Agency of the year: Matching the message to the mission

JPA Health won four prizes—three golds and one silver—in the Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards, earning the 2021 Agency of the Year honor. Based in Washington, D.C., the communications and marketing agency also has offices in Boston, New York and London.

The agency uses a proprietary database of health influencers, ranging from nano-influencers to mega-influencers, to identify how to most effectively reach a specific audience.

For example, its influencer social media campaign for AstraZeneca sought to reach a subset of lung cancer patients who have a biomarker that indicates they might benefit from targeted therapy. The campaign had great effect using celebrities, including professional golfer Jason Day—whose mother was diagnosed with lung cancer several years ago—as well as micro-influencers. It reached more than 4.1 million people, engaged 1.3 million and generated 8,200 website visits, exceeding the original goals.

“Real life experiences serve to motivate, inspire and take action,” Carrie Jones, a principal at JPA Health, said. “Thanks to Jason’s candor, we created a powerful platform to convey the latest evidence for non-small cell lung cancer biomarker testing while delivering messaging that reached our target audiences where they are. This campaign was a favorite for us because it was personal, relevant and beautifully executed.”

Working on behalf of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, JPA Health executed digital and print campaigns to encourage providers to participate in a continuing medical education online course about the risks of early-onset breast cancer and how to counsel patients. Together, the campaigns resulted in 1,844 registrations—more than triple the goal.

For the LUNGevity Foundation, the agency developed an integrated campaign to raise awareness of the importance of comprehensive biomarker testing among lung cancer patients, their caregivers and the general public in populations with a high incidence of lung cancer. In the first few months, the multifaceted campaign recorded more than 50 million impressions—more than double the campaign-launch goal—among members of its target audiences.

Lola Butcher is a freelance writer based in Springfield, Missouri.

Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards - 2021