Gold
Imre
With $45.1 million in 2021 revenue, Imre is stepping out, extending its strengths in digital and social to the DTC world.
Opened in 2015 as a “non-pharma, pharma agency,” it’s a big believer in doing things differently. The agency’s 240-person team is committed to a defiantly positive perspective as it looks to counteract the cold, clinical experiences often associated with pharma marketing.
Solutions start by bringing patients and providers to the table early on, ensuring a common vision. That includes its Empathy Brief, which detangles digital behaviors from real-world evidence to corroborate what physicians and patients think, feel and do.
This approach allows it to simplify scientific narratives for more engaging storytelling, even as it removes subjectivity from the creative process. And clients say that’s become the secret sauce to building more innovative and effective marketing programs.
As it grows from digital into DTC AOR, it’s thinking less about total scope domination and more about becoming the great agency convener for delivering better health outcomes through improved experiences.
It’s a difference clients appreciate, including long-term partners AstraZeneca, GSK, Pfizer/Viatris and ViiV Healthcare.
Notable projects for the year include partnering with TikTok to rewrite platform policy for creator engagement, paving the way for organic sharing of branded pharma content to people 18 and older. The agency also reimagined Akili Interactive’s EndeavorRx patient brochure as Pokémon-style playing cards for the first digital therapeutic to get FDA approval for children with ADHD.
Silver
Merge
Merge grew 18% in 2021, with revenue reaching $144 million. Besides adding 35 new accounts and reporting 15% growth from its existing clients, it also acquired Blue Moon Digital and Perkuto. Clients are glowing, including Organogenesis: “Merge’s industry knowledge, strategic thinking capabilities and ability to amplify brand messaging/value propositions through creative execution has been a force-multiplier.”
