Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG) shops FCB Health and McCann Health will be re-aligned under a new global network, to be called IPG Health, and a unified senior management team. In this new operating model, the distinct agency brands remain active and will continue to go to market independently, but will benefit from additional specialty services, knowledge-sharing, proactive career management, and coordinated collaboration.
The IPG Health offering will be led by CEO Dana Maiman. She will partner with executive chairman John Cahill, and the IPG Health Executive Leadership Team (ELT), which consists of Raj Singhal, who joins the network from IPG’s Huge, Mike Guarino and Lisa DuJat, who join from FCB Health, and Charlie Buckwell, who joins from McCann Health. A global senior leadership team and creative council, consisting of leaders from both FCB Health and McCann Health, has already been identified and will focus on unlocking the benefits of the two agencies’ complementary assets for both existing and prospective clients.
The day-to-day teams at the agency brands within both McCann Health and FCB Health remain in place and will continue to provide their clients with leading talent, including scientists, strategists, creatives and engagement specialists across the healthcare marketing spectrum. IPG Health brings together 5,000 global health communication professionals across six continents, enabling client teams to draw on a broader integrated talent pool on a highly customized, as-needed basis.
The healthcare marketing agencies will continue to partner with IPG’s global creative networks, as well as the broader portfolio of media and marketing services providers, using IPG’s collaborative open architecture model.
“When we bring together complementary specialty services and expertise under a unified and aligned management team, we’ve been able to deliver tremendous solutions that drive success for our clients. As health and wellness continue to be a top concern for individuals, governments and companies around the world, we’ve seen an increased need for healthcare information to be delivered at speed, in ways that are highly personal, culturally relevant, as well as respectful of privacy,” commented Philippe Krakowsky, CEO of Interpublic Group. “By uniting two of the industry’s outstanding healthcare marketing specialty agencies within a single entity, led by a dynamic leadership team, we believe that IPG Health will be able to further focus investment to help clients succeed. FCB Health and McCann Health have collaborated for many years on specific brands, through IPG-led Open Architecture teams. IPG Health will make this the new normal–an operating model for all healthcare clients that delivers the best talent and expertise for every business challenge, and partners with best-in-class IPG capabilities in dynamic areas like data, technology and media.”
Maiman said, “Our agencies are coming together from a position of strength. This alignment brings together the unique and complementary capabilities of each network–a unified IPG Health sits at the nexus of creativity, digital channels, technology and data. Along with our leaders and our great people, I will continue to work with clients to help them address the complexity of today’s market and deliver on their goals. Our culture is one that’s relentlessly focused on doing what’s right–for our people, our clients, their brands, and the public. With innovative and creative communications across a broad spectrum, IPG Health makes science approachable, understandable and actionable. Our integrated approach to a broad range of communications capabilities ensures we can help clients improve outcomes and quality of life for healthcare audiences around the world.”
“COVID-19 created a reset for how all of us think about health,” commented Cahill. “Healthcare marketers therefore need partners who can test and learn in order to deliver real-time communications that help improve the wellbeing of individuals. With the new IPG Health model, directed by a unified senior team, we can provide our clients with the world’s most comprehensive healthcare communications offering. Our colleagues will also benefit from enhanced proactive career management, and we can make a positive impact for people in all parts of the world.”
In addition to the various specialty offerings at FCB Health and McCann Health that IPG Health will tap into on behalf of clients, the new unit will also move to centralize technology and create a uniform operating system that elevates dynamic content for all clients through an integrated offering. This technology, enhanced by IPG’s Kinesso and Acxiom units, includes data and analytics solutions customized for life sciences and its unique group of global stakeholders.
