After several years of quietly building its capabilities and client roster, Deerfield Agency introduced itself to the healthcare marketing world more broadly via the 2021 MM+M Agency 100 list. And in the months that have followed, the agency has continued to further define itself and its mission.
The additions have included a hint of swagger. “We are more than an agency now,” says Josh Benson, one of three Deerfield partners. “We have hit the nail on the head in terms of what a partnership should feel like with a client: We are in the trenches together. A lot of people say that, but for us it is a matter of finding every solution and not just the off-the-shelf ones.”
Benson’s talk is backed by the results. Deerfield grew revenue 32% in 2021, to $43.5 million from $33 million the year prior. To accommodate the growth, the company added 28 people during the year, leaving it with 88 full-timers when the calendars turned to 2022.
According to partner Paul Brown, many of the new hires were developers and data experts. “We’ve put the infrastructure in place that we need,” he explains. “It’s allowing us to become a more prominent organization and a more revenue-focused one, where we can watch the costs, expenses and productivity of our people. All of that benefits our clients.”
When it comes to the work itself, partner Frank Burrell highlights the agency’s efforts on behalf of two Beiersdorf skin care brands. “Giving a complete refresh to their HCP marketing and initiatives went a long way,” he says.
Central to Deerfield’s vision is dispelling myths around how prohibitive DTC marketing is. “You can be targeted and mindful without having to spend a fortune,” Burrell adds. To that point, Deerfield’s work for Acerus Pharmaceuticals required maximizing every dollar spent: “We were able to stretch that budget and make an impact with a more targeted approach.”
Meet the Author
Last year also saw the launch of Asset2it, an app that allows sales reps to create modular content on the fly, thus maximizing every rare moment they have with HCPs. Burrell says that the development team always appreciates a new challenge — in this case, bringing together proprietary technology built over the last several years into a single central app.
“The personalized leave-behinds or flashcards are very compliance-friendly,” he reports. “If something has expired or if there is an error, it can be removed in seconds.”
In May, Deerfield moved into new offices outside Philadelphia. While there will be a few fully remote outliers,
in-person collaboration will resume regularly at Deerfield.
“It’s a lot easier to have watercooler talk than to try and wrangle everyone up on a call,” Benson says. Burrell agrees, adding, “It goes a long way to being more efficient and supporting our clients. It is harder to provide high-level services if you aren’t engaged with your team.”
. . .
Work from outside pharma you admire…
Petco’s olfactory campaign, Scent-sory Tour. To advertise the grand opening of their premium dog store, Reddy, they appealed to an unexpected audience: Your best friend. Using scented paw print decals, they led dogs (and their owners) through SoHo directly to the store’s front door. The campaign’s out-of-the-box thinking utilized dogs’ natural tracking instincts to semi-naturally introduce owners to Reddy and showcase it as the instinctive, canine-approved brand. — Burrell
From the June 01, 2022 Issue of MM+M - Medical Marketing and Media
