Susan Flinn Cobian
EVP, Managing Director
HYC Health
Dedication Beyond Belief
By the time Susan Flinn Cobian was named a PM360 ELITE Entrepreneur last year for founding HYC Health, she was already taking the agency to the next level. In 2016, she doubled revenue through innovative marketing, new partnerships, and good old-fashioned hustle.
Susan launched a major multimedia campaign, positioning the agency as agile, insightful, and savvy. The B2B digital and print effort also included refreshing all touchpoints from the website to new business materials. Within four months, the effort attracted two new clients, MedComp Sciences and Singulex. In all, the agency attracted five new clients in 2016, which in turn grew the staff by 200%.
Those wins are only part of the story. Under her leadership, last year, HYC Health launched four brands and won more than 40 creative awards for clients such as Roche, Cell Health Institute, and ContextMedia:Health (now Outcome Health). The agency also earned Best in Show for Blue Cross Blue Shield from Healthcare Marketing Report.
But the key to Susan’s success is not just what she does, but how she does it. For example, after failing to win a coveted new assignment from Roche International, Susan kept in touch with the team—sending articles, competitive intelligence, and other thought leadership initiative ideas. She even flew to Zurich on her own dime for a one-hour meeting with the new leader of the business unit, whom she had never met. There, the client mentioned she was unhappy with the agency they had chosen and she was worried about how she was going to meet a crucial milestone—facilitating a two-day workshop for the entire Women’s Health Core Team. Susan offered her services, flew to Montreal the next day, facilitated that workshop for 25 key stakeholders, and was handed the business on the spot.
What’s next? Building out the agency’s technology and design expertise. Newly acquired Merge Design + Interactive rounds out HYC Health’s portfolio of capabilities, and they’ve already had success partnering with them to win new business. 2017 is already off to a fast start for Susan as HYC Health finds itself well poised to transcend even the most aggressive expectations—especially her own.
