Asked to identify her highlights from a bustling 2022, Good Apple cofounder Jenna Adams points to two — one expected and the other very much not.
The expected highlight was the agency’s rollout of a distinct TV media buying and planning capability. The new unit has been charged with handling traditional broadcast and cable buys as well as pursuing opportunities in the burgeoning CTV and OTT realms.
While Good Apple has bought TV for several clients in the past, building out a distinct unit represents a huge vote of confidence in the firm’s ability to compete in the still-vital space.
“Digital is growing, but TV is still a very big medium,” Adams explains. “Now we have a great model to roll out to our clients who are interested in increasing their presence in TV. We’re excited to include it in our pitches.”
As for the unexpected highlight of Adams’ 2022, it was a late-year winning streak that netted Good Apple five new clients. Staff size also ticked up from 112 at the start of 2022 to 115 by the end of the year.
“We obviously worked on new business all year, but we really hit our stride at the end of Q3 into Q4,” she says. “It was great to see the benefits of all that hard work.” Client additions included Amneal Pharmaceuticals, Understood.org and Sarepta Therapeutics (for three brands). Good Apple counts Takeda, Apellis Pharmaceuticals, BioMarin and Impel Pharmaceuticals among its other roster mainstays.
Though the agency did part ways with a trio of clients — Sobi, Hologic and Strongbridge Biopharma — the new business more than made up for the departures. Overall revenue jumped by just under 18% in 2022, to $40 million from $34 million in 2021. Roughly 70% of the growth came from existing clients, the agency reports.
By way of example, Adams points to Good Apple’s long-standing relationship with Johnson & Johnson. The agency
currently works on six of the healthcare giant’s brands, and 2022 presented it with a handful of additional opportunities.
“We had pitched for a bigger part of its business and we didn’t get it — but it came back to us with a smaller piece that’s really in our wheelhouse,” Adams says, noting that the assignment presented a “new way of working” for the Good Apple team. “We traditionally do everything for our clients — we act as the media planning, buying, implementation and measurement agency. In this case, we’re just the planning agency.”
Learning to work alongside another company in charge of media buying presents both a challenge and an opportunity, Adams adds. “It’s different, but it helps us lay the groundwork for things that we might want to do during the next two years.”
In the remaining months of 2023, much of Good Apple’s attention will be devoted to following through on the engagements added during the end-of-2022 hot streak.
“We’re starting to launch our campaigns with these clients, and that’s always exciting,” Adams says. “It’s great to see how the work that you’ve done, from the pitch cycle all the way into creating a relationship with your new client, progresses.”
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Our marketing role model…
In The Hero With a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell examines the archetypal journey of heroes from various cultures. He argues that heroes are not born perfect, but achieve something remarkable and give their lives to something bigger than themselves. Similarly, hero companies start as ordinary little organizations that are called to adventure, go through battles, face temptation and experience both success and failure. We aim to embody the spirit of the hero’s journey in all that we do. — Muzaurieta
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From the June 01, 2023 Issue of MM+M - Medical Marketing and Media
