BBDO Health Work Launches.

BBDO New York announced the launch of BBDO Health Work, a new division within BBDO dedicated to creating the most potent work in the Direct-to-Consumer and Pharmaceutical category. The new unit will be headed by Anne Devereux.

Anne joins BBDO New York as President, BBDO Health Work. Previously, she was President and Founder of Consumer Healthworks, one of the first agencies to specialize in direct-to-consumer advertising for healthcare brands. Subsequently, in 2000, she merged Consumer Healthworks with Omnicom’s Merkley Newman Harty to create Merkley Newman Harty Healthworks, where she served as President and Chief Operating Officer, presiding over one of the fastest growing consumer healthcare agencies in the nation. At BBDO, Ms. Devereux will report to Andrew Robertson, President BBDO Worldwide and CEO, BBDO North America.

“This is an important growth opportunity for us,” said Mr. Robertson. “In Anne Devereux, we have finally found the person to make this happen. The combination of Anne’s energy, her strategically-driven thinking, her in-depth understanding of the pharma industry and BBDO’s creative firepower should make a very compelling offer for clients looking for breakthrough work in this incredibly challenging category.”

Mr. Robertson noted that BBDO’s mantra is “the work, the work, the work” and that this will be the single greatest differentiating factor between BBDO Health Work and other healthcare agencies. “By naming the new division BBDO Health Work, we have made it abundantly clear that our focus and plan is to create the most focused, motivating, breakthrough and results-driven work in the category.”

Commenting on her decision to join BBDO Health Work, Ms. Devereux expressed the belief that now is exactly the right time to be launching this new division.

“If you look at current trends, there were only half the number of new entities submitted to the FDA for approval in 2002. As a result, there will be fewer new products launched over the next few years. This will put considerably more pressure on current compounds and those new products to succeed.” She added, “Clients are looking for agency partners with the sophistication to help them understand the importance of getting diagnosed, treated, and staying on therapy for as long as their doctor prescribes. And all of this needs to be done with maximized message efficiency and optimized ROI.”

Ms. Devereux concluded by saying, “BBDO Health Work intends to bring efficiency in spending and the creative firepower of BBDO to help devise smarter strategies that are meaningful and that will get people to take action.”

Joining Ms. Devereux to help launch BBDO Health Work will be Jeremy Meilman. Mr. Meilman will be Senior Account Planner, responsible for strategic planning within this new unit. Mr. Meilman joins from Hill Holliday, where he helped start the agency’s healthcare division. Prior to that, he worked in South Africa, where he co-founded and was strategic planning director for his own healthcare company — Fine Healthcare. BBDO Health Work will be based in New York but will draw upon all of the resources of the BBDO Worldwide network including online, direct, CRM, public relations and more. It is projected to become a global operation.