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Taking what may well be a minority view - at least one not voiced previously in this series of agency interviews - Nina Goodheart of Dudnyk Healthcare Group does not see a threat to medical agencies in the current trend of client mergers. She also has an upbeat view of combining motherhood with top executive responsibility, and speaks optimistically of the payoff of agency se6F-promotion and of remaining independent.
MM&M:
One of your peers, in a recent interview in this series, identified the shrinking number of clients due to industry consolidation as a major issue facing healthcare advertising agencies. Conceivably, the merger wave could be increasing competitive pressure on agencies. What is your view?
Goodheart There can be no doubt that there are fewer clients; however, that is not necessarily bad for agencies. For one thing, the enormous amount of consolidation among healthcare companies has resulted in the downsizing of marketing departments, and at least some companies are turning more frequently to agencies for work that previously would have been done in-house.
Secondly, the fact that there are fewer clients doesn't mean that there are fewer product assignments. In fact, the opposite is true: that more products are being promoted. Overall, therefore, I think the merger trend has been beneficial to medical marketing agencies - at least that's been our experience.
MM&M.: Do you feel your agency has been singled out?
Goodheart: We were fortunate because so many of the merged companies are moving their headquarters into the pharmaceutical belt within 50 miles or so of Philadelphia. Pharmacia & Upjohn is one example; the Glaxo SmithKline Beecham combination is another; Aventis is a third. It so happens that we're right in the heart of that belt, and a lot of times these companies look for an agency within their area - not always, of course, but often enough to make it a very nice thing for us.
MM&M: You just happened to be there? You didn't purposely move?
Goodheart: No, we've always been here. We're about an hours drive from Philadelphia, an hour from Princeton, and an hour from Somerville, N.J., so we're really in the heart of things. That helps us in another way. Consolidation has led to a...