Evoke today announced that it has reorganized its agency holdings under a new brand and structure. Inizio Evoke will now house a range of specialty agencies previously branded as Evoke properties.

The company’s slate of agencies will operate under the overarching Inizio Evoke brand, with six units organized by core service offering. No staff reductions are anticipated.

Inizio Evoke comprises the former Evoke North America, Evoke Europe and Evoke Mind+Matter UK. Inizio Evoke Drive comprises Evoke MicroMass and Evoke Mind+Matter US. Inizio Evoke Comms comprises Evoke Canale, Evoke Galliard and Evoke Kyne, with policy shop Incisive Health retaining its moniker.

Inizio Evoke Transformation comprises Evoke Create and Evoke Melt, with advisory firm Evolution Road retaining its existing brand. Inizio Evoke Access pairs the former Evoke Navience with market access and patient support experience across the full organization. Inizio Evoke Media offers a range of global health media services.

The move comes just over 18 months after health-centric networks Huntsworth (former parent of Evoke) and Ashfield were formally united as Inizio. Roughly a month before that, the medical marketing and communication arms of Evoke and Ashfield Health were brought together under the Evoke banner.

Inizio Evoke CEO Reid Connolly characterized the realignment as “the next step in our evolution” and noted that the structural reorientation was proactive in nature.

“The goal was to shift ahead of our clients’ needs and where the market is going,” he explained. “It puts clients’ challenges front and center, as opposed to letting the structure of the agency get in the way.”

That’s not always the case, Connolly added. “Sometimes you see people spending 30 minutes of a pitch describing their structure, as opposed to how they’re going to solve a problem for the client.”

Connolly acknowledged that “it took a bit of time” to devise the new brand in the wake of the Evoke/Ashfield merger, but described the process as methodical and inclusive. “We’re bringing together the best parts of all our businesses to form something that is relevant and valuable to clients,” he said. “There was nothing reactive or short-term-thinking about this. We spent a year-and-a-half doing this in a thoughtful way.”

The new Inizio Evoke was rolled out internally and to clients in December, and Connolly was encouraged by the enthusiastic response. “The thing we heard most was that it all just makes a lot of sense,” he continued. “I wouldn’t say anyone was surprised, but you’re always heartened to hear how well a change like this is received. People couldn’t wait to get started.”

As for the elimination of some of the legacy Evoke and Ashfield brands, Connolly believes that any bruised feelings were assuaged by confidence in the new Inizio Evoke offering. “Any brands we retired, we did it with the utmost reverence and empathy and respect,” he stressed. “Everyone came together to understand what the bigger opportunity here is.” 

According to the 2023 MM+M Agency 100, Evoke ranked as the sixth biggest medical marketing agency in North America. Revenue spiked just under 17% in 2022, to $365 million.

Inizio Medical claimed the seventh spot on the Agency 100 chart, with 2022 revenue of $352 million. The company united several agency brands that were formerly part of either Huntsworth or Ashfield, including ApotheCom, Nucleus Global and Ashfield MedComms.