Silverlight Digital continued to punch above its weight in 2022. While the firm increased its head count by only a single full-timer — giving it 32 people at year’s end — it saw revenue spike 58%, to $28.2 million from $17.9 million in 2021.
According to CEO Lori Goldberg, the key to Silverlight’s recent success is keeping things simple. It lets client needs drive the agency’s thinking and bases a great majority of its decisions on cold, hard data.
“Most of our clients want to be able to understand not just who we’re reaching, but what we’re doing with that data after we reach them,” she explains. “The ultimate goal is to not just ingest the data, but also suss it out so it’s actionable.”
SVP, managing director Michael Ackerman agrees, adding another time-tested reason to the list. “We’re very much acting as an extension of some of the pharma brands that we work with,” he says.
Which isn’t to say that what Silverlight does is easy, or lacks nuance. “It’s the real strategic work of figuring out from both the media perspective and search/SEO what clients can do on their own website to help reach whatever KPI metrics they’re trying to reach,” Ackerman continues.
Silverlight added assignments from Eisai, Octapharma, Aprecia Pharmaceuticals and Aadi Bioscience to its mix during 2022. They joined a roster that already included engagements with Philips Healthcare, Allergan, Chiesi and
Calliditas Therapeutics.
Goldberg takes an exceptional amount of pride in the way Silverlight cares for its own. All members of senior leadership were promoted to their current posts from within, she reports.
“We’re only as good as the makeup of our organization. Awarding internal growth overall is important to our leadership,” Goldberg says. Recent additions have included associate media directors Christina Smith and Courtney Nagle.
Like many other agencies, Silverlight senses uncertain economic times ahead. Client budgets have tightened, Goldberg says, forcing smaller agencies such as Silverlight to stretch every available dollar.
“We have to be smarter about how we spend our money,” Goldberg stresses, pointing to connected TV as an increasingly appealing option for its clients. “It is the perfect platform for videos that tell the story, and you can do it in a more economical way.”
In addition to CTV efforts focused on the HCP audience, Silverlight is tapping other platforms that it hasn’t used widely in the past. The agency has pushed its more innovation-minded clients into the gaming realm and started to pack client messages into EHRs. Look for more programs that unfold at points of care, whether physicians’ offices or pharmacies, in the months ahead.
Still, at the end of the day, it all comes back to data for Silverlight and its people.
“Building out our data lake and trying to understand how we’re using that data are truly the keys to our success for 2023,” Goldberg says.
. . .
Our marketing role model…
We’re a big fan of Apple’s marketing efforts, especially its pandemic-era Work From Home long-form video ads. They were a fun way to embrace the messy reality we were in — and they were incredibly successful, with over 34 million views to date. — Ackerman
Click here to see Silverlight Digital’s Agency 100 2022 Profile.
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From the June 01, 2023 Issue of MM+M - Medical Marketing and Media
