The Top 60: Blue Diesel

Blue Diesel president Kelly Gratz doesn’t come right out and say that her firm thrived during a time when many others struggled. But then, she doesn’t have to, as the interactive specialist’s spate of new business and personnel growth—Gratz estimates that headcount “about tripled” from where it was at this time last year—speak for themselves.

Blue Diesel grew its longstanding relationship with Merck, adding work for Cordaptive, hepatitis vaccine Vaqta and in-the-pipeline obesity therapy Taranabant. 

While entities as diverse as Ethicon and the Healthy Advice Network hired Blue Diesel to bolster their web presences, the company’s biggest win in recent months was probably Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals’ ADHD treatment Concerta. She says that Blue Diesel didn’t shed any accounts during the past year.

Over the last 12 months, Blue Diesel overhauled its structure into what Gratz calls “a studio model—instead of four inches across and an inch deep, we’re now two across and five deep.” The company also expanded, opening up its doors in Newtown, PA.

“Interactive may become a different kind of ballgame,” Gratz says. “Everything we did last year and so far this year has been designed to keep us ahead of the curve.”