THINK TANK: The Greatest Creators

Expert Insight Into Successful Creative Campaigns

WHAT MAKES AN AD CAMPAIGN really click? What are creative industry insiders talking about, and where’s the business headed? There are myriad elements that go into producing a successful creative campaign, but it often begins with a smart concept— and, of course, the right-brainers behind it. That’s why we mined the minds of experts from creative agencies from coast to coast to learn the secrets of the “Greatest Creators.”

So, what are some positive trends these creatives are seeing in the industry? Several noted the rapid movement towards digital media, including not only Web 2.0 applications, such as social media and blogs, but also completely digital trade show displays and e-detailing. According to Steve Frederick of Flashpoint Medica, “The biggest change in recent years is the shift from traditional print to interactive.” Dudnyk’s Barry Schmader also noted a shift in promotional campaigns: “One area where creativity seems to be finding new and different means of expression is in some of the unbranded (corporate, disease awareness, or “issues”) promotional work being done...We’re beginning to see some outstanding and differentiating creative ideas emerge.”

In the following pages, each of our think tank participants shares a campaign that best exemplifies their own unique approach to the brief. We hope this adds another dimension to your own dynamic creative partnerships.

We asked:
What campaign are you most proud of?
How did you measure its success?

Stratagem Healthcare Communications
Patricia Malone / Principal, Creative Director

I recently worked on a campaign for a genomic testing company—Navigenics. This is a cutting-edge category and thus far, extremely unregulated. There is a lot of hype about genomic testing—understand your DNA, so you know what the future may hold. What I love about our campaign is that Navigenics is a scientifically rigorous company, and the DNA insights they provide are only on diseases where action towards prevention can be taken. It’s important information, and our campaign is meant to truly motivate people to learn about their DNA so they can “Challenge their genes.”

Brand Pharm
Kathy Magnuson / Managing Director

The Brand Pharm campaign for Orapred ODT, for our client Sciele is right in so many ways. First, the customer insight plays right into the brand’s sweet spot: parents tell us that trying to get a child to take a spoonful of liquid prednisolone while having an asthmatic crisis is difficult—if not impossible. Orapred Orally Disintegrating Tablets deliver the efficacy of prednisolone in a form that is easy for children to take— even when they have difficulty breathing.
Orapred ODT makes the spoon outdated or extinct. Finally, the creative is original, attention-getting and immediately delivers the message.
There were increased sales for the brand. Orapred ODT has done well in gaining market share since the campaign broke.

Vox Medica
Ross Thomson / EVP/Chief Ideation Officer

A real boy, whose world and that of his family turned, in the most profound sense, upside down when he was diagnosed with cancer at the tender age of 3, inspired “Collin’s Trip to Upside Down Town.” The story was written simply to make Collin smile. A combination of the talents at Vox and those of illustrator Jonique Williams led to an uplifting children’s adventure story. Please visit voxmedica.com for details on a planned book we’re publishing on a broader scale to benefit all sick children and children’s cancer research nationally.
From an impact perspective, Collin thought it was awesome, and his family was appreciative.

Jocoto Advertising
Steve Coldiron / Principal, Creative

A recent creative campaign that makes us proud is a project that we did for a company called SurgRx. The campaign included a brand overhaul with new messaging and powerful visuals in support of the company’s EnSeal line of surgical tools. The campaign completely changed the personality and image of the EnSeal brand while aggressively enforcing their competitive advantages. The campaign was extremely successful, and within eight months SurgRx was purchased by their biggest competitor.
Seldom have we seen such a rapid payoff from a new campaign. It’s an old Jocoto story—we often lament that the end result to our game-changing campaigns seems to be that our clients are purchased, but it doesn’t usually happen quite this fast.

Topin &Associates
Abby Mansfield / VP/Creative Director

One of the recent creative campaigns we’re most proud of in terms of generating results for a brand is the recent relaunch campaign of Mission Pharmacal’s CitraNatal prenatal vitamins. The brief put forth the challenge: Rebrand the flagship CitraNatal brand to help it and future products stand out in a highly competitive category. And one more thing: Build a brand that appeals to both the healthcare professional and the target consumer—pregnant women.
Using a balanced mix of traditional and digital advertising, we created a campaign that both updated the current brand and set it up for future success with a new core identity. The campaign generated instant returns for Mission Pharmacal in the form of increased sales and market share. But perhaps even more importantly, Mission now has a consistent branding strategy to execute against as new formulations are introduced to the market.
The lesson: create a strong brand once, and you won’t have to do it again.

Pacific Communications
Peter Siegel / Executive Creative Director

We launched ACZONE® (dapsone) Gel, 5% as a topical treatment for inflammatory acne for Allergan. First in its class. Derms were itching (sorry) to use it, because of its well-known anti-inflammatory effectiveness as an oral for leprosy (leprosy?!).
We launched it with a brand personality of Contemporary, Sassy, and Focused. With acne, it’s all about complicated regimens, with complicated patients (failures, slow signs of improvement, tolerability issues, etc.).
ACZONE® cuts through all that. Brand promise: “simplifies and satisfies.” The campaign is simple, fresh, a round logo (anyone else got one of those?) that’s reflected in the design for both patient-facing and physician-facing materials.
Launched in November 2008, the brand has matched market share (7% plus) with any brand in the category. Post-launch research: Virtually all participants demonstrated brand awareness.

HC&B Healthcare
Kerry Hilton / President/CEO

Advergaming is one trend that’s really taking off right now. HC&B created the interactive game “V.A.C. Challenge” for our client KCI. This trivia game creates buzz and excitement and drives additional traffic to all of KCI’s trade show events. Because the game has a playful tone, and the graphics are bold and engaging, customers are more likely to participate in learning more about V.A.C. Therapy. The content is easily updated with information about new products, services or benefits, and the system makes it easy for clients to capture data around their customers’ product knowledge. And best of all, if the customer allows, follow up e-mails can be sent via the rep to thank them for playing and remind them of certain selling points.

Goble & Associates
Dave Raube / EVP/Creative Director

The INOMAX Perfusion Campaign was launched at the end of April, with all of the traditional components of great creative work: a unique and memorable visual, a simple, compelling message, and a sustainable idea. I’m proud of what we developed, but what I’m most proud of is how we got to the finished product, with complete collaboration with our client.
Our primary measure of success is always client satisfaction. Traditionally, that involves sales, market share, and ROI. While it’s too early to accurately document these metrics for the campaign, initial reports from the field are positive—core messages can be communicated quickly and are consistently articulated back by customers. But there’s more to satisfaction than numbers. Are the clients proud of the campaign?
Are they confident that it will be successful? Are they excited about where the brand goes next? Is it opening doors—and dialogue? If the answers are “no,” then the numbers won’t matter.

LehmanMillet
Deborah Lotterman / EVP/Managing & Executive Creative Director

Our work with the Sony Medical team is a great example of the quality of work possible when agency and client collaborate and trust. How’d we measure success? Sales doubled. Awareness increased from 70% to 90%. There were unsolicited compliments from distribution and end user. The work was recognized as best in class within all of Sony.

Core-Create, Inc.
Dorene Weisenstein / Executive Vice President and Chief Creative Officer

Each campaign, project or component piece we work on has helped meet a need or overcome a challenge. One of the most important things about any ad, especially one at launch, is to set the brand apart in a way that is completely unique to the category. The witty Tetrix™ Cream launch journal ad quickly communicates how Tetrix Cream can help dermatologists manage their patients’ hand eczema conditions even when they can’t control their patients’ lifestyles. I really feel that we accomplished what we set out to do for Tetrix Cream. It certainly isn’t easy to set yourself apart in an overcrowded category like dermatology.
At launch, the impact was incredible, and sales were great. In addition to a Web site and several other launch materials, we developed a series of direct mailers. The sales reps told us that when they went to the dermatologists’ offices, the doctor would be waiting for them— actually wanting to initiate the conversation about the product—holding one of the direct mail pieces in their hands. Now, if that isn’t impact, nothing is!

Dudnyk
Barry Schmader / Chief Creative Officer

One of the projects we are most proud of is an unbranded campaign for AMAG Pharmaceuticals, Inc. It started with the objective to promote awareness and action with nephrologists and hematologists around iron deficiency anemia in chronic kidney disease. The ad shown is just part of an overall campaign centered on the idea of challenging the iron status quo. Physicians are asked to pay more attention to iron status as an indicator of anemia. The minimalist visual of the dipstick is a perfect metaphor for “checking the iron” status regularly. And, in a journal full of clinical images, it stands out like a beacon. The overall campaign is being measured on several levels. Hits to a companion non-branded Web site, IDanemia.com, tell us when and from where interest is coming. As AMAG is a new entrant to the category, corporate awareness is being measured pre- and post-campaign. And finally, we are matching up readership scores and the data generated from convention traffic and details to come up with a metric of success.

Purohit Navigation
Monica Noce Kanarek / EVP Creative

Our client, Monogram Biosciences, wanted a launch campaign that would convey the dimension and detail of the new HERmark™ Breast Cancer Assay. We try to stay away from expected solutions showing “happy patients” and overused icons. After market research testing, our strongest approach involved looking at various mosaic portraits inspired by the style of Chuck Close. We discovered a perfect connection in the original illustrative style of Charis Tsevis. Our team directed both Charis and our medical illustrator Craig Foster to bring our concept to life. (A varnish technique that produces a stippling effect was used to create dimension—very cool.) It was a perfect combination of copy and art direction, illustration and science to create our HERmark woman. The HER proteins and circles woven together communicated well how the assay works. The images and messages were rolled out for the assay’s launch at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS). The HERmark brand team saw an amazing 75% increase over last year’s booth traffic and, post-launch, experienced a 67% rise in Web site traffic. They also received requests from key opinion leaders for data presented at the booth. This sales aid recently received a first place award from the Diagnostic Marketing Association.

Flashpoint Medica
Steve Frederick / EVP/Creative Director

We’re proud of the global campaign for CYPHER Stent (Cordis Corporation). In 2008, the drug-eluting stent (DES) market grew crowded with new entries, increasing competition for the original DES—the CYPHER Stent. In order to refresh the brand perception, and in response to the increasing globalization of both medicine and business, Cordis Corporation decided to replace the existing disparate regional campaigns with a single worldwide branding platform. The strong and graceful figures depicted within the red circle metaphorically bring the stent to life and represent its power to keep coronary vessels wide open for the long-term. The headlines “The Strength of Evidence” and “The Proof Is in the Patients” reinforce the idea that years of evidence and millions of patients successfully treated with the CYPHER Stent are meaningful advantages and significant clinical considerations.
We felt that the new global branding platform should be visually striking to stand out in a crowded market and should quickly communicate the key differentiating factor for the CYPHER Stent portfolio—its long-term evidence of sustained patient benefit. This branding platform, launched in early 2009, was preferred by all regions around the world and adopted globally. Research suggests that customers find this campaign to be a visually and clinically compelling representation of the CYPHER Stent.

Below is an expanded version of "Think Tank: The Greatest Creators" published in the June supplement to PM360 magazine.

We asked creative directors at top agencies throughout the country:

What trends are you seeing in the creative field specializing in the pharmaceutical and medical device industry? What's the biggest change you've seen in recent years?

Here's what they told us:

Steve Frederick
EVP/Creative Director
Flashpoint Medica, LLC

I’ve noticed that recently more clients are open to pushing the limits with creative; there are more young creative people that have a true desire to work in pharma/healthcare advertising, and overall, there is more data and less emotion in campaigns. The biggest change in recent years, by far, is the shift from traditional print to interactive and the use of the Mac, which continues to change how we do research, conceptualize, and design.

Barry Schmader
Chief Creative Officer
Dudnyk
Horsham, PA

One discouraging trend is a retreat in the creative risks clients are willing to take. It is reminiscent of when we started back in the early 1990s, before DTC, and we really had to encourage clients to go out on any kind of limb. Then, and to some degree now, there is a lot of education required to get a really bold creative idea out to the world.

However, one area where creativity seems to be finding new and different means of expression is in some of the unbranded (corporate, disease awareness, or “issues”) promotional work being done. While much of the work follows the usual traditional advertorial approach, more and more we’re beginning to see some outstanding and differentiating creative ideas emerge.

We sometimes theorize that with all the fair balance and restrictive nature of branded pharmaceutical print advertising—and with the same wave of restrictions about to hit the digital space—unbranded may soon be the best, most creative place to build a healthcare brand!

Dave Raube
EVP/Creative Director
Goble & Associates
Chicago, IL

I've been noticing a shift away from execution-based designs to more sensible compelling concepts. We seemed to have gone through a phase where we were enamored with everything that Photoshop could do for us, and we decided to toss every feature and filter into every campaign. The idea that "more is more" ruled for a brief while. It's nice to see the trend shifting back to strong concepts. Big ideas with simple executions that serve their purpose as an enhancement to the overall communication.

Ross Thomson
Executive Vice President/Chief
Ideation Officer
Vox Medica
Philadelphia, PA

Pharmaceutical ad agencies yearn to be creative and prove this by lavishing vast amounts of money on ever more elaborate, highly produced self-communication pieces. However, look at the body of work produced for actual clients, and up pop the same old tired clichés time after time. There’s a huge gulf. Sure, regulatory bodies make our job challenging, and it’s easier to do ads for ourselves. But I honestly believe that if we judiciously apply this abundant creativity to solving our clients’ problems, and abandon the worrying formulaic approach, more inventive solutions will ultimately rise to the surface.

Kathy Magnuson
Managing Director
Brand Pharm
New York, NY

With the greater emphasis on the use of digital media, creative must deliver across multiple channels, and ensure that the strategic platform is consistent, whether or not the creative is identical. Working dimensionally with creative concepts is the demand as we move forward.

More and more companies are choosing to break their campaigns in the digital space and forgo some of the more traditional media. While this positions the industry well for future communication with customers, we need to ensure that we are using the media to fulfill brand strategy, not as a strategy in and of itself. We must approach the market with a fresh perspective provided by the new media now available. But we also must make sure we are first wise about the brand strategy and what we want the brand to accomplish before selecting the media by which we deliver the message.

Dorene Weisenstein
Executive Vice President/
Chief Creative Officer
Core-Create, Inc.
Somerset, NJ

I can tell you what trend I’d like to see: more dynamic, inventive creative that breaks away from the mold. However, for the most part, agencies tend to have a "way." At Core-Create, we prefer to push the envelope—not for the sake of pushing the envelope—but to capture the audience and effectively deliver key messages. Some agencies take a more traditional approach.

One change that's surprised me, actually, is that creative has tended to be more conservative than I would have expected. A couple of years ago, there was a concerted effort to think “outside the box,” and, if anything, now is the time we really need to do that. Instead, the safe or tried and true approach takes precedence. I understand the need for this, but we need to be bold and strong with our marketing and messaging. This is the only way to make an impact.

Deborah Lotterman
EVP/Managing and Executive
Creative Director
LehmanMillet
Boston, MA

The growing media options available offer additional opportunities for manufacturers to engage physicians and patients. Social media is making it simple for conversations about products, treatments and providers to take place.

The biggest change I've seen is the rise of the educated patient. Healthcare professionals need to be prepared to have deep conversations with their patients—creating an opportunity for manufacturers to contribute to that conversation.

Steve Coldiron
Principal/Creative
Jocoto Advertising, Inc.
San Francisco, CA

At the moment everything that we’re seeing creatively and otherwise is driven by the economy. But that aside, I’d say the single biggest change on the creative side has more to do with application than creative direction. The move is more and more towards electronic delivery including not just Web but also emerging trends such as Web 2.0 applications, social media and blogs. The challenge creatively is how to effectively utilize these technologies and to integrate them seamlessly into a cohesive creative campaign.

Kerry Hilton
President/CEO
HC & B Healthcare
Austin, TX

Advergaming is one of the trends that’s really taking off right now. It’s a fun format to educate clinicians on the benefits of a product. Interactive teaching not only makes the brand more memorable, but it also allows for a dialogue to take place with real captured data points. Many of our clients have brought this into their trade show booths for an active engagement with their customers. After the game has been played, you can really see if they understand if all of the selling points are clearly understood. And because they have to log in with an e-mail address, reps can follow up with them on their next sales call on those specific selling messages that were missed.

This is just an example of the shift of everything going digital in the industry. From totally digital trade show displays (no more back-lit graphics) to social media and e-detailing, we’re seeing this transition escalate at warp speed. We’re measuring the impact and success of digital projects with Web-based tracking tools in the form of a desktop widget. These widgets let you follow success in real time.

Peter Siegel
Executive Creative Director
Pacific Communications
Costa Mesa, CA

“There’s not enough great stuff being done!” ―the creative director’s perpetual whine.

I was asked to vote for “ad of the year” for a recent awards show. A lot of entries, yet it was extraordinarily difficult to locate a real winner. Is it fair to say that mediocrity is a trend? That mediocrity is becoming a force in the industry, probably for a host of reasons―a more stringent regulatory environment being only one of them? I’m not the first one to say that, in commodity, me-too categories, to NOT be adventurous and brilliantly original is the risky position. If we go “safe” conceptually (regulatory pressures notwithstanding), we’ll eventually be “sorry." Creative differentiation for the glory of the brand and, therefore, better revenue gets lost, compromised. Not good.

Patricia Malone
Principal/Creative Director
Stratagem Healthcare
Communications
San Francisco, CA

Perhaps the biggest change is the shift from traditional media to nontraditional media. More and more clients are looking to the Web for cost-effective and marketing-effective messages. It took a while for healthcare to truly embrace the Web, but now social media and online creativity are an integral part of campaigns. And there is a true shift towards a focus on real creativity in the work. Of course marketing campaigns must meet desired metrics, but it’s fun to see the creativity that's happening out there to meet them. Also, this year is the inaugural year of the CLIO Healthcare awards, which, like the renowned CLIO is an award given for absolute creativity.

We also asked: What can a product manager do to help in the creative process? Here's what our Think Tank participants advise:

Steve Frederick
EVP/Creative Director
Flashpoint Medica, LLC

Provide clear, focused direction.
Recognize that qualitative market research should be directional, not definitive.
Avoid too many layers of information...great creative should be uncomplicated, uncluttered, and make its point easily...keep it simple!

Barry Schmader
Chief Creative Officer
Dudnyk
Horsham, PA

Believe in the branding process, and its power to build powerful brands.
Encourage them to take risks.
Give them room to fail. And give them time to succeed.

Dave Raube
EVP/Creative Director
Goble & Associates
Chicago, IL

Have a "big picture" vision for your brand.
If the only specific goal of a campaign is to increase sales, then we are starting from a position that is entirely too broad. Think through the impact that you would like your brand to have not only in this campaign but also in the next 100 years to come.

Look for the ideas that are hiding between the ideas.
All too often I see reactions to initial rough concept presentations as if they are to be released to the printer that afternoon. See it for what it is: a vision. At this stage in the creative process we need your input more than ever. We should work together to discover, and build on the insights that will be uncovered within that discussion.

Be honest.
You won't hurt our feelings. I promise. We've all been doing this a long time, and all we want is for you, and your brand, to be successful.

Ross Thomson
Executive Vice President/Chief
Ideation Officer
Vox Medica
Philadelphia, PA

I asked some friends—senior product managers on the client side who shall remain anonymous...

Set very clear goals and expectations: Often a client is unable to verbalize these in a clear manner. A lack of clear direction leads to inefficiency, timing issues, frustrations (on both sides) and plain bad work.

Trust: With enormous pressures to succeed and incredible shrinking budgets, agencies tend to be seen as vendors, not partners. Without trust, we’re almost certain to fail.

Teamwork: We have one goal. Understand each other’s business. Be honest—offer true deadlines. Failure to understand client deliverables leads to two things: Agencies become “yes men” or they push back every step of the way.

Kathy Magnuson
Managing Director
Brand Pharm
New York, NY

Provide clear direction regarding marketing objectives, and what the communication must accomplish.

Keep the communications focused, and in line with the brand strategy. Don’t try to make the creative concept encompass everything that has ever been said about the brand.

Provide insights into what you like and don’t like about competitive promotion, or advertising in general. And if you have a preconceived idea of what you want the creative end-point to be—let someone know.

Dorene Weisenstein
Executive Vice President/
Chief Creative Officer
Core-Create, Inc.
Somerset, NJ

It all comes down to collaboration.
Ideally, a product manager will be completely open and reveal everything without holding back. Such product managers will tell the agency exactly how they feel and have their finger on the pulse of the industry and their company internally. They'll be able to convey any and all expectations and hurdles the agency might need to know about.

PMs should share any creative thoughts/visions they might have. We are all creative—the word doesn’t have to be in your title.

The PM will have an open mind. I have to do it every day. I have to remember that I am not the target audience. There are concepts I don’t love, there are tactics I don’t see relevant, there are messages I don’t see breaking through—INITIALLY. But then I think about it from all perspectives and try to see if there is a possibility that this can be a really strong, effective communication. Most of the time, with an open mind —if you add a little creative —you can pull off something effective—even spectacular.

Deborah Lotterman
EVP/Managing and Executive
Creative Director
LehmanMillet
Boston, MA

Have an open mind.
Encourage the creative team to live your business.
Stick to the brief.

Steve Coldiron
Principal/Creative
Jocoto Advertising, Inc.
San Francisco, CA

Educate us on the real value of your product.
Give us the time it takes to do great creative.
Have an open mind.

Peter Siegel
Executive Creative Director
Pacific Communications
Costa Mesa, CA

INSIST that creative folks be included in research, messaging meetings, strategy and positioning. If creative staff are thought of as only people who write copy and do the “pictures,” you’re not getting what you're paying for, and the creative work risks being unconnected to the rest of your brand.

Don’t tolerate “lectures” from creatives, but be open to learning about what makes creative work great creative work. It’s tough seeing a bunch of concepts for the first time. It’s important, in the initial stages of creative development, to focus on big-picture, conceptual ideas and not get bogged down in details, i.e. type style, logo size – those things can be addressed later. Just make sure the creative team has produced concepts that are not only simple and quickly communicated but also unexpected and brilliant and grab you by the throat. A concept that is simply the creative brief with a “picture” won’t make a dent in the mind of your customer. Great creative teams can help show you the way. Let the agency make you a creative guru.

Start your projects early enough. Remember the old saw: "If you find yourself in a situation where everything is HOT, nothing is.” I know time is tough to find, but early planning gives great creative a great chance to emerge from exploration and “fermentation.” That kind of time upfront should always pay off.

Abby Mansfield
VP/Creative Director
Topin & Associates, Inc.
Chicago, IL

First, clients should immerse their agencies in their market and brand. All good creative stems from insight into the customer, so let the agency find those insights.

Second, embrace the creative brief. Probably the most important document an agency produces, a thoughtful, comprehensive brief is the first step to a terrific campaign.

And finally, clients need to trust the agency with the creative product. Yes, input and revisions are part of the process, but realizing that what clients are paying for are the talent, instinct, and expertise of agency people will go a long way toward a successful client-agency partnership and advertising that delivers impact.

Patricia Malone
Principal/Creative Director
Stratagem Healthcare
Communications
San Francisco, CA

Make sure creative is on strategy.
Minimize the amount of people in the decision-making process.
Have the vision and go with it.

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