The agency for CHALLENGER BRANDS

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POV

Point of Care Everywhere

WHAT
WE DO

Natively digital, full service agency

Heartbeat knows slaying giants requires a clever, dynamic, efficient approach. Thus, we equip you with a full arsenal of end-to-end services and exclusive Challenger tools – all under one roof, on the same floor, usually within a few feet.

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Core Services

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Brand Strategy

Research / Messaging / Planning / Launch Strategy

Audience Engagement

Media Planning & Buying / Social / Search

Medical Advisory

Scientific Storytelling / MLR Standards

Creative Activation

User-Centric Design / TV / Print / Identity

Technical Engineering

Digital / Mobile / CLM | IVA / Experiential

Performance Measurement

Insight-Based Optimization / ROI Modeling

CHALLENGER SERVICES

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Challenger ID

Our strategic workshop diagnoses your brand’s Challenger situation and identifies uncommon opportunities to tackle the competition.

Rival Rumble

A disassembly of competitive creative, combined with a crash-test of clichés by our own karass, leaves a pile of well-trodden tropes to toss aside and offers open water for our Challenger brand ideation.

Mediamorphosis

Bespoke media plans balancing exclusivity and efficiency with associated micro-indicators of hits and misses to fine tune a Challenger’s campaign.

Sketch

Innovation proof of concepts built in 2 weeks or less to confidently identify a new technology’s true marketing viability and potential.

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Select Clients

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OUR
WORK

Work that says "Hell yes," and the competition "Oh $#*!"

We've done everything from launching big, breakthrough therapies to helping companies commercialize their very first product. But one thread connects them all: they were Challenger brands that knew their only route to success was rewriting the rules of the game. We’re proud to have been their co-authors.

HORIZANT

Consumer & HCP AOR

BYDUREON

Consumer AOR

SIENTRA

Consumer & HCP AOR

TESTIM

Digital DTC

HORIZANT

Consumer & HCP AOR

ZYRTEC

Digital HCP AOR

SIENTRA

Consumer & HCP AOR

KORLYM

Digital AOR

OSPHENA

HCP AOR

ORACEA

Digital AOR

TELA BIO

HCP AOR

CERVARIX

Digital AOR

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OUR
CULTURE

It’s indescribable — but we’ll try

We are thinkers and doers with deep healthcare roots and an appetite for fresh perspectives. We chase after challenges with a combination of ingenuity and guts, whether in group status meetings or group trapeze lessons (true story). If you want to surround yourself with partners who are insightful, inventive, courageous — well, you just hit the motherload.

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Fearless leaders

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Bill Drummy Chairman Emeritus

If you peer deep into a time portal, you might see a guy with an abundance of curly hair and even more moxie founding a digital agency in the same week that Google was incorporated. While his ’do no longer defies gravity, Bill's tenacity still pushes healthcare advertising to be in lock-step with the world around it. This never-wavering commitment has led to recognition as an Innovation Catalyst by MM&M, a place in the DTC Perspectives Hall of Fame, and a three-peat on the PharmaVoice 100. When he’s not serving as a member of the Google Healthcare Advisory Board, he can be found brandishing a metaphorical megaphone on stages and in publications—he is notorious for his bold predictions and pull-no-punches POVs.

Nadine Leonard Managing Director
Executive Planning Director

Nadine is the reason why our brand strategies are brazen and our clients see us as partners for the long-haul. Even if she’s not directly shaping a campaign or market launch, her presence is felt through the mentorship and daily oversight she generously doles out to Heartbeat’s strategists, client service teams, and beyond. Fueled by over two decades of marketing experience and an MBA from NYU Stern, her acute approaches to brand challenges are deeply felt by our clients and their bottom lines. It's these talents, plus her unwavering positivity—even during spirited debates—that make her a personification of the Heartbeat ideology.

James Talerico Managing Director
Executive Creative Director

Our resident renegade, in-house iconoclast, native nonconformist. "Unconventional" is just how James is wired—stretching back to his teenage years in eastern PA, where he served drinks to retired coal miners in his grandfather's bar while memorizing Latin verb declensions. At Heartbeat, he runs day-to-day operations and offers generous pours of inspiration to our award-winning Creative, Tech, and Media teams—all the while, infusing healthy skepticism of the latest thing and a deep commitment to the lasting brand idea. He still surrounds himself with Latin each day, but it tends to be Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet (the common industry placeholder for creative copy).

Lee Slovitt EVP | Relationship Lead

If you’re looking for an agency partner who isn’t scared to shoot it to you straight, look no further. Platitudes and placations are noticeably absent when you partner with Lee—rather, his many years of experience in engaging hard-to-reach and media-overloaded audiences has shaped his never-settle approach to client business challenges. As a Relationship Lead, Lee steers strategy and ensures impeccable execution for Heartbeat’s clients (his mastery of media buying/planning is icing on the client-service cake). These savvy instincts extend beyond the office—he has an uncanny knack for always ordering the best thing on any restaurant menu.

Lisa Varshney EVP | Relationship Lead

Good luck finding an agency partner with more holistic healthcare knowledge than Lisa. Her healthcare career began where few others have: as a synthetic chemist. She eventually hung up her lab coat to go back to school (at, ya know, Wharton), where she received her MBA in Healthcare Management. Before joining Heartbeat, she was a longtime healthcare marketing consultant—shaping brand strategy and scientific marketing for health organizations and brands across every therapeutic area. Our clients are the lucky beneficiaries of all this expertise, as Lisa steers internal teams towards Heartbeat’s own "triple point": unconventional brand strategies, action-driving creative, and rock-solid execution.

Jen Campanaro EVP | General Manager

Look up "dream coworker" in Merriam-Webster and you’ll find Jen's smiling face. It’s been a steady presence at Heartbeat since 2000—as employee #12, Jen is the bedrock of Heartbeat’s smooth business operations and process-perfect production. Today, she guides the agency’s talent, finance, production, and regulatory practices, so both employees and clients reap the benefits of her extensive experience and ready-for-anything attitude. The thing that makes Jen cheese the hardest is her daughter Dylan, who she tags in every photo as #bestkidever—clearly, she's following in mom’s footsteps.

Michelle Edwards Director, Human Resources

Michelle is the fire that fuels Heartbeat’s most valuable asset: our human capital. She spends all day (and most nights) thinking of ways to find, hire, and enrich the most talented and challenge-hungry folks in the biz. If that quest wasn’t enough, Michelle also spearheads every single cultural initiative that makes Heartbeat, well, Heartbeat—from Upbeat, our year-long take on the beloved camp color war, to Bodybeat, our focus on employee health and wellness. So when you inevitably flip through the photos on our Facebook page, you can do so knowing that Michelle is the person behind every heartfelt and wacky moment.

Janelle Starr
EVP | Marketing

If you're on Heartbeat’s client roster (or have ever wanted to be), then Janelle was likely your first impression. Lucky for us, she makes a damn fine one. As the leader of Heartbeat’s Marketing-Communications discipline, Janelle connects with our potential partners to understand their business challenges, and then catalyzes HB teams to develop the most compelling solutions possible. She also flashes her deep executional knowledge—thanks to her years leading both Production and Technology—to demonstrate how Heartbeat teams will get it all done, and with aplomb. If you want to actually enjoy the RFP process with an agency, she's here to punch your ticket.

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0 % POSITIVE
AGENCY CULTURE

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LOYALTY & RETENTION

Jealous? Curious? Seeking a worthwhile way to avoid work? Learn more about life at Heartbeat here:

The agency for CHALLENGER BRANDS

WHAT
WE DO

Natively digital, full service agency

Brand Strategy

Audience Engagement

Medical Advisory

Creative Activation

Technical Engineering

Performance Measurement

CHALLENGER SERVICES

Challenger ID

Rival Rumble

Mediamorphosis

Sketch

OUR
WORK

Work that says "Hell yes," and the competition "Oh $#*!"

OUR
CULTURE

It’s indescribable — but we’ll try

Agency Life

AD AGE BEST PLACE TO WORK

WHAT'S
NEW

Challenging thoughts, news & social musings

POV

Point of Care Everywhere

INDUSTRY UPDATE

NetBase Live Social Media Conference Recap

INDUSTRY UPDATE

Wearables: Where Are They Now?

See Career Opportunities

HEARTBEAT

HEARTBEAT WEST

Brand Strategy

Audience Engagement

Medical Advisory

Creative Activation

Technical Engineering

Performance Measurement

CHALLENGER SERVICES

Challenger ID

Rival Rumble

Mediamorphosis

Sketch

OURCULTURE

Agency Life

AD AGE BEST PLACE TO WORK

POV

Point of Care Everywhere

INDUSTRY UPDATE

NetBase Live Social Media Conference Recap

INDUSTRY UPDATE

Wearables: Where Are They Now?

See Career Opportunities

Business & Media Inquires

Contact Us

HEARTBEAT

HEARTBEAT WEST

OUR
CULTURE