Artcraft Health made big news as 2019 came to a close when Greg Santore, who most recently worked in sports recruiting at Odgers Berndtson, took the reins as EVP and managing director. While the immediate career shift might seem jarring on the surface, his previous work in recruitment suggests a natural fit alongside the agency’s client roster.
“We deal with 10 of the top 12 Fortune 500 companies,” he notes. “It says a lot about an organization to be doing great work for those types of clients.”
While head count remained stable at 41, Artcraft saw revenue rise from $11.2 million in 2018 to $12.5 million in 2019. Chief creative officer Stephanie Murrin credits the jump to the agency’s increasing emphasis on innovation.
“Most of our solutions go beyond the traditional brochures and websites,” she says. “We do sophisticated models to help physicians counsel patients. To show a patient what an on-body device looks like on their body, we might use augmented reality.”
Murrin adds every effort is devoted toward building the skills and knowledge needed for successful outcomes. To that end, she points to Artcraft’s revamped proprietary platform CODE (custom on demand education), which helps reps work with HCPs to build customized patient material pulled from preapproved content, images and language.
Santore, on the other hand, touts Artcraft’s recent use of geofencing on a program for Salix’s opioid-related constipation drug Relistor. “We work with the client to identify the demographic — for Relistor, it was caregivers and patients — so we can target places such as pharmacies and physicians’ offices,” he explains. “When people come within a predetermined radius of those areas, they get a pop-up message on their phone. A click on the banner takes them to product information they need to make an educated purchase.” (Users must specifically opt in to receive the information.)
Among 2019’s client additions, Murrin points to work for GlaxoSmithKline in the clinical trial realm as particularly gratifying. The agency was charged with launching a clinical research study platform for maternal and infant vaccines — “an omnichannel program used across multiple studies,” she notes.
Artcraft’s work alongside Takeda involved an Instructions For Use series, which for some brands extended from human factor studies through launch. “In some cases, it’s to help teach pharmacists and physicians how to use complex injectable devices,” Murrin continues.
Other 2019 additions included assignments for Allergan (two brands), Edwards Lifesciences, Valeritas, the Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Blueprint Medicines.
As for what comes next, Santore acknowledges the industry “is in uncharted territory.” He notes that, since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Artcraft has been accelerating the development of apps designed to help clients communicate with their desired audiences. “Right now our outlook is pretty positive, despite the situation,” he says.
Murrin agrees, adding, “Face-to-face interaction for sales reps is still important, but it may look different in the future. So will recruitment and retention for clinical trials.”
The best marketing we saw in 2019…
I Am Patient is a simple, memorable PSA campaign that really hits home. It employs user-generated videos from around the world to underscore how social distancing helps those living with chronic illnesses. — Stephanie Murrin
From the June 01, 2020 Issue of MM+M - Medical Marketing and Media
