Omnicom opens new healthcare coms agency
pharmafile | May 21, 2009 | News story | Medical Communications |Â Â TogoRunÂ
Media giant the Omnicom Group has launched a TogoRun, a new healthcare communications agency with offices in London and New York.
Specialising in pharma and consumer PR as well as public affairs, it will sit in Omnicom's Diversified Agency Services (DAS) network.
DAS's existing healthcare agency CPR Worldwide, which was run out of New York, has been absorbed into the new entity, and its name disappears.
Agency president and former head of CPR Worldwide Kathy Hyett said: "We will represent clients in the US, UK, and EMEA region from day one."
Hyett, a comms veteran who has worked at Fleishman-Hillard, Burson-Marsteller and Mark Krueger & Associates, added: "Balancing creativity and compliance across dozens of regulatory geographies is a distinctive strength of the firm."
"Our fundamental operating philosophy is to provide faster, nimbler services with an emphasis on creativity and impeccable delivery."
Jennifer Wilson, who has worked for both manufacturer Roche and healthcare agency Athena Medical PR, is managing director of TogoRun's London office.
She declined to name any clients, but Eli Lilly and Boehringer Ingelheim are among companies which have used CPR in the past.
Currently on the hunt for staff, Wilson hopes to grow headcount in London to six by the end of the year, doubling that by the end of 2010.
"That is on the account side," explains Wilson. "We are managed by DAS and Omnicom so we already have the back office support."
Her remit is to maintain and build the agency's client relationships and business base. "We'd like to position our offering as 'boutique' thinking, an extension of the client's team," Wilson added.
In the US TogoRun has 15 staff based in New York and led by former CPR senior vice president Lauren Letellier, who is managing director of the US office.
In a 20-year PR career, she was a senior member of Fleishman-Hillard's New York healthcare practice prior to joining CPR.
"The launch reflects a new and exciting direction for this agency, as well as the importance we place on having diverse service offerings in a highly competitive market," said Tom Harrison, chief executive of Omnicom's DAS.
"TogoRun occupies a distinct position for clients seeking both the staff experience of a full-service agency and the customized service offering of a healthcare boutique."
Last month London-based advertising agency Paling Walters changed its name to TBWA\Paling Walters when it became the UK hub of Omnicom's healthcare advertising arm TBWA\WorldHealth.
