Therapeutic Area: Neurology
Indication: Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS)
Sample Tactics: Campaign Creative, TV Commercial, Display & POC Media, Website
Therapeutic Area: Endocrinology
Indication: Cushing's syndrome
Sample Tactics: Website, Responsively-Designed Symptom Tracking Application, Media
Therapeutic Area: Women's Health
Indication: Dyspareunia (Painful Sex)
Sample Tactics: Campaign Creative, Core Visual Aid / IVA, Website
Therapeutic Area: Neurology
Indication: Postherpetic Neuralgia (PHN)
Sample Tactics: Campaign Creative, Print, Display Media, Website
Therapeutic Area: Allergy
Indication: Allergy
Sample Tactics: Website, Mobile App, Media, eCRM
Therapeutic Area: Aesthetics
Indication: Breast Implants
Sample Tactics: Campaign Creative, Website, Core Visual Aid, HCP Leave-Behinds
Therapeutic Area: Endocrinology
Indication: Diabetes
Sample Tactics: Campaign Creative, TV Commercial, Print, Display Media, Website
Therapeutic Area: Men's Health
Indication: Low Testosterone
Sample Tactics: Campaign Creative, TV Commercial, Rich Media, Website
Therapeutic Area: Oncology / Vaccine
Indication: Cervical Cancer
Sample Tactics: Documentary, Display Media, Website
Therapeutic Area: Dermatology
Indication: Rosacea
Sample Tactics: Social Media, Display Media, Website
Therapeutic Area: Surgical
Indication: Soft Tissue Reconstruction
Sample Tactics: Brand Identity, Website, Print
Therapeutic Area: Aesthetics
Indication: Breast Implants
Sample Tactics: Brand Identity, Website, Core Visual Aid, HCP Leave-Behinds
meet bill,
the original
challenger
Every successful entrepreneur has their business origin story. But when it comes to Bill Drummy, the story isn’t clouded by movie-like clichés or shrouded in tales of a mercurial leader. It’s actually pretty straightforward: a really smart guy saw untapped opportunity in our changing digital world, he bravely said, “I’m in,” and then worked his tail off. Quite simply, Bill is a Challenger.
Always looking to confront the accepted thinking of the day, Bill makes bold predictions, invests early in the future, and constantly asks, “Why not?!” He is tenacious in his approach to marketing—pushing, questioning, challenging. He also inspires others with his generosity and empathy. Bill is the total leadership package.
In 2017, after nearly 20 years leading Heartbeat, Bill decided it was time to hand the reins of Heartbeat to new fearless leaders, Nadine Leonard and James Talerico. At the end of 2018 he officially retired, and now spends his time being pushed, questioned, and challenged by his teenage son, Will, and his effervescent wife, Barrie.
Although he no longer walks our halls, his influence is still felt everywhere at Heartbeat, from the way we work to the warm bond of our employee culture, and the manner in which everyone feels free to ask, just as he always did, “Why not?!”
So, what does the journey of a Fearless Founder really look like? Here is Bill’s brief history of Heartbeat time:
1998
heartbeat is born
Based out of his home in Hoboken, New Jersey, the digital agency is birthed & aptly named Drumbeat Digital.
headfirst into healthcare
The agency’s roster expands with additional life science clients, not realizing the path it was soon to chart.
new york, neeew yoooork
Bada-bing, bada-boom, the growing company says goodbye to Jersey and heads to the Big Apple.
giving back with worldbeat
The agency’s philanthropic arm is birthed, and endures to this very day.
He’s Got Heart
With a client list now dominated by healthcare brands, the company’s name is changed to better reflect our focus: Heartbeat Digital.
Media Matters
Foreseeing fully integrated capabilities as a more effective and efficient way for clients to work, a media planning & buying practice is established, and AOR ambitions are set.
Mr. Drummy Goes to Washington
Bill schools the FDA on healthcare’s role in social media, sharing bold ideas with risk-averse regulators.
He’s Got Ideas
Heartbeat Digital is rebranded as Heartbeat Ideas to better reflect our big-time AOR status with clients.
Hall of Famer
Named to the DTC Hall of Fame, Bill is honored for his extraordinary achievement in the advancement of DTC marketing.
California, Here We Come
Heartbeat opens its Los Angeles doors, giving West Coast clients the energy of a "New York agency," only with palm trees and better Mexican food.
Guiding the Future With Google
Bill’s provocative POV earns him a spot on the Google Healthcare Advisory Board.
Publicis Hearts Heartbeat
Our leader makes the big decision to join Publicis Health, the largest healthcare agency network in the world.
Rapid Rise
Heartbeat grows more than 50% in a year, a testament to the industry’s hunger for a boundary-pushing agency partner.
Awards Everywhere
Bill receives the prestigious PharmaVOICE Red Jacket Award, which highlights the most inspirational, motivational, and transformative individuals in the life sciences industry, and he’s named an Innovation Catalyst by MM&M.
The Torch Is Passed
Bill moves to Chairman Emeritus status, handing the Heartbeat reins to long-time partners & power pair Nadine Leonard & James Talerico.
Bidding Adieu
After 20 years of agency leadership, Bill officially retires at year’s end, with plans to read, write, take photographs, and have dinner with his family every single night.
industry update
Dismantling Racism: Our Commitment
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.
Research / Messaging / Planning / Launch Strategy
Media Planning & Buying / Social / Search
Scientific Storytelling / MLR Standards
Data-driven EHR Programs / AI-powered Communications
User-Centric Design / TV / Print / Identity
Digital / Mobile / CLM | IVA / Experiential
Insight-Based Optimization / ROI Modeling
Data-driven EHR Programs / AI-powered Communications
Our strategic workshop diagnoses your brand’s Challenger situation and identifies uncommon opportunities to tackle the competition.
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.
Bespoke media plans balancing exclusivity and efficiency with associated micro-indicators of hits and misses to fine tune a Challenger’s campaign.
Innovation proof of concepts built in 2 weeks or less to confidently identify a new technology’s true marketing viability and potential.
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.
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.
Fearless leaders
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.
Our resident raconteur, 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).
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.
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.
With her 25+ years of healthcare marketing experience and 60+ brand partnerships across a diverse array of therapeutic areas, there aren’t many marketing challenges that Kimberly isn’t equipped to tackle. In fact, her experience with launching brands and developing campaigns is so expansive that she expanded broadened her skillset by becoming a specialist in managed markets. Kimberly contributes this Jill-of-all-trades expertise to Heartbeat clients who want to transform their marketing plans. Her remodeling abilities extend well beyond healthcare—she is an interior designer at heart and can transform any space into a showcase for Architectural Digest.
Dan knows all about healthcare campaigns: his prior career in healthcare public policy had him drafting legislative addresses and advocating for issues such as adolescent and women’s health, as well as overall healthcare reform. He has since translated this passion and knowledge into the leadership of creative partnerships with some of the world’s most notable life sciences brands. With deep experience in developing bold brand experiences and messaging platforms, Dan unites our clients and Heartbeat teams to develop a different type of campaign—marketing solutions that defy convention and drive results.
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 our strategic thinking towards Heartbeat’s own “triple point”—insight-driven, unconventional, and forward-thinking.
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.
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.
Jealous? Curious? Seeking a worthwhile way to avoid work? Learn more about life at Heartbeat here:
