FCB Health New York: 2021 – PharmaLive – PharmaLive

FCB Health New York

100 West 33rd Street

New York, NY 10001

Telephone 

212-672-2300

E-mail 

[email protected]

Website 

fcbhealthny.comm

QUICK FACTS

Accounts

Account wins 27

Active business clients 45

Brands by 2020 sales

Brand-product accounts held 81

$25 million or less 12

$25 million-$50 million 14

$50 million-$100 million 17

$100 million-$500 million 11

$500 million-$1 billion 10

$1 billion or more 9

Products not yet approved/launched 12

SERVICES MIX

HCP 55%

DTC/DTP 45%

CLIENT ROSTER

AbbVie

Agios

Akebia (formerly Keryx)

Alexion (formerly Portola)

Astellas

AstraZeneca

Avidity

Avrio

BioXcel Therapeutics

Boehringer Ingelheim

Cara Therapeutics

Cooper Surgical

Crohns and Colitis Foundation 

Daiichi Sankyo

Daiichi Sankyo/AstraZeneca

Dermira

Esperion

Exact Sciences

Genentech

Gilead

Iovance

Ipsen

Janssen

Jazz Pharmaceuticals

Kyowa Kirin

Lilly

Morphosys

Novartis

Otsuka

Paratek

Pfizer

Pharmacyclics

Romark

Sanofi Genzyme

Seattle Genetics

Sierra Oncology

Sun Pharma

Sunovion

Takeda

UCB

Unilever

Zynerba Pharmaceuticals

In 2020, healthcare went where no one thought possible, and so did FCB Health New York. “Many people spoke to me of how their colleagues became family,” says FCB Health Network President & CEO Dana Maiman. “This is so foundational to our success and it’s why we are so different. This is why we thrive.”

RECENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS

We have a tradition of going above and far beyond in all we do, and this year was no different,” says FCB Health New York Chief Creative Officer Kathleen Nanda. “Since we’re always in innovation mode, we were very prepared for all 2020 threw at us. Thanks to our incredible people and solid infrastructure, we pivoted seamlessly, quickly becoming experts at all things virtual – a skill set that we plan to put to good use indefinitely.” 

The entrepreneurial spirit and “Never Finished” attitude that runs through FCB Health New York was exactly what was needed to succeed in the chaotic environment of 2020, management says. “And succeed we did. We brought home 27 VERY significant wins in 2020, adding to our already impressive roster. Through both organic growth and pitches, we added UCB, DSI, AZ, Unilever, Sunovion (appearing on our roster for the first time), and achieved unprecedented growth on our Novartis, Pfizer, Janssen and Sanofi businesses. We were also thrilled to expand beyond our core business portfolio to add multiple OTC products, including Colace and Senokot.”

How did the agency accomplish all this? The leadership team credits, “Our amazing people.”

“That’s why their health, career development and happiness remained core to our values in 2020,” agency executives say. “There’s a reason we’re consistently voted a best place to work – we’re relentlessly focused on our people, making FCB Health New York an exceptional place to work. Our tried-and-true, year-over-year commitment enables us to attract and retain the best talent. A whopping 280 new employees joined the team in 2020 – many after lockdown.”

The agency remained committed to hiring great people who do great work, adding Executive Creative Director Laura Mizrahi and Group Management Director Jenna Brownstein. FCB Health New York also welcomed back 20 “boomerangs,” people who had been at other agencies yet returned. 

“Our passion for doing what is right for our people, along with our thriving business, led to 217 promotions and no layoffs, no furloughs and no pay cuts.” Among those promoted was Nanda, who rose from managing director to chief creative officer. 

“Kathleen raised our ridiculously high creative bar even higher in 2020; all while contributing to our new business success rate; enhancing and integrating creative resources; and developing, promoting and hiring incredible talent,” says FCB Health Network Chief Commercial Officer Michael Guarino.

The leadership team says they are proud the agency’s creative efforts were once again recognized by the industry. FCB Health New York won Best Launch Campaign and Best Philanthropic Campaign at the Mannys, while it was named Silver Large Agency of the Year and won Gold for Branded Website for Healthcare Professionals at the MM&M Awards. The agency also won six Gold, one Silver, and two Bronze awards at the 2020 DTC National Advertising Awards.

“The award we’re most proud of? FCB Health New York was again honored by MM&M Magazine among its Best Places to Work in the Large Agency category,” management says. “We’ve been honored on this list every year since the awards first launched and we are thrilled that our dedication to our employees is recognized and appreciated. It’s further proof that we have something very special at FCB Health New York.” 

STRUCTURE AND SERVICES

The FCB Health Network’s flagship agency is the largest single-office healthcare agency in the world. “But it’s not our size that makes us successful,” agency leaders say. “It’s our fast-moving, innovative culture, which served us well when the world turned upside down.”

“We didn’t skip a beat,” Maiman says. “We made key decisions very early on, before lockdown, so we were able to smoothly transition all of our renowned learning and development programs to virtual, while adding new offerings to our bulging roster.”

According to Guarino, “Because driving business forward is in our DNA, we’re used to working in lockstep across departments to create highly effective solutions.” 

Management says a prime example of the agency’s ability to flex is the accelerated evolution of the FCB Health New York Omnichannel/Dynamic Content Center of Excellence, adding, “We know that marketing today across the entire digital ecosystem requires the marriage of data, creative, media and the technology to enable the serving of personalized content.”

“Being able to not only seamlessly work across but to fundamentally integrate a variety of disciplines – even while remote – speaks to how we’ve been able to stay ahead of the curve,” Nanda says.

As everyone at the agency pivoted to remote work, agency leaders say thoughtful, detailed internal communication became more important than ever before. “It was immediately clear that we needed to keep our people connected and in the know about all things FCB,” management says. “Without our beloved coffee bar conversations, and in-person meetings, we switched to virtual town halls.” 

“We all desperately missed our colleagues, our gorgeous office and seeing all of the beautiful creative hanging on every wall,” Nanda says. “Our virtual town halls gave us the connectivity we craved, and also proved to be a great way to showcase the amazing work we do daily. In many ways, we’ve been able to become more connected, and are planning on making our creative showcases tradition.”

Knowing how tough it has been to handle all the societal and personal challenges 2020 unleashed, leadership worked hard to find ways to support the staff, providing telehealth services, offering free memberships to Headspace and Talkspace, and strongly encouraging people to use their flexible time off for reflection and self-care.  

“Leadership guided us through the pandemic with compassion and poise,” says FCB Health New York Group Management Director Jenna Brownstein. “They added new programs on how to effectively work virtually, ensuring that no one missed out on opportunities in this unusual year. They also expanded offerings to include in-home care and dependent care, in addition to childcare and online tutoring.” 

Being remote did not stop agency leaders from helping their people grow and thrive. “We continued our robust curriculum of offerings,” management says. “Whether through live digital workshops with facilitators and peers, or online applications like LinkedIn Learning and Get Abstract, we ensured all of our learning opportunities were equitable. We also continued our unparalleled internship program this year, along with The Residency, our exclusive six-week program for new FCB Health Network hires who are also new to healthcare.” 

“We believe that career development is fluid, and we make room for our people to explore the myriad opportunities the Network can provide through ‘Proactive Career Management,’” says FCB Health Network Chief Talent Officer Lisa DuJat. “This means that we’re always looking for ways to help our employees grow. That could mean transferring to another agency, another role, or another client team. We want our talent to thrive and will do whatever it takes to provide opportunities to do so.”

The Black Lives Matter movement’s call for crucial, tangible progress deeply affected everyone at the agency, according to the executive management team. “Expanding our DE&I efforts was critical. We’ve been committed to creating a work environment in which everyone can be their truest and best self. FCB WE, already an offering at FCB Health Network, took on more prominence this year.”

“FCB WE, our diversity, equity, and inclusion community, did more than we’ve ever done before,” says FCB Health New York Group Management Director Julie Finch Balmir. “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.” 

The agency also created and launched a customized 10-week intensive Manager’s Toolkit training in partnership with DeEtta Jones to provide every manager – more than 1,000 people – with the resources they need to lead effective and inclusive teams, according to the leadership team. 

“We reintroduced the Disrupting Everyday Bias program as a weekly offering, launched Intentional Allyship, Microaggression and Disrupting Thought Patterns workshops, and created a new Employee Relations group to ensure our internal culture is inclusive, engaged and actively roots out bias and oppression in all forms,” agency executives say. “To further ensure our employees have what they need to feel safe and secure, we’re building a totally new Network-wide Employee Relations function to provide our employees with a path to raise concerns and ensure that all voices are heard.” 

FUTURE PLANS

Leaders at FCB Health New York say everyone at the agency is always looking forward. “Our vision and ability to execute and activate has been the foundation of our unprecedented success.”

“It’s hard for people to truly understand what we do on a daily basis at FCB Health New York,” Maiman says. “The pace at which we run, the level at which we create, the diversity of the business we handle, and the sheer volume of work we get done. It’s astounding,”

“Every day is an exciting opportunity to do something new,” adds Nanda. “Opportunity is everywhere, which is exactly how we like it. Just when you think we’ve done it all, something new pops up. It’s imagination in action. Creativity with purpose. And it’s really an amazing thing to be a part of.”

PHILANTHROPY/CITIZENSHIP

FCB Health New York has a long-standing history of giving back. The agency continued its six-year-long pro-bono effort to achieve “Blood Equality,” calling on the FDA to stop discriminating against gay and bisexual men who wish to donate blood through FCB Health Network’s “Blood Vessels” campaign. 

The agency also jumped in to aid physicians, who experience mental health issues like burnout and suicide at a higher rate than the general population, yet are unable to ask for help without risking their careers. “As the pandemic overwhelmed our healthcare system, we launched ‘Disappearing Doctors,’ a growing coalition of experts dedicated to improving the mental health of our healthcare workers,” agency executives say.  

The Trial for #ClinicalEquality was unveiled in late 2020, fully launching on World Cancer Day 2021. Agency leaders say the powerful campaign is dedicated to achieving racial equity in clinical trials. “With hundreds of thousands of dollars in free media from outlets like JAMA Oncology, The Oncologist, AdPrime Health and PulsePoint, and press coverage in Med Ad News, Campaign, Ad Age, Ethical Marketing News, MM&M and more, #ClinicalEquality has hit the ground running.” 

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