Just:: Health

How would you sum up 2009 for your agency?

Busy and rewarding. In our fourth year of business we increased our income from £1.8m in 2008 to £3m. While 60% of this growth came from existing clients we also got to know four new client companies and developed two new Just:: branded products that provide value beyond traditional PR. We supported this growth with a focus on looking after our people. We invested heavily in training, hired a HR Director and an Operational Director and ensured that our professional development strategy was robust and enriching. Across the team, Justees worked on campaigns that they felt passionate about and clients demonstrated their satisfaction by awarding us more work and a commitment to 2010.

What was the high point of 2009 for your agency?

Winning a new pan-European account with our favourite client.

What was the low point of 2009 for your agency?

When the pub over the road caught fire and we had to cancel our Friday afternoon “Magners Hour”.

Please give an overview of your staffing through 2009, including significant hires and internal promotions.

We added seven new Justees to our team of 18 including an Operational Director and a HR Director. Eight Justees were promoted through the year.

What was your best client/account win of 2009 and why?

We were awarded the LAP-BAND AP SYSTEM account with Allergan. LAP-BAND is a gastric band that enables people with obesity to lose weight. Six weeks after winning the business we delivered a powerful UK media campaign which resulted in 18 million opportunities to see and resulted in 100% increase in referrals at a major Centre of Excellence.

What were your three best campaigns of 2009?

Community-based Public Health Initiative – a smoking cessation awareness campaign in Leicester resulting in many hard to reach smokers setting a quit date. This collaborative community approach included local events, educational partnerships and widespread regional print and broadcast media.

Respiratory Speed-dates – an internal event which created the opportunity for 144 interactions between client teams and outside experts in the field of medical device design. Outside experts included health educationalists, a patient and the Creative Director of Lego.

Gut Instinct – a primary care education initiative to educate physicians about the risks and consequences of GI effects associated with arthritis pain therapies and strategies for managing this. The programme rolled out over 11 countries and involved over 1,500 physicians.

How did the recession affect your performance in 2009 and what trends did you notice throughout the year – e.g. clients taking longer to sign off budgets etc?

We achieved significant growth in 2009 (from £1.8m in 2008 to £3.0m in 2009) despite the uncertain financial climate. The key challenges we faced were budget uncertainty; rather than working with an annual figure we needed to flex to quarterly financial planning systems. This meant adapting campaigns to deliver on smaller budgets as well as rapidly up-scaling others.

Of which achievement in 2009 are you most proud?

We invested heavily in internal training in 2009. Through Just:: Drama School we delivered a 1.5 day workshop for all our Justees which focused on the final stage of our novel programming roadmap – “realness”. The course encompassed role-playing through a murder mystery evening, effective team work using Myers Briggs assessments as well as our usual dose of “making it real” with paper, glue and plasticine.

Describe your agency in five words

Curious, collaborative, inventive, agile and committed.

How have you embraced social media in 2009?

Through our dedicated Newsflash team, everyone at Just:: is up-to-date on the developments and opportunities associated with the growth of social media. Social media is integrated into most of our health campaigns and we have established partnerships with a number of specialist companies.

What are your plans for 2010?

In our 5th year we intend to design new Just:: offers that meet client need but go beyond the conventional “PR” services. For example, we are developing novel techniques to meet growing support clients in getting closer to their customers. We are expanding our Consumer Health capability and looking at a number of other communications opportunities where we believe Just:: can make a difference.

If your agency were an animal, what animal would it be and why?

A Leopard because, like us, they never change their spots.