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Asked to contextualize his agency’s recent performance, Relevate Health CEO Jeff Spanbauer offers a two-word reply: “transformational growth.”
To see what he means, just trace Relevate’s trajectory from December 2020 (when the then-$18 million agency scooped up Arteric) through 2021’s 44% revenue surge (which boosted billings to $40.6 million, from $28.2 in 2020).
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Thanks to funds from PE partner Mountaingate Capital, early 2022 saw two more firms join the Relevate fold: rep engagement specialists Axon Communications and HCP recruitment network ConneXion360. But the agency’s transformation is about more than acquisitions.
“We’re adding a number of services to be able to do better marketing for our clients,” Spanbauer stresses.
As pharma companies mature in their omnichannel marketing ability, Relevate now has what chief innovation officer Hans Kaspersetz calls “a degree of scale” to assist those of various sizes. While midsize drugmakers may seek an enterprise-level, soup-to-nuts approach, larger ones (those that, say, author content internally) may look for far more.
“Part of our strategy is serving multiple brands simultaneously and expanding relationships with those clients in order to plug into that omnichannel infrastructure so that our last-mile solutions can be offered to all brands at a reasonable cost and with as little friction and new integrations as needed,” Kaspersetz explains.
Some 20 new assignments were added during 2021, ranging from above-brand work for Astellas to multiple products from Janssen, Merck and Novo Nordisk. Staff size grew in kind, from 128 at the start of the year to 170 at the end of it (it reached 200 by mid-April). Relevate filled out its leadership ranks with the additions of chief revenue officer Clay Romweber, COO Megan Jones and head of strategy Julie Granberry.
In addition to working with 185 pharma brands across 90 manufacturers, Relevate counts 40 hospital systems on its roster, affording it a full look at what’s going on with doctors and how to engage them. Then again, the COVID-related headaches still vexing health systems strained some of Relevate’s partnerships. The agency no longer works with Lehigh Valley Health System, Mary Washington Healthcare, Parkview Medical Center or TriHealth.
But excluding Axon and ConneXion360, which sell about 20 different stop-and-go products, attrition has been low on the agency side of Relevate’s business. It held onto all of its AOR assignments and expects those billings to expand organically this year, from $13 million-$14 million to $17 million-$20 million.
Spanbauer believes Relevate is built for the way pharma field forces are expanding to include reps, MSLs and KAMs. “All three will need better data, tools and ways to engage their target doctors, either through personal or non-personal promotion,” he explains.
Adds Kaspersetz, “What we knew as data-driven marketing, with cookies and other tactics, is dying on the vine because of Facebook, Google and Apple. New methods of doing data-driven marketing are emerging, so we’re skating to where the puck will be.”
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Work from outside pharma you admire…
To be the genius behind the QR code! The codes have moved beyond museum exhibit facts and restaurant menus, and are more relevant than ever. Now embraced by lean-forward users, QR codes can personalize experiences, drive engagement and increase relevance. — Bob Brooks, VP sales and marketing
From the June 01, 2022 Issue of MM+M - Medical Marketing and Media
