Advertising Age reported on the perceived proliferation
of pitches for pharmaceutical accounts, partly prompted by presidential poppycock.
While no one
knows the true reasons behind such account moves, a few points seem certain:
• Big Pharma
brands award business exclusively to White holding companies.
• As
accounts bounce between holding companies, worker drones become collateral damage—and overall job numbers appear to
decrease vs simply shift.
• Independent
White advertising agencies are relegated to lesser, subservient roles—or must
settle with serving emerging biotechs for significantly smaller billings.
• Independent
Non-White shops are non-entities—denied even crumbs and/or positioned for Prime
Redlining.
The
healthcare system is broken, with tremendous inequities for underserved and
underrepresented entities. Ditto the healthcare account awarding system in
Adland.
Behind the
rise in health care reviews—and how agencies are bracing for a pharma ad
crackdown
By Ewan Larkin
and Jack Neff
A barrage of
health care marketers are putting their agency rosters under the microscope—and
the trend shows no sign of abating.
Just this week,
there were three major moves in the space: Bayer hired Interpublic Group of
Cos. to handle global creative, production and media duties for its consumer
health division, which includes over-the-counter drugs such as Claritin, Aleve
and Alka-Seltzer; Haleon, the maker of Advil, Panadol and Sensodyne, split its
global creative business between Publicis Groupe and WPP; and Tylenol marketer
Kenvue launched a comprehensive global creative and media agency review, Ad Age
reported.
Health care
reviews have been accelerating over the past 12 to 18 months, said Michael
Knopf, principal at MediaLink, who added he doesn’t see that slowing anytime
soon: “I think it’ll continue to be a very active space.”
The
pharmaceutical category represented just $193 million, or 1% of global spend
under review, in the first half of 2024, according to billings tracker
COMvergence. That figure surged to $975 million, or 6% of total spend under
review, in the first half of 2025. Pharma now makes up 13% of all currently
active reviews, per COMvergence.
Several factors
are driving the uptick, including health care marketers’ lagging transformation
efforts, consolidation in the agency sector and the growing strength of
independent players. At the same time, marketers and their agency partners are
preparing for stricter drug advertising regulations under the Trump
administration, developing contingency plans to reach both consumers and health
care professionals in new ways.
Stalled by
regulatory and privacy constraints, along with reliance on advertising
strategies like consumer testimonials, the pharma sector has lagged behind
other categories in modernizing its marketing approach, said Knopf. Now, brands
are racing to become “leading consumer brands,” investing in more personalized
content and exploring areas such as sports sponsorships, he added.
These
transformation efforts—including a greater focus on data and technology for
audience targeting—are partly driving marketers to reassess their agency
relationships, Knopf said.
“A lot of
pharma clients are looking to optimize or, in some cases, upgrade their agency
partners,” Knopf said.
Samantha Avivi,
chief marketing officer of Bayer’s consumer health division in North America,
previously told Ad Age the company’s review was driven by tech shifts and a
need to future-proof brand-building strategy. Explaining its decision to hire
IPG, Bayer this week pointed to a need to “capitalize on the acceleration of
generative AI tools and capabilities to better engage with consumers at the
local level.” It also stressed the need to produce more personalized content.
Bayer set up
its review process to show how the winning agency could foster a faster, more
agile creative development approach that the company terms “Dynamic Shared
Ownership,” Avivi said in an interview Sept. 30. That included having small
teams globally and locally working together with agency teams on projects that
were briefed in the morning and produced creative work by the end of the day.
The process helped Bayer understand the agencies’ strengths and weaknesses, as
well as their chemistry with its marketers.
“By the time we
were done with the global work, and then the local variations, it was probably
done in the matter of a month from pitch to execution,” Avivi said, including
feedback and revisions. At each step, the approach reduced a process that once
took three or four months down to a day, she said.
It was all part
of an effort to meet consumers’ increasing demands to be better connected with
brands they’re using and understand them better, as well as meet the growing
demand for personalization and take advantage of industry progress in
efficiency and automation. “So I would call that modernization for sure,” she
said.
How the
Omnicom-IPG merger fits into the health care moves
The agency
landscape is shifting rapidly, particularly as Omnicom nears completion of its
acquisition of IPG. That consolidation, combined with increasingly robust
independent options, has prompted marketers to reevaluate their partnerships,
said Greg Paull, president of global growth for marketing consultancy
MediaSense.
“Independents
are getting far more professional and active thanks to private equity,” said
Paull, pointing to agencies including Klick Health, Syneos Health and
Fingerpaint as examples.
Bayer nodded to
the Omnicom-IPG deal in its review announcement Monday, with Consumer Health
Chief Marketing and Scientific Officer David Evendon-Challis noting the
“opportunity of what is possible” when the merger is complete.
Health care
marketers, like peers in other sectors, are under “a lot of pressure,” said
Frank Mazzola, global chief creative officer of medical marketing agency Real
Chemistry. As a result, many are trying to work with fewer agency partners,
streamline costs and combine overlapping areas like advertising and medical
education, he added.
“They’re moving
into more of a consolidation world,” Mazzola said.
Haleon’s review
provides a clear example. The consumer health giant consolidated its roster
from three primary holding companies to two—Publicis and WPP—while IPG, which
said it declined to participate in the pitch, was removed. Publicis (OTC drugs)
and WPP (oral care and wellness) have been assigned by categories to “enable a
more simple, focused way of working,” according to Haleon.
How the
industry is preparing for stricter pharma ad regulations
President
Donald Trump last month signed a new memorandum ordering his health department
to crack down on direct-to-consumer pharma advertising. The Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) also sent warning letters to pharma companies related to
misleading ads.
Some ad agency
executives downplayed the immediate impact of the FDA’s enforcement letters;
Mazzola noted that most of the actions reinforce existing rules rather than
introducing new ones. However, he raised concerns about the possible
elimination of the adequate provision, the FDA rule that lets drugmakers run TV
ads with only a summary of major risks as long as they direct viewers to full
prescribing information through another source.
In a statement
about its crackdown on drug advertising, the FDA said it is “initiating
rulemaking to close the adequate provision loophole created in 1997.” The
federal agency stated that drug companies have used the policy “to conceal
critical safety risks in broadcast and digital ads, fueling inappropriate drug
use and eroding public trust.”
“If adequate
provision went away, then it would be very hard for marketers to do TV in a
branded way,” said Mazzola.
While Real
Chemistry doesn’t expect that to happen, it is planning for such a reality.
Contingency strategies include shifting dollars out of branded TV into
unbranded disease-awareness campaigns, then using those spots to steer patients
toward social and digital platforms such as TikTok or YouTube for deeper
education, Mazzola said.
Marketers are
taking precautionary measures, too. One marketing consultant, speaking on the
condition of anonymity, noted that their contract with a brand to run an agency
review included a clause allowing the process to be paused depending on how new
federal rules around pharmaceutical advertising play out.
“Honestly, it’s
just such a crazy time,” the consultant said. “It’s difficult for all
marketers.”
Agencies
heavily focused on paid DTC marketing need to broaden their services to reflect
where marketers are headed, said Knopf. This includes expanding into influencer
campaigns, earned and owned media, community engagement, and healthcare
professional-focused or unbranded educational content.
“Agencies are going to need to diversify their
services to really stay relevant here,” he added.
