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'Oldest shop in the business' remains relevent with global and digital work
Sudler & Hennessey execs like to boast that their shop may be long-lived-it's the oldest in the business, they say (Art Sudler opened his studio in 1936 and launched Sudler & Hennessey six years later)-but that they've maintained its youthful vigor by changing with the times.
The WPP network was the first big medical advertising shop to go global in a big way, and that's a nice place to be right now as their clients pin their hopes for growth on emerging markets. When we spoke to worldwide chairman and CEO Jed Beitler and co-CEO for the Americas, Louisa Holland, their colleagues were in China and Russia on business.
"Russia's really heating up lately, even though they don't have as formal a pharma industry as other countries," says Beitler, "and surprisingly not just on the professional side but on the patient and consumer side as well."
The agency once ran a branded Viagra campaign in China. "We went to the ministry of health and petitioned them, showed them what we were going to do, and they said: 'Go for it,'" says Beitler. The govern- ment eventually cut off the campaign, but only after a year and a half.
"In other markets, it's really catch as catch can," says Beitler. "You have to be aware of both what the local regulations are and then who's in the know, who you can talk to, whether it's a government ministry or some other regulatory body, because there's probably more opportunity than most people think."
Sudler & Hennessey won four global pitches in the fourth quarter of 2010, bringing the New York office's roster of global accounts to 12. Three of those global accounts were from European multinationals, and fall into the categories of oncology, fertility, orphan diseases and diabetes.
The network boasted a 68% win rate on new business across all divisions, including medical education, promotion, digital, managed care, training and education, says Beitler, and saw revenue growth "in the high single digits."
In the US, says Holland, "It was a...