita says. “We wanted to earn our words, honor our commitments, and take meaningful and sustainable actions toward change. We took time to understand and reflect where we stood as an agency, established agency-wide foundational knowledge of unconscious bias in the workplace, and activated the first DEI team at Centron. This team of passionate and dedicated individuals are informing and shaping our commitments into 2021 and beyond.”
