Interpublic Group promoted Matt Lane, co-founder and managing director of NeON, to a position at the holding company level. The agency’s parent company, Draftfcb Healthcare, immediately named his successor.
Taking Lane’s place at NeON is new managing director Mark Arnold, formerly SVP, managing supervisor at Omnicom’s AgencyRx, said Dana Maiman, CEO of Draftfcb Healthcare. Before coming to AgencyRx, Arnold had been with Euro RSCG Life.
Arnold now joins NeON EVP, executive creative director Kevin McHale, who was brought on from Euro RSCG to lead creative in December.
In his new role, Lane will aid IPG with healthcare holding company consolidations, a new position. The network has been a beneficiary of the last three Big Pharma advertising business reviews: Merck’s this past May, GlaxoSmithKline’s in late 2010, and Johnson & Johnson’s in 2008.
One of two Draftfcb Healthcare conflict shops, NeON services about 40 brand assignments from Pfizer, Boehringer Ingelheim and Gilead, with 100 employees working on digital promotion and traditional advertising as well as consulting.
Lane helped launch the agency in 2009 with a pair of brands from the roster of sister agency Area 23, where he had also been a managing director. He started his first agency after stints as a Pfizer sales rep and account manager at CDM.
From the August 01, 2011 Issue of MM+M - Medical Marketing and Media
