Chandler Chicco Companies

Describe your agency in five words

Pioneering, Innovative, Diverse, Open, Creative

How would you sum up 2010 for your agency?

A challenging year, certainly, but also full of opportunity. ‘More with Less’ seemed to be the industry motto in 2010, but we found that made the CCC proposition of different specialist teams under one roof all the more attractive to clients with limited marketing pots. We were able to grow many of our accounts across multiple business units as clients saw the advantage of more expertise without the additional legwork and admin that comes with having numerous agencies in various locations.

What was your agency’s high point of 2010?

Getting many of our larger clients to truly embrace the integrated, cross-functional approach we’ve designed ourselves to offer, and seeing our work, and their results, grow that much stronger for it.

What was the low point of 2010?

With industry budgets shrinking, our growth was relatively modest. We’d have liked to stay in double digits, but when you get to a certain size as we have, that becomes tougher in tougher times.

Please give an overview of your staffing through 2010, including significant hires and internal promotions.

Our headcount overall grew by 10%, from 100 to 110. We were also pleased with our staff retention; staying true to our ‘no walls, no titles’ culture really does offer people a degree of empowerment they don’t find anywhere else.

In terms of hires, the recruitment of Anne-Marie Rodriguez de Killeen as the Managing Director Chandler Chicco Agency was a great step forward for the agency. Her creativity and experience have helped get some fantastic campaigns up and running for 2011. We also appointed a permanent recruitment specialist to the HR team, who has of late been rather busy.

In 2010 we also formalised our digital specialist team. Rather than hiring from outside, in keeping with our culture we invited those individuals from across the business with the right passion and enthusiasm to build a team from the ground up. It’s been full speed ahead for them from day one. The work they’re turning around for clients already has been of a truly ground-breaking, first-in-industry calibre.

What were your three best campaigns of 2010?

It was a great year for CCA’s ongoing COPD Uncovered campaign for Novartis, which really came into the forefront as new data and advocacy turned awareness around a poorly handled disease area into tangible action towards reform.

Eyecampus, Litmus’ pioneering professional education programme for Pfizer, enjoyed its fifth successful year in 2010, passing its 3000th member milestone. It’s truly seen as the gold standard in medical education by the UK specialist physicians who benefit from it.

And of our numerous UK accounts, Biosector 2’s UK launch of Victoza was a major media success for Novo Nordisk as they introduced a novel therapeutic class into a very crowded medical landscape.

What were your most exciting client wins of 2010?

Winning and rapidly growing the Eisai account has helped our newest business unit, Ingenda Health, to really hit the ground running.

Litmus, our medical education team, consolidated their position as leaders in professional education initiatives with a major wins with Pfizer across their Inflammation and primary care portfolios. The resulting campaigns are proving unprecedented in their innovation and scale.

We also achieved significant wins for new clients including Abbott, Johnson & Johnson MD&D, Vifor and Sanofi-Aventis, in addition to organic growth with existing clients across our specialities.

Of which achievement in 2010 are you most proud?

In 2010 we were named as the Healthcare Agency of the Decade in the Holmes Report, as well as their European Healthcare Consultancy for 2010. It was recognition not just of the experience and expertise we’ve acquired over the years, but also the passion, enthusiasm and spirit of collaboration that we’ve preserved. Encouraging our people to channel their individual skills and passions into opportunities for CCC and our clients alike is what made us special when we started, and what still drives us now a decade and a half later.

What trends did you notice throughout the year in the industry i.e. Clients taking longer to sign off budgets?

In 2010 the trend was certainly clients asking us to do more with less, but we’re seeing that trend begin to reverse now. Our budgets are increasing as clients recognise that newer media streams, particularly digital, market access and policy can’t just be bolted on to a pre-existing communications plan, but have to form part of a larger whole.

A major governing trend is that the industry has grown to be about more than pills now. It’s about partnering with customers, be they traditional HCPs or newer stakeholders like payers, giving them what they need rather than just selling at them. That’s the industry model we’ve based our multiple-specialty approach around, because it demands an integrated response that doesn’t cut corners.

We’ve also seen a broadening of scope with most of our clients. More than ever our campaigns are pan-European and Global, and there’s ever more focus on emerging markets programmes.

How has digital changed the agency landscape in 2010?

It’s changed the agency landscape immensely, in that all agencies have scrambled to get their offerings up and running and wear their digital colours on their sleeve. Whether it’s changed our industry and its mindset… well that’s our job, and the clients we’ve helped to embrace digital have been winning major awards for their troubles. We find the best way to get around much of the hesitancy is simply to reassure clients digital is just a channel the same as any other to reach all their audiences with. As with anything else you must start with your objectives, and then see if it’s appropriate to adopt digital tactics to achieve them. You can’t just say “well the campaign’s on Twitter, so that’s ticked that box,” although there’s plenty evidence of such thinking out there.

What are your plans for 2011?

To stay ahead of the industry trends as we’ve already done, making sure that by the time clients are asking questions about how we can help them, we have our answer ready. In 2011 it looks like self-care is going to be a hot topic, and of course the rise of digital continues to keep our clients awake, which is why we’re working directly with the major digital and social players to build environments where pharma can flourish online.

We’ll also be expanding our global footprint as clients look to new markets for their strongest opportunities. It’s clear now that in a few years our clients will be operating in major new markets, and we need to make sure we’re there for them in the most literal sense.