Although the pandemic wasn’t exactly a meteor, it altered life to such a degree that we predict dinosaurs will die – pharma business dinosaurs, that is. Those clients, agencies and executives who are heavily invested in only hiring people with pharma experience are clearly endangered creatures.

Many argue that COVID-19 has propelled pharma marketing into the current decade and into the digital arena, but for many, it is not immediately evident how to make that transition successful. It’s not enough to just ‘know’ digital and have several social accounts (TikTokers, be forewarned).

We believe that recrafting hiring specs – particularly eliminating the insistence on previous experience – is key to success.

Patients, physicians and payers are constant consumers of information and as such they are accustomed to extraordinary design, user experience, customer service, storytelling and curated content. They want what they want now and they are used to getting it (just like from Amazon).

Pharma brands do not – and will not – receive a pass just because they focus on healthcare. Unless a brand is a rare disease therapy (and even here the market is getting crowded), most drugs are facing off against well-funded competitors. Their branding and marketing need to be relevant, sharp and carry a distinct point of view. Fluency in an audience’s language can be a good deal more nuanced than understanding a drug’s mechanism of action.

Before one can get inside consumers’ heads, one needs to entice their thumbs – those powerful digits that decide whether or not to engage with a digital offering.
How does one hire for that level of competition? We’ve always looked beyond traditional candidates.

• Lauren Westberg, who heads up our West Coast office, was captain of the UCLA volleyball team and started her agency career working with a mobile phone carrier and the National Basketball Association (NBA). Lauren’s long-time experience in team sports made her a natural to lead multidisciplinary teams. It could be why she hired a wedding singer to lead our content development team for that office. Not many pharma agencies would have made that choice.

• Joanna Beeman, our SVP of Content Development, has a degree in jazz and has belted out ‘I Will Always Love You’ an absurd number of times. She’s also capable of breaking down and recasting complex scientific information. Her magnetism and stage presence hold clients in a thrall as she draws them brilliant multimedia content strategies developed for a variety of audiences.

• Paul Gattuso, our Senior Editor, was a documentary film editor, with an eye and ear for storytelling. He now works to elevate the stories of patient testimonials and key opinion leader videos.

• Phil Kawol, our Head of Motion Graphics in our London office, worked in film with notable credits to his name including ‘Casino Royale’ and ‘Doom’. Making the leap from film to healthcare more than 12 years ago, he quickly mastered the power, fun and challenge of turning science stories into cliff-hangers, real-life fairy tales and full-body immersive experiences.

• Jack DeManche, our Associate Director of Digital Strategy, managed online communities and digital programmes for several Fortune-500 CPG brands. He also periodically creates web projects in his spare time, one of which is dedicated to upcycling unwanted household items that would otherwise end up in landfills.

• Cameron Stewart, a Digital Studio Artist, was a US Navy Hospital Corpsman who served in the field with the US Marine Corps as a Combat Medical Technician and in military hospitals and clinics in the United States and the United Kingdom. Granted, he did work in a medical environment, but we like to think his front-line experiences make him a master of calm and someone who appreciates the ability to communicate clearly and efficiently. He works as a member of our Studio team, helping art directors realise their vision in a myriad of creative ways via concept sketching, design support, illustration and animation.

If a candidate is smart, he or she can learn the science, decipher a clinical paper and follow regulatory guidance regarding appropriate framing, documentation and design. All these skills can be taught through our rigorous onboarding process.
The qualities that make our people successful are more intangible: force of personality, shape of mind, breadth of experience, a certain level of grit. These qualities check all of the boxes which pharma marketing needs most today, such as:

• A deep, insatiable curiosity

• Non-linear problem solving

• Genuine empathy

• True team collaboration

• Anti-perfectionist perfectionists

• Being brave with your vulnerability

• Flexibility and adaptability

• Extraordinary optimism

John Fitzpatrick is the General Manager of PRECISIONeffect’s London office

Deborah Lotterman is Chief Creative Officer, located in the Boston headquarters

Lauren Westberg is EVP and Managing Director of the Los Angeles Office