Pharmaceutical Market Europe • May 2023 • 49
HEALTHCARE COMMS
Global healthcare consultancy Uptake Strategies unveils a newly refreshed identity
Global healthcare consultancy Uptake Strategies has unveiled a newly refreshed identity.
Coinciding with the company’s 18th year of providing consultancy to pharma and biotech clients around the world, the timely refresh represents a business that continues to scale at pace.
Founder and CEO Stephanie Hall said: “We have become and continue to be a global force for growth for our clients and our people. We have strong values and are led by our purpose to deliver work that positively changes more patients’ lives. Our fresh look is a confident visual representation of all of this.”
Stephanie and the Uptake leadership team, which includes managing director Maxine Smith, share a sense of pride in delivering meaningful impact for their client base and credit their teams’ practical senior experience, combined with a commitment to a bold, confident, joyful and transformational approach.
Developed by Uptake’s own internal Marketing and Design teams, the refreshed identity is inspired by this approach and by the company’s strong values. While new, the identity feels familiar, retaining the consultancy’s iconic and bold ‘Uptake Red’ as a literal red thread that runs through its past, present and future.
Several of Uptake’s long-term clients offered valuable input throughout the design process, aligning with the company’s client-centric outlook.
Uptake’s traditional compass mark has been retired and the ‘Pebble’ has been introduced. Described by Uptake’s Marketing team as “an emblem of confidence and a bold statement of the impact Uptake has on the world”, Uptake will now use this as a stamp on its work, to demonstrate the pride taken in its diverse work delivered for clients. The Pebble incorporates a stylised ‘U’ with an upward slant to represent growth and transformation.
In a confident move, the company has dropped ‘Strategies’ from its identity, shifting to simply ‘Uptake’. While Uptake Strategies will remain in place for legal purposes, this change is welcomed by the company’s team and clients alike, who have used the shortened version in everyday interactions for many years.
As part of Uptake’s pledge to inspire exceptional in the next generation of industry leaders, Uptake1000 was launched in 2019. The initiative offers pathways that provide education and support to graduates seeking to explore pharma and biotech careers. Both Uptake1000 and its Academy have also received updates to their identities, creating a fresh and appealing aesthetic for their intended audience.
Stephanie Hall
Maxine Smith
Makara Health acquired by Precision Value & Health
UK-based healthcare communications agency Makara Health has been acquired by Precision Value & Health (Precision) – part of Precision Medicine Group – marking an expansion to the US firm’s European footprint.
With capabilities in learning and development, medical and patient education, as well as PR and brand promotion, Makara offers its roster of healthcare clients high-quality, strategic, scientifically robust programmes and creative delivery solutions. The agency celebrated its ten-year anniversary earlier this year and has around 80 employees.
Precision explained that as well as enhancing its market growth position, the acquisition would increase its ability to offer pharmaceutical clients in Europe ‘culturally aligned programmes, along with tailored senior support to achieve their business objectives’.
Doug Fulling, Precision’s president, said: “Broadening the reach of our services in Europe is one of [our] focused strategies in order to extend our offering to more organisations and healthcare clinicians around the world.
“Ensuring scientific rigour and accuracy for those responsible for the care of patients is a business imperative for Precision and Makara’s proven track record beautifully complements our offerings.”
Makara will now be integrated into the Precision team and will work closely with PRECISIONscientia, a marketing and medical affairs agency ‘dedicated to delivering medical and scientific communications that expertly interpret and translate the science of medicine’.
Commenting on the acquisition, Louise Sharp, founder and chief executive officer of Makara, said: “In considering this move, it was very important for us to align with the right company – one that shared our values and would ensure that Makara would continue to offer clients fresh and robust thinking from an experienced and talented team.”
She added: “We are excited to say that we have found this with Precision Value & Health, a company that shares our approach and our belief in the scientific story as the foundation of every pharmaceutical brand.”
The acquisition is the latest of a number of healthcare communications transactions led by BCMS, including the sale of Spirit Medical to OPEN Health and Cambridge Medical Communication to Prime Global.
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