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Partners + Napier

Performance

Revenue held steady at around $20 million, about 35% of which MM&M estimates to be healthcare-related

Plans

“We will continue investing in core capabilities like data and analytics, content, and retail marketing”
— Courtney Cotrupe

Prediction

“While the health and wellness category has traditionally been fraught with red tape, marketers need to cut through it to keep pace with consumer demands”
— Courtney Cotrupe


For the past dozen years, Rochester, New York-based Partners + Napier has been plying its trade among a wide variety of segments in the healthcare business, from insurance to OTC medicines to health services. The wide experience has given the 125-person agency a “holistic perspective on the industry,” says Courtney Cotrupe, managing director of the firm.

“We know how to talk to all audiences, from providers to payers to patients. We intimately understand the complexity of healthcare from all sides — the laws, regulations, security, and privacy concerns,” she says.

“This provides quick and seamless onboarding for new clients, as well as fast and efficient strategy and creative execution for existing clients.”

Perhaps most importantly, Cotrupe adds, her agency understands “what drives consumer healthcare decisions. While rational factors like finances play a role, health choices are deeply emotional.”

Case in point: While conducting research in advance of a new campaign for client Highmark Health, Partners + Napier learned that sustaining successful doctor-patient relationships is “very important for the Medicare audience. Although they desire a personal relationship, it’s still hard to ask the tough questions and have meaningful conversations,” Cotrupe says.

Courtney Cotrupe

managing director: Courtney Cotrupe

“They needed to learn a simple way to prep for a doctor visit and make the most of every minute together.”

This key insight was at the core of Ask The Doctor, the agency’s campaign for Highmark — a highlight of the firm’s work last year, she adds.

To that end, Partners + Napier devoted considerable time and resources during 2016 to better defining its positioning, which culminated in a concerted effort to build upon its expertise in the healthcare space.

“We are an agency for people and brands with something to prove. Brands and the people who manage them must prove their value every day,” Cotrupe says.

While revenue crept up slightly in 2016 — from $20.3 million to $20.6 million, with an estimated 35% of that sum coming from healthcare related clients — Cotrupe is hopeful that the continued addition of “top-drawer, integrated talent spanning digital, content, strategy, and social from a slew of impressive companies” will bolster the company’s trajectory in the months and years ahead.

In the past year, the firm brought on a director of strategy and engagement, C. J. Gaffney, previously of A&E Television Networks and Universal McCann; and a director of creative technology, Andy Rose, who has prior experience at Robert Communications and as a filmmaker. Luke Madden, who arrived from Manifest, is now the account director, and Becca Bellush, previously at VaynerMedia, is the new associate director of PR and social media.

In addition to winning seven new assignments and onboarding 32 new staffers — which represents a 25% increase over the year-ago period — Partners + Napier enjoyed organic growth as well. Cotrupe points to its work with Rochester Regional Health as an example, noting it has expanded to include a relationship with the system’s fundraising arm after successful branding work for the health system.