It wasn’t long after taking on financial backing from private-equity partner Knox Lane at the end of 2020 that Fingerpaint put that capital to work. Within the ensuing calendar year, four firms were added to the fold.
Having them all in-house makes Fingerpaint’s life-science commercialization offering significantly more comprehensive. The agency built out its armamentarium with skill sets such as med-comms and branding, and expanded its geographic reach west to San Francisco and across the pond to the U.K.
“We’re bringing clients what they’re asking for, and we’re doing it with a group of companies that’s really answering the call for how they really want those services,” says Fingerpaint global president Bill McEllen.
Therein lies the first prong of what company founder Ed Mitzen has said is the agency’s twofold acquisition strategy: “We’ll add best-in-class capabilities anywhere there’s a real client need and where we feel we can do right by patients,” he noted in a prior interview.
To hear McEllen tell it, Fingerpaint’s newest family members certainly scratch that itch. In March 2021 came the acquisition of early-stage branding consultancy Leaderboard, followed by West Coast biotech specialist Splice Agency in June 2021. Six months later, Fingerpaint closed out the year with buyouts of medical maven MedThink Communications and London-based analytics shop Engage.
No doubt the four accounted for a great deal of Fingerpaint’s revenue last year, which grew to $135 million from the prior year’s take of $85 million. And like 2020’s additions to the Fingerpaint portfolio — the launch of cell and gene therapy marketing consultancy Photo51 and the purchase of market access advisory 1798 — last year’s acquisitions will become very much a part of the core offering.
The only one of the bunch that rebranded was Splice. The agency, a favorite among Bay Area biotechs, has become Fingerpaint’s West Coast office. The rest retain their brand names, adding “a Fingerpaint company” to their monikers. It’s a separate-but-unified arrangement that, McEllen says, not only speaks to market need but to Fingerpaint’s desire to foster an entrepreneurial mindset.
“We’ve always been authentic in what we deliver to clients,” he says.
The second driver of Fingerpaint’s M&A push involves creating the kind of environment that talented people want to gravitate toward. These days, McEllen notes, talent is not shy about migrating to wherever they see the broadest career options, or to a workplace that best aligns with their personal values.
“They want to do work with like-minded people,” he says, adding that there’s a cultural element as well. “First and foremost with any of our acquisition strategies, we ask, ‘Are these organizations a good cultural fit for what we’re building here?’”
Staff count surged to 705, from 403 the year prior. Among the additions was chief people officer Jeralyn Mastroianni, who previously served as SVP and head of HR for Isobar.
Fingerpaint’s growth has also necessitated new roles. Strategy has been elevated to the C-suite level, with agency world vet Nick Megjugorac filling the chief strategy officer position. Ditto for analytics, with chief analytics officer Rommel Fernandez onboarded in June 2021.
Meanwhile, McEllen’s global president title is a new one. He reports to Mitzen, who assumed the role of chairman and CEO.
The agency now has eight U.S. offices. While one might assume that an organization with that large a footprint would require staff to come into the office at least one day a week, McEllen says Fingerpaint supports people in the way that they want to work.
“We’re going to treat you like adults and provide you the tools to be really productive in your job, and one of those tools may be an office, if you need it,” he explains.
Management understands that not everyone will want to avail themselves of that option. In McEllen’s view, offices are more like “recharging stations” than traditional workspaces — as in, come and meet with your team, get recharged and do what you need to do.
Then again, Fingerpaint has long been considered one of the agency world’s most generous providers of employee benefits, such as fully-paid health insurance, flexible PTO and student loan reimbursement. McEllen says that that people-centric approach will continue throughout its aggressive expansion.
On the new business front, the agency added work from some 20 clients last year. They ranged from large pharma companies such as AstraZeneca and Gilead to biotechs such as Sarepta Therapeutics and Global Blood Therapeutics.
One effort of which Fingerpaint is especially proud is a campaign for Sun Pharma’s Ilumya psoriasis brand that leveraged a road trip theme to raise awareness to the treatment’s five-year efficacy data. Its central conceit revolves around a grandmother/granddaughter duo playing the part of patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis who embark on an 1,800-mile, cross-country trek.
Along the way, the pair stop to make story ads for social and radio spots. Images from their trip fuel the creative for print, banner and social ads, as well as a patient engagement program. Dubbed The Long Haul, the campaign drove a 28% increase in traffic to Ilumya.com, Fingerpaint reports.
So far in 2022, Fingerpaint’s flurry of deals appears to be paying off. Existing clients are tapping the agency for things they haven’t before, while clients of the four acquired agencies are availing themselves of Fingerpaint’s expanded offerings.
“If you integrate a capability and introduce it, you see more and more shared business,” McEllen explains.
Don’t be surprised if Fingerpaint’s shopping spree continues. Asked about other offerings the agency is evaluating, McEllen says the agency is actively looking and will continue to build out its capabilities as it makes sense. Mitzen, for his part, is spending the majority of his time on M&A, while McEllen oversees day-to-day operations.
“We keep an open mind as it relates to acquisitions,” McEllen says. “If there’s a like-minded organization that’s either bringing a capability we don’t have for our clients now, or it’s bolstering a capability that we already have, we’re certainly open to that.”
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Work from outside pharma you admire…
While crowd-funding websites have been around for a while, in the past couple of years they have taken center stage and shown the impact campaigns hosted on them can have. They are not only being used to fund novel startup ideas in technology, healthcare and education, but also have evolved to become a way for people to come together and support humanitarian efforts and impor-tant social-impact initiatives with no geographi-cal boundaries or monetary minimums. — McEllen
From the June 01, 2022 Issue of MM+M - Medical Marketing and Media
