Agency 100 2024: Heartbeat

Heartbeat has long held itself as a challenger agency, and with evident pride. Not surprisingly, when asked for a recent manifestation of this self-definition, president and chief creative officer James Talerico has one at the ready.

It came during a brainstorming session around chronic depression. “The creative team walks in and they show a spot about a depressed robot in post-apocalyptic America,” Talerico recalls. “I’m sitting there thinking, ‘This is freaking ridiculous.’”

However, before long Talerico saw the genius — and the challenger spirit — in the approach. “They were like, ‘We’re not going to do a stereotypical pharma ad with a sad person with the cloud following them,’” he continues. “What we had was provocative and atypical. I thought, ‘Everybody’s on board.’ It was awesome.”

Heartbeat experienced its share of tumult during 2023, starting when two of its clients received what Talerico characterizes as “stinging rebukes” from the Food and Drug Administration. Still, by the time the ledgers were closed on the year, Heartbeat’s revenue was flat at a MM+M-estimated $65 million.

While head count slumped from 302 at the start of the year to 277 at its conclusion, the company explains the differential by noting that it “supported mobility for several team members to other agencies within the Publicis network. In the early months of 2024, we have welcomed many of those talented individuals back into our ranks.

“The beginning of 2023 was about resetting our staffing and thinking, and the second half of the year was fabulous,” Talerico says. “So the fact that we ended flat was kind of amazing. It reminded us to never rest on our laurels.”

The agency promoted two well-regarded members of its executive team, with EVP, strategic capabilities Lisa Varshney moving to chief strategy officer and EVP, growth Janelle Starr becoming chief client officer. Talerico praises both for “bringing a clear narrative to our strategic story. They’ve been so important to our success in the past six months.”

The agency’s second-half rebound saw it add work on Alnylam Pharmaceuticals’ hATTR amyloidosis treatment Amvuttra, Astellas’ menopause symptoms drug Veozah and Genentech’s vision-loss treatment Vabysmo.

Talerico points to the Amvuttra work as emblematic of Heartbeat’s mentality. “A lot of our challenger work takes place in rare disease opportunities, which force you to find people and engage them in ways that aren’t the prototypical pharmaceutical engagement,” he notes.

At the same time, Heartbeat created imaginative, well-received work for wildly successful drugs, such as its efforts on behalf of the Bristol Myers Squibb/Pfizer blood thinner Eliquis. The campaign, No Time to Wait, raised awareness of atrial fibrillation with the help of NBA Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Look for Heartbeat to expand its media and analytics teams in the months ahead, as well as experiment with AI as a “thought partner.”

“Everybody talks about harnessing AI to reduce the amount of time it takes to do X or increase the volume of banners you can pump out in three days,” Talerico explains. “But what we find fascinating is the idea of AI as a thought partner — us tossing out ideas and AI tossing them back. Frankly, it’s fun.”

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