21GRAMS

This is for you, 21GRAMS. The rest of LinkedIn may be confused. So, here's some context: The 2nd Annual 21GRAMYS was last week. It was a celebration of each other (with each other) in New York and London, at the same time, live and in-person. In four words, it was pretty epic. The film, below, opened the show. It would take too long to explain the people (leads of departments), why 21GRAMS has a mayor (no reason, just a thing we do), and what houses are (essentially, our agencies within the agency). That pretty much covers it, actually. The heart of the party is an awards show. To us it's the best one because entries are free, the trophy is cool, and we always win. There are 21 awards, 21-second speeches, and categories that represent some of the 21GRAMS-isms that shape who we are and how we work. The Winners: 1. The Maya Angelou Award: ROOM42 2. The McDougall Award: Nicole Meyer 3. Good and Tough Award: Louis Hills 4. Will Be Your Boss One Day Award: Charlotte Andrews 5. Unreasonable Hospitality Award: Allison S. (Selkowitz) 6. Insight Obsessed Award: Laura Moffat, PhD 7. Unicorn Catcher Award: Emanuel Calderón 8. Never Been Done Before Award: Nick Mason 9. No Pedestals Here Award: Cathy Ragusa 10. Do What's Right Not What's Easy Award: Tom Wordley 11. Love What You Do Award: Carli Aiello 12. Best Together Award: Kristen Farina 13. This Is How We Do It Award: Molly Butler 14. Something From Nothing Award: Annie Mintun Quick 15. What Makes the Team Tick Award: Jonathan Rizzi 16. Client Whisperer Award: Mary Osterhout 17. No Bedtime Facts Award: Evan T. Atherton 18. GRAMY Legend: Andrea Branchini 19. Heart and Soul Award: Abigail Masiuk, PhD 20. Best Client Award: Hemlibra 21. 21GRAMS Mayor: Jenny Sharifipour Congratulations to all the winners and thank you to Real Chemistry for all the support. Walk up music (yes, every winner had walk up music when announced) can be found here: https://shorturl.at/Jm71s

We like to try weird stuff. Like make simulated doctors. We love real doctors, but we don't need them every time we want to learn something about a brand's messaging. They're busy. They have more important things to do. Like save us.  Plus, our AI experiment worked. Simulated doctors respond very similarly to the real ones. Just don’t ask them to prescribe.

They think it’s great. They love it. We know because we care enough to learn what doctors like. Why? Because they're people with real interests. And if we don’t create work that considers what those are, then our creation is a waste of time.  Our philosophy? Find out what people like. You might have a chance at getting their attention.

Mmm, dinner. We love dinner. So much that we made our own kind: 21GRAMS Dinners. It’s not because we like to eat (it’s a little bit about that). It’s because we like to sit down and get to know our audiences on a human level. Just like you’d get to know people in real life.  We’ve found breaking bread breaks barriers. An interrogational-style 2-way mirror can’t do that.

Just kidding. Don’t bring one of those. It’d be weird. And it would probably make everyone uncomfortable. Which doesn’t help when you’re trying to get people to open-up.  As we get to know our audiences, we don’t create discussion guides. We create conversation. Stumbling upon insights the way we do in everyday life. Next time you want to get to know a patient, caregiver, or HCP, listen. Don’t probe.

Remember that TikTok you just watched that was so hilarious you were so happy you saw it and then sent it to everyone you know because you love it so much? Us too. Remember that TikTok ad that you also watched and loved and shared? Us either.  The truth is, anything competing for our audience’s attention is our competition. If we can make ads more entertaining, they become a lot less of an interruption. And a lot more welcome.

Award season is over. But ours just started. And it’s focused on something a little (actually, a lot) more important than the work: The people who make it. We call it the 21GRAMYS. There are 21 award recipients. And every single one gets to take home a golden sneaker. Why? Because our entire mission is to make medicine more inspiring than the sneaker ads that make us cry. If health doesn’t move us, there’s something wrong. Once again, congratulations to all of this year’s winners. 21GRAMS would be nowhere without all of you. And thank you Real Chemistry for all your support and appreciation.

On the surface, this last podcast episode is about Cannes. But really, it's 4 friends from 21GRAMS talking about why creativity for clients is the only way to move our industry forward, how making us (and our parents) proud drives great work, and the case for making awards an outcome vs the goal. All while occasionally making fun of each other. *Also available on Spotify*

In health, CMOs don't typically have a platform to talk about creativity. We'd listen to that podcast, so we created it. Hear our conversation with Erica Taylor, Ph.D., the first CMO of a company that consistently has branded work (real and regulated) recognized at Cannes and elsewhere. In this episode, Erica does more than Cannesplain. She lends some wisdom, perspective and levity about topics that go well beyond the festival. While explaining why scientists and creatives have more in common than you think. *Also available on Spotify*

This billboard is from June 21, 2018. The day 21GRAMS was born. Tomorrow, we turn 6. Don’t feel bad if you didn’t get us a card. It’s never too late. In full transparency, we started this agency because we were underwhelmed by what was out there. The ingenuity of medicine was dampened by out of touch advertising. If you wanted creativity, you had to look to award shows. And even those had become cliché. An open secret of agency-funded work that isn’t as real as you’d like to believe, done by teams who will never work on your actual business. Making you believe they'd bring that magic to you, only to deliver campaigns worthy of SNL parody, on paying brands. Early on, we decided our best work would be for our clients. We knew it would be harder, because it would be real and regulated. We knew it would take trust and validation, because we’d do things pharma doesn’t. We knew it would be more rewarding because the purpose would never be trophies (though sometimes they’d be an outcome). But rather, a (long overdue) better experience with healthcare. Where we don’t treat medicine like it deserves to be less interesting (or more annoying) than fast food, soda or sneakers. Because it's more important. These weren’t just words or intentions. We did the work. In 6 years, we’ve spent the time getting to know our audiences every way we can (pushed to another level, with the help of Real Chemistry). We’ve cracked the code on humor and levity in health. We’ve done branded & balanced work on platforms like Twitch and TikTok that feel like they belong there. We’ve made safety entertaining to watch, rather than something to speed through. And at every turn, prioritized being consistently creative over “playing the game” for glory. Or worse, being fine with the status quo. We still aren’t close to where we want to be. We've done a lot in 6 years, but we're just getting started. Thank you to everyone at 21GRAMS who continues to put their heart (and yes, soul) into everything we do. Happy Birthday, us.