Cambridge BioMarketing: 2020
Cambridge BioMarketing
53 State Street, 24th Floor
Boston, MA 02109
Telephone
617-225-0001
Website
QUICK FACTS
Accounts
Account wins 14
Active business clients 31
Brands by 2019 sales
Brand-product accounts held 29
SERVICES MIX
Consumer digital/web/mobile 25%
Professional digital/web/mobile 25%
Sales materials 20%
Mar-tech/ad-tech 10%
Market research/data/analytics 10%
Professional print ads 5%
Promotional medical education 5%
CLIENT ROSTER
Akcea
Alexion
Allakos
Amylyx
BioCryst
BioMarin
Horizon
Kyowa Kirin
Mallinckrodt
Orchard Therapeutics
Sanofi
Spark Therapeutics
Viela Bio
Cambridge BioMarketing (CB) solidified the agency’s place as a leader in the rare disease and specialty medicine space during 2019, according to management. With the agency’s underlying mission of “serving the underserved” guiding every action, CB introduced its proprietary methodology, won game-changing new business, made key hires, and was recognized by peers and industry alike for its accomplishments.
RECENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS
According to agency executives, one of Cambridge BioMarketing’s most significant achievements was the launch of RareID in May, a proprietary approach to identifying rare disease market solutions. The offering helps clients better understand patients with rare diseases (and the HCPs treating them) at a deeper level and deliver solutions directly to them. “The approach has four tenets: finding diagnosed and undiagnosed patients and the HCPs likely to treat them; developing markets and launching brands for novel and crowded treatments, accelerating time to diagnosis; activating rare communities to drive awareness and spark patients and HCPs to champion new treatments; and nurturing relationships between patients, HCPs, and industry and advocacy organizations to foster empathy and understanding,” CB managers say. “Each tenet is essential to Cambridge BioMarketing’s goal of improving the lives of the 400 million people affected by rare diseases worldwide.”
RareID uses proven, predictive model-matching applications and journey-mapping techniques customized for the rare disease market, enabling companies to confidently understand how to reach their customers. “By combining client algorithms with Cambridge BioMarketing’s rare disease knowledge base, the approach develops the most effective market-shaping strategies, messaging, and initiatives to find and activate patients.”
Cambridge BioMarketing also made important additions to its team, most notably bringing Ben Beckley on board as president. Beckley has held a variety of senior leadership positions throughout his career, most recently as managing director and business lead for the Rare Disease Village at Havas Health & You. Beckley oversees agency operations and continues to drive the agency forward with an eye toward transformation, innovation, and expansion.
The agency won a number of new business accounts in 2019. Cambridge BioMarketing was named AOR for Amylyx’s AMX0035 product, which will launch in the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis space later this year. The agency also picked up work for Spark’s Luxturna brand; Allakos, for the company’s active eosinophilic gastritis and/or eosinophilic gastroenteritis disease education; and Viela Bio disease education about neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder.
Management believes that the agency’s commitment to the rare disease community is what sets Cambridge BioMarketing apart. In recognition of national Rare Disease Day on February 26, 2019, the agency put a face to the rare disease community in the middle of Boston by projecting portraits of patients living with rare diseases on the side of Boston City Hall as part of its #FacesOfRare campaign. The installation, which featured portraits of five patients living with conditions including hemophilia, hereditary angioedema, familial chylomicronemia syndrome, lipodystrophy, and Morquio A, shared the patient perspective of living with a rare disease. The initiative aimed to raise awareness of rare diseases and encouraged the public to become involved. The public was invited to hear more about patients’ stories and others facing rare disease by visiting Cambridge BioMarketing’s #FacesOfRare campaign.
The agency continued its “Rare in Common” podcasts this year, which give people from the rare disease community an opportunity to tell their stories. The series, offers a glimpse of how Cambridge BioMarketing is rethinking what it means to be rare. With more than 20 episodes, the podcast continues to shed light on the unique stories of people affected by rare disease. Andra Stratton, the host of “Rare in Common,” is a finalist for the eyeforpharma Patient Advocate of the Year, recognizing a patient who has provided others with a stronger voice through advocacy work.
In summer 2019, Cambridge BioMarketing launched Hold On for Humanity, an initiative designed to inspire the pharmaceutical industry to take a stand and protect immigrant patients in the United States. The agency developed a website that included links to sign a petition to keep rare disease patient Isabel Bueso in the United States to receive lifesaving medical treatment, donate to the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES), connect with local representatives, and learn more about the challenges facing immigrant patients.
Cambridge BioMarketing has been recognized with multiple accolades for innovative and creative campaigns on behalf of the global rare disease community, including two MarCom Awards (platinum for BioCryst’s Together as One campaign and gold for the Akcea Tegsedi product launch), and four Hermes Creative Awards: (two platinum for the Kyowa and Intercept campaigns, and two gold for the Rare in Common and Kyowa Kirin InsideCTCL.com campaigns). Alisa Shakarian, Cambridge BioMarketing’s chief creative officer, was also named a 2019 PM360 ELITE Disrupter, recognizing the most influential people in the healthcare industry. Additionally, the agency was named to the MM&M Agency 100, which ranks the leading healthcare agencies.
STRUCTURE AND SERVICES
The agency, comprising two offices in the biotech hubs of Boston and the Bay Area, is made up of three large teams: strategy, representing brand planning and medical; CRAFT, composed of digital and creative; and client partnership, representing account and project management. “Our integrated strategy team is a key differentiator, as we have medical directors dedicated to each account, along with a traditional strategist,” CB executives say. “The combination of digital and creative into one CRAFT team was an exciting reorganization undertaken in 2019, ensuring all work is done with an ingrained digital focus.”
CB has a 50/50 focus on patient and HCP materials, “as our philosophy is that having these communications fit together holistically is critical,” agency managers say. Service offerings include launch-readiness support, digital strategy, brand planning, brand identity, and campaign development, market analytics, integrated marketing, patient identification, and patient adherence programs.
FUTURE PLANS
In 2020 and beyond, Cambridge BioMarketing will look to take its expertise in the rare disease field and apply it to more “first and only” treatments – novel drugs, orphan treatments, and specialty therapies, including areas such as gene therapy. The agency will focus on expanding CB’s vast experiences to help other underserved patient populations, not just rare ones.
The agency is also developing a proprietary predictive analytics and precision targeting platform. For the first time, pharma companies focused on rare diseases will have access to a tool that uses machine learning and AI to more precisely reach HCPs and patients. The platform is being rolled out during 2020.
PHILANTHROPY/CITIZENSHIP
During 2019, Cambridge BioMarketing was involved in two pro bono initiatives. The agency partnered with the Mending Minds Foundation to create a new logo, which is still under way. Cambridge BioMarketing additionally created the collateral for the American Kidney Foundation Pairing for Prevention event in Boston. Each year around the holidays, the agency works with Beverly Bootstraps, a nonprofit connecting employees with families in need to ensure each child receives a gift under their tree.
