If you haven’t heard much about Avant Healthcare recently, there’s a good reason for that, according to chief strategy and marketing officer Rob Spalding. “We’ve been on this journey to get more operationally sound as we grew,” he explains. “We spent a little more time internally focused than externally focused.”
Avant’s self-exam was prompted by a desire to right-size and even reorient itself at a time when the agency’s primary specialty, medical education, has expanded beyond its traditional boundaries. Spalding notes that the work now demands more involved consultation with medical affairs, among other internal client constituencies.
“How do we change conversations to make sure they’re focused on high science?” he asks. “The needs of medical affairs are often different from the traditional commercial ones.”
To ensure the agency hits its marks, Avant has upped its medical and scientific muscle. Spalding reports that it now houses a 40-strong medical team staffed with plenty of Ph.D.s and Pharm.D.s.
“The idea is to become more of a provider of strategically relevant content,” he continues. “It’s not just about sizzle from a creative standpoint, but understanding the root of the behaviors we need to change and providing what physicians need to be trained on or hear from credible sources.”
Overall head count was 195 at the end of 2018, up from the 190 at the same time in 2017 but down from the 305 Avant reported in 2016. Recent additions included VP, engagement strategy Lenny Bishop (previously SVP, innovation and user experience at Harrison and Star) and executive director, analytics Dionne Maffett-Corbin (previously commercialization market research director at Juno Therapeutics).
Revenue was flat at $30 million, which represents a leveling-off after Avant grew from $23 million in 2014 to $34 million in 2015 to $38.1 million in 2016. Spalding seems comfortable with the agency’s current size: “We always want to get bigger, but there’s always the question of how to make sure we’re thinking in terms of diversification rather than a revenue target.”
So what was the ultimate result of Avant’s self-analysis exercise? Spalding says the agency has streamlined its offering and better aligned itself with client/customer schedules. “We’re focused on production when they need us to be focused on production,” he explains.
The company will likely push into new therapeutic areas beyond its traditional oncology and autoimmune strongholds — Spalding mentions neuroscience, pain, women’s health and diabetes as possibilities — and emphasized branded programs over unbranded ones. “Clients don’t want to invest in disease state education. Brand needs come first,” he shrugs.
Avant might even attempt to up its profile in and around the agency world. “We’re an interesting organization in that our headquarters are in the Indianapolis suburbs,” Spalding adds. “We’re definitely more unknown, broadly speaking, because we’re outside the pharma and agency meccas of the north-east and the West Coast and the Research Triangle. But that’s also a big opportunity in terms of differentiating ourselves.”
From the July 01, 2019 Issue of MM+M - Medical Marketing and Media
