Agency of the Year winner, supplier campaign, Healthcare Marketing IMPACT Awards

As its name proclaims, marketing firm 2e Creative believes creativity is at the core of the campaigns that keep its clients thriving. But it also knows that marketing is just as much science as it is art.

Science actually represents the vast majority of the firm's business. St. Louis-based 2e, with 30 full-time staffers, serves clients in a wide spectrum of healthcare and health-related sectors. They include provider organizations such as hospitals and cancer-care centers; interventional device, implant and pharmaceutical companies; provider services such as large group purchasing organizations; and life sciences research organizations.

“Our whole passion, the reason we exist, is to drive change for brands that shape the world and have an impact on the human experience,” said Ross Toohey, 2e's president. “It's fun to be able to do good work for companies that are doing something you really believe in.”

One successful campaign crafted by 2e was for Elsevier, a health information company specializing in medical education. The focus was on Elsevier's ClinicalKey medical content product, which the company calls the “world's first clinical insight engine.” The challenge was to sell medical students on the value of the vast amounts of information available through the tool, not just when they become physicians but early on in their studies.

“It's a product that grows along with the student as they advance in their practice,” Toohey said.

One popular component of the campaign was called ClinicalKey Moments, which featured students explaining—via social media—when they first decided they wanted to become a doctor. The use of social media also provided lead generation and other metrics that helped the client track subscription trends for ClinicalKey.

Follow David May on Twitter: @MHdmay