Dare we suggest that things are looking up? Of the 151 agencies that filed responses for our Agency A-to-Z, 50 reported that business was up so far this year, with 15 saying it was about the same. Just one agency divulged that business was down so far in 2013. A further 85 firms did not respond at all, so while we cannot infer that everybody is on the up, we can say that at least a third of agencies appears to be experiencing increased revenues this year. Of those 50 firms, 18 reported being up by 20% or more.
What types of work generated revenue in 2012?
We asked our A-to-Z Agencies for a basic breakdown of revenues across channels/tactics and audiences for 2012 and 2011, and the 67 responses we received show a demonstrable shift in spending towards digital.
The two most popular categories were HCP Digital/Web/Mobile, for which 85% of respondents posted a revenue stream, and Consumer Digital/Web/Mobile (78%). In terms of the shift in revenues in 2012 compared with 2011, those two categories were also the biggest gainers. The average slice of income represented by HCP Digital/Web/Mobile rose from 23% in 2011 to 28% in 2012, while the median number increased from 18.5% of revenue to 25%.
Similarly, the average proportion of income attributable to Consumer Digital/Web/Mobile increased from 19% in 2011 to 21% in 2012, while the median rose from 11% to 15%, indicating a more even distribution of spending across projects and agencies.
The biggest losers were, unsurprisingly, HCP print ads, with attributed share of revenue down from 13% to 10%. Promotional Medical Education (down from 17% to 15%), Direct Marketing (down from 14% to 12%) and PR (down from 21% to 18%), also showed similar-sized decreases in attributed income. Bear in mind that these data are for the fiscal year 2012, and given the fast pace of change in the market, it is likely that these trends are exacerbating and that the numbers underestimate what is actually happening in 2013.
What is keeping agencies up at night?
We also asked agencies to name their current biggest challenges. A total of 79 challenges were cited, which we placed into various buckets for the purposes of this analysis. The most mentioned challenges were Talent Acquisition (18%), Diversifying Offerings and Clients (15%), Regulatory and Legislative Issues (15%) and Achieving/Managing Growth (14%). Interestingly, within the “regulatory” bucket, the Accountable Care Act and the Sunshine Act were actually cited more often than FDA-related issues. Also of note is that there are some big industry issues missing from the top four responses; while the longtime challenges of grappling with digital, patent expirations, pharma restructuring/M&As and preferred networks did figure in the list, they were not at the top. Surely, this is a sign that the agency world is evolving and adapting to the new landscape.
What will happen next?
Finally, we asked agencies to tell us what they thought would be the biggest trends in the coming year, and 35% of the 98 trends cited related to a continued increase in digital work and digital spend. A further 14% mentioned data/analytics, with almost half of these referring specifically to the measurement of ROI, and many others citing the targeting of specialty populations.
Non-personal promotion/multichannel marketing (12%) also figured highly, as did a greater focus on patients and outcomes (10%) and increased regulatory/legislative scrutiny (8%).
To check the fast facts on more than 150 agencies, see the Agency A-to-Z (pages 187 to 229), our annual directory of healthcare marketing, advertising and communications shops, including contact details, rosters, financial information (where available) and examples of creative work. All data was submitted online by the agencies.
100 Agencies
AbelsonTaylor
The Access Group
AgencyRx
ApotheCom Group
Area 23
Avant Healthcare Marketing
Beacon Healthcare Comm.
Biolumina Group
Brandkarma
Cadient Group
CAHG
Cambridge BioMarketing
CDM New York
CDM Princeton
CDMiConnect
The CementBloc
Centron
closerlook
Compass Healthcare Marketers
Concentric Health Experience
DevicePharm
DiD
Digitas Health
Discovery USA
Draftfcb Healthcare
Dudnyk
Entrée Health
Eveo
Evoke Health
Extrovertic Communications
Fingerpaint
Flashpoint Medica
GA Communication Group
GCG Healthcare
ghg
Giant
Greater Than One
GSW
H4B Catapult
H4B Chelsea
Harrison and Star
Havas Life Metro
Havas Life New York
Havas Lynx
HCB Health
Healthcare Regional Marketing
HealthEd Group
Heartbeat Ideas & Heartbeat West
HLG Health Communications
The Hobart Group
ICC Lowe
ICC Lowe Trio
Infuse Medical
Intouch Solutions
INVIVO Communications
IOMEDIA
JUICE Pharma Worldwide
Kane & Finkel Healthcare Comm.
Klick Health
Lanmark360
LehmanMillet
LLNS
McCann Echo Torre Lazur
McCann HumanCare
McCann Managed Markets
McCann RCW Healthcare
McCann Regan Campbell Ward
McCann Torre Lazur
Mc|K Healthcare
MedThink Communications
MEplusYOU
Metaphor
MicroMass Communications
Natrel Communications
The Navicor Group
NeON
Ogilvy CommonHealth Worldwide
Pacific Communications
Palio + Ignite
Publicis Life Brands Medicus
Purohit Navigation
Razorfish Healthware
Renavatio Healthcare Comm.
RevHealth
Rosetta
Roska Healthcare Advertising
Saatchi & Saatchi Hlth Comm. NY
Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness
Scout Marketing
Siren Interactive
Snow Companies
StoneArch
STRIKEFORCE Communications
Sudler & Hennessey
Topin & Associates
TRUE Health + Wellness
Vogel Farina
Vox Medica
The W2O Group
Wunderman World Health
From the July 01, 2013 Issue of MM+M - Medical Marketing and Media
