TBWA\WorldHealth: 2017

 

TBWA\WorldHealth
488 Madison Avenue, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10022
Telephone: 212-771-3000
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: tbwaworldhealth.com

 

Winner

Vision Award

Finalist

Best Self Promotional Campaign

 

Accounts
Account wins    11
Active business clients    23

 

Services Mix

Digital E-marketing    35%
Sales force collateral    25%
Advertising and promotion    20%
Clinical trial management    5%
Studio services    5%
CRM    5%
Managed markets    3%
Market & KOL development    2%

 

 

The successful union in 2016 of two iconic Omnicom healthcare agency brands and TBWA\ global healthcare offices into a single integrated offering led to an outstanding year by every measure for newly formed TBWA\WorldHealth, agency leaders say.

“The year was exceptional for revenue growth, for new business wins, for adding top talent, for office expansion and, importantly, for a record number of days collaborating with clients to develop a vision for each brand using the agency’s proprietary Disruption strategy for growth,” executives note.

“As we saw monumental transformations taking place in healthcare, we recognized that we could help our clients grow their brands more effectively than ever by bringing TBWA\’s successful Disruption strategy to healthcare communications,” says CEO Sharon Callahan.

That strategy proved itself within months, according to leadership, as the agency ended 2016 with 30 percent revenue growth over the previous year, taking into account the combined revenues of all the offices brought together; a record 11 consecutive new business wins contributing 20 percent of total revenue; a record number of new hires; and campaigns that were a driving force in creating explosive megabrands and introducing groundbreaking new drugs.

The Year’s Accomplishments

Starting in April, the agency embarked on an unprecedented victory streak, first winning four Johnson & Johnson assignments – J&J Advanced Sterilization Products, Mentor (medical aesthetics), Biosense Webster (heart rhythm disorders), and Acclarent (ENT technologies) – followed in quick succession by Shire’s hemophilia franchise (biopharmaceuticals focused on rare diseases); Santen’s Ikervis (dry eye); Merck (drug in development); Teva (migraine drug in development); Abbott Molecular (diagnostics); Abbott Vascular (interventional cardiology). and Takeda’s Entyvio (Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis).

TBWA\WorldHealth also expanded its relationship with current clients, adding agency-of-record responsibility globally for Bayer’s Adempas and additional global business from Merck.

At the same time, the agency lost no business in 2016, which management attributes in part to “Client Success Plans,” an innovative, highly responsive program to assure that clients are 100 percent satisfied with every aspect of the agency-client relationship every day. “Sensitivity clues alert agency staff to any early warning signs of dissatisfaction, and that triggers a rapid response to resolve any issues, executives say.

Reflecting the year’s success is the expansion of TBWA\WorldHealth’s offices and the addition of more than 50 advertising and marketing professionals, representing 35 percent staff growth for the year, management says. Continuing its geographic expansion while attracting new talent, the agency opened its fourth and fifth offices in North America, in Jersey City, N.J., and Irvine, Calif. The Irvine office, which houses a dozen staff across multiple disciplines to handle new business wins from Johnson & Johnson and ongoing work for Gilead, is also establishing a device and diagnostic center of excellence. The Chicago office also added a dozen staffers to work on new business wins from Shire, Santen, and Takeda. San Francisco staff expanded to handle additional work from Abbott Vascular and Illumina. The New York office, which moved to share space with TBWA\Worldwide, added more than 20 staffers to work on Bayer, Merck, Teva, and others. Demonstrating the agency’s strong national balance and successful West Coast expansion, more than half of U.S. revenue came from clients based outside of the Northeast.

The agency also strengthened leadership with the addition of Jennifer Gross, VP – Business Development; and Brian Carr, chief financial officer.

In focusing on its strategic goal of being THE agency for disruptive megabrands in healthcare, TBWA\WorldHealth created attention-getting campaigns for Gilead’s Harvoni and Epclusa (both for hepatitis C); Illumina, which produces the vast majority of the world’s genetic sequencing equipment; and for various Merck brands. “The agency’s creative work for a variety of brands was recognized at prestigious award shows throughout the year, including the Best Launch Campaign for Gilead’s Harvoni from Med Ad News’ Manny Awards,” executives say.

Structures & Services

Under the new structure, the agency offers deep expertise across multiple disciplines and across many therapeutic categories, all seamlessly and globally. “Full-service offices in London, Paris, Hamburg, Istanbul, and Mexico City, as well as those in the United States, are integrated around a common vision, common philosophy, and common process, and are also aligned with TBWA\’s global network of 45 offices in 33 countries,” management explains.
And leadership maintains that the addition of TBWA\’s successful Disruption strategy (that has been integral in creating the iconic status of consumer brands such as Apple and Nissan) to healthcare brands gives the agency an edge.

“Disruption is more than a philosophy,” says Robin Shapiro, global president. “It’s a proven methodology that helps our clients break marketing conventions to create a new platform for brand growth.” According to executives, during 2016, the entire staff was trained in Disruption, and Disruption Days were held for 80 percent of the agency’s clients, resulting in Disruption Roadmaps that present a vision for each brand.

“It’s a very different way of working in healthcare marketing,” Shapiro says.

“Recognizing that 21st-century brands operate squarely at the intersection of health and culture and must move at the speed of culture to be successful, TBWA\WorldHealth uses another proprietary process, Disruption Live, that is threaded through everyday activities,” managers note. “Designed to elevate a brand’s relevance like never before, Disruption Live is a methodology the agency employs to constantly create content that fits each brand into everyday conversations.”

When TBWA\WorldHealth took its Disruption Live team to client TedMed’s annual conference in 2016, the team harnessed the power of each talk at the conference by providing tools for healthcare innovators and entrepreneurs to express their game-changing ideas, agency leaders say.

“The results were shared not only with conference attendees but also on social media,” executives share. “The effort captured the attention of major media, more than 130-plus pieces from places like the Washington Post, as well as industry influencers; generated 49,000 impressions on Twitter; and garnered more than a 3,000% increase in profile views.”

Future Plans

Established as a real global collective, the agency plans to move far beyond pharmaceuticals into other disruptive areas of healthcare, TBWA\WorldHealth leadership says. “With a jumpstart in devices and diagnostics in the Irvine office, the agency is also interested in artificial intelligence, new CRISPR technology, and 3D printing for organ and tissue repair, among other areas,” executives add.

Coming soon is also a major disruptive idea about the use of data, a very different way of working in healthcare marketing, according to agency leaders. “It’s going to shake up the way we organize our clients’ businesses with data and media at the core,” according to agency execs.

The agency also sees deeply collaborative opportunities with TBWA\ to do cutting-edge creative work and expand both their client bases strategically, management says. Earlier this year, a new entity, TBWA\Health Collective, was established combining the resources of TBWA\ and TBWA\WorldHealth. Led by Jonathan Isaacs, chief creative officer, and Oswaldo Barbosa, group account director, the Collective operates at the intersection of health and culture, capitalizing on the best of TBWA\ and the best of TBWA\WorldHealth. The new offering includes direct-to-consumer capabilities, with its first DTC campaign launched in February.

Philanthropy/Citizenship

One of the core values of TBWA\WorldHealth is “Be Good, Do Good,” according to its executives. “A powerful manifestation of this is a commitment to advocacy which often takes place through the Corbett Foundation, the agency’s established 501(c)(3) whose mission is to positively impact the lives of people suffering from a rare disease. This year, the foundation announced it will focus on epidermolysis bullosa, a group of genetic skin conditions in which the skin can blister easily. TBWA\WorldHealth is planning a program to raise awareness and support the community.”

“In addition to being the right thing to do, we believe giving back builds a stronger corporate culture around ‘Be Good, Do Good’ at a most exciting time in healthcare,” Callahan says. “The world is changing from treating diseases to curing diseases. The world needs an agency that is ahead of what’s coming next, and that’s where we are. In doing so, we’ve created a great place to work.”