The top U.S. pharmaceutical advertising agency over the past six years, TORRE LAZUR, opened its Canadian office on Jan. 1, 1998. And TORRE LAZUR- McCANN, the Toronto-based agency, has never looked back.
‘In less than 90 days,’ General Manager Mark Swithenbank reports, ‘we were awarded launch assignments from three major pharmaceutical companies.’
The wins: the launch of a new Alzheimer’s drug, a subarachnoid hemorrhage treatment, and an antibiotic project from Bayer Pharma; the launch of a new protease inhibitor for HIV from Agouron Pharma, (itself a Canadian start-up) and the launch of a new angiotension II agonist for hypertension from Astra Pharma.
Born of the U.S.-based healthcare agency TORRE LAZUR and the Canadian office of consumer advertising agency MacLAREN McCANN, TORRE LAZUR- McCANN is a 50-50 partnership between the two.
In each of the last six years, TORRE LAZUR has been chosen #1 (twice) or #2 (four times) in the annual Agency of the Year evaluation conducted by the U.S. pharmaceutical industry. ‘The criteria for evaluation,’ Swithenbank explains, ‘included quality of strategic thinking and creative, successful new product launches, and quality of staff.’
MacLAREN McCANN itself has been chosen Canadian consumer advertising Agency of the Year by Strategy magazine twice since 1994.
New Product Launch Philosophy
‘Our noteworthy parentage prepares us well as we build a new healthcare advertising agency in Canada,’ says agency President Anthony Phelips. ‘We are specifically mandated to successfully launch new pharmaceutical products in Canada.’
As Phelips puts it, a launch is combining an ‘angle and a splat.’ The angle is the insight into the brand – what it is, does and means; the splat is what you do with that insight.
‘We invest heavily in research to gain insight into the scientific issues surrounding the brand and to understand the physician’s mind-set at the prescribing moment,’ Swithenbank explains.
‘When we understand what happens at the prescribing moment, we can then come to determine the relevant meaning of the brand.’
Increasingly, he adds, marketers have been dissecting the market into smaller and smaller sectors to gain minor advantages typically based on a feature or benefit.
‘An example is the antibiotic market where products are compared on broad pathogen coverage. Another way of looking at this market is what the broader coverage means. At the prescribing moment, the brand meaning for the physician is ‘confidence that the brand will be effective.’
In TORRE LAZUR McCANN’s pitch presentations to Bayer and Astra, says Swithenbank, the agency was able to show how we applied this brand meaning. ‘It takes more effort, but the clients have told us it was one of the deciding factors in choosing us over the competing agencies.’
The Pillars
Swithenbank says strategic and creative expertise, U.S. experience, integrated communications resources and a strong continuing health education partner, The Medicine Group, are the agency’s supporting pillars.
‘We have assembled a group of senior people seasoned in new product launches,’ says Swithenbank, who reunites with Phelips and Aarden on this new venture.
Phelips’ background in starting pharmaceutical agencies and launching new products extends back 20 years, first as founder of Medicus Intercon, then as managing director of Young & Rubicam and later still, as founder of its pharmaceutical agency, Sudler & Hennessey. In 1988, he set up Interesting Projects, an international pharmaceutical communications consulting company.
Aarden and Swithenbank both worked together at Medicus with Phelips; Aarden as president and creative director, Swithenbank as account manager.
After 11 years at Medicus, Aarden left to pursue opportunities in communication consulting with clients Merck Frosst, the Credit Union of Ontario, and Oxfam. He is a member of the board of the New York Festival’s GLOBAL International Healthcare Communication Awards.
Swithenbank left Medicus in 1984 to join MacLAREN McCANN working on OTC advertising and consumer new product launches; in 1993, Swithenbank moved to pharmaceutical advertising agency Remtulla + Associates before leaving for TORRE LAZUR- McCANN.
When it comes to product launches, Phelips, Aarden and Swithenbank have a reputation for making a splash.
At Medicus, their launch of Adalat, to treat angina and Adalat PA to treat hypertension, was so successful it established Bayer as a leading cardiovascular pharmaceutical company at a time when it had no pharmaceutical presence in Canada.
More recently, Phelips and Aarden handled the launch of Cozaar, from Merck Frosst, the first angiotension II agonist in Canada.
The resources and expertise of The Medicine Group, a multinational CHE sister company, provides TORRE LAZUR- McCANN with information on the key issues, trends and perceptions in the marketplace in advance of a launch.
In addition, the infrastructure in place at MacLAREN McCANN, Swithenbank says, gives the agency access to every imaginable resource in-house: a full studio that works 24 hours a day, seven days a week; a film company for print production; a video company; a brand-identity division; and specialists in relationship marketing, web page design, and special events and sales meeting management.
That means that during the often-shortened timelines of a new product launch, the agency can access these resources immediately and efficiently.
A Unique Environment
TORRE LAZUR- McCANN adapted MacLAREN McCANN’s unique ‘Lighthouse’ concept – five meeting rooms designed to represent the different life stages of consumers.
Swithenbank says, ‘We assigned each room to a patient group and the corresponding therapeutic category. It helps us gain insight into the patient.’
At the offices of TORRE LAZUR- McCANN you will find a child’s playroom (representing, for example, otitis media patients); a teen’s rec room (asthma patients); a young adult’s first apartment (oral contraceptives); a family room (cardiovascular); and a senior’s sunroom (COPD and Alzheimer’s).
To these existing rooms, they have added a doctor’s examining room. Swithenbank says, ‘It gives us the opportunity to think like a physician, to understand what happens at the prescribing moment. On a practical level, we can confirm how the print material and packaging we develop for doctors is physically appropriate to their space.’
Swithenbank delights in communicating the phenomenal vitality and enthusiasm that the group exudes.
‘We work hard,’ he adds, ‘but we never lose track of making sure that we do so in the right environment, a positive environment for both the agency and the client.’
Also in this sponsored supplement:
– Overview p. PH1
– DKY, Montreal: Integration and creativity in healthcare advertising p.PH2
– Lally, McFarland & Pantello/Euro RSCG Advertising: Retooling for the future p.PH3
– NATIONAL PharmCom: Beyond public relations p.PH5
– Lacroix PNMD p.PH6
– Remtulla + Associates p.PH8
– Schwab & Piquette: An agency that believes the work should speak for itself p.PH10
– Anderson Toronto p.PH11
– pdg strategie concept inc. p.PH12
– Publicite Anderson p.PH13
– Healthcare Marketing Resources p.PH14
– IntraMedical Health Services p.PH15
