When she is asked to weigh in on 2023, MEI EVP, account services Leslie Turner describes it as “a good-slash-great year.” In light of the numbers — revenue increased 8%, to $61.5 million from $56.9 million in 2022, while the agency grew its total number of clients from 21 to 26 — the assessment seems reasonable. However, Turner prefers to take a more expansive view of her company’s recent accomplishments.
“I don’t think of a good year as one new client or one new project or even one new service. That’s not what makes a good year for us,” she explains. “MEI’s greatest accomplishment year after year is our stability.”
Turner notes with obvious pride that MEI has client and employee relationships that date back more than a decade. To the former point, staff size nudged upward from 203 full-timers at the start of 2023 to 218 at the end of it. Turner, who celebrated her 10th year at MEI in January, leads the company alongside managing director W. Curtis Herrmann — himself about to complete his 11th year with the organization.
“People stay, learn and grow here, and we have clients that keep us thinking and on our toes. The totality of our work is what we’re most proud of,” Turner adds.
Turner points to the agency’s engagement with Crinetics, around assets in the company’s endocrinology pipeline, as an example of the strong client relationships that MEI attempts to forge.
“We got Crinetics through a referral from someone we had worked with in the past, and it’s a really exciting time for the company,” she says. “We are working with them on advisory boards and some presentations, which is really our sweet spot.”
Servier, Zogenix and Jazz Pharmaceuticals are among the other organizations that MEI counts as clients.
In terms of new service offerings, MEI is leaning on its status as one of the flagship properties of the Medical Knowledge Group network of health companies. “It’s really within MKG as a whole that we are able to expand our services to our clients,” Turner explains. “If MEI itself doesn’t have a capability or a service, whether analytics, professional promotions or market access, we always have someone to go to. We can provide anything clients are looking for.”
Clients, in turn, have proven loyal over the years, Turner reports. “Pretty much the only reason we lose work is acquisitions,” she notes. “But every acquisition ends up being a great opportunity. We have great relationships and then, if someone moves to another company, it’s an opportunity for us to work with them again at their new organization.”
Looking ahead, Turner hopes that MEI will continue to experiment with new and different digital technologies. But even as the company pushes deep into the world of generative AI, Turner remains skeptical that technology can ever totally override the human element so intrinsic to creative and strategic work.
“We’re going to embrace AI. We’ll use it to make things more efficient and potentially more cost-effective, but it won’t replace anyone,” she promises. “It’s an add-on that can help in our industry and in our lives. But the minds that we have at MEI can’t be replaced.”
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Work we wish we did
I wish we had done something like Apellis’ unbranded Living Room site for Empaveli. It shows the everyday lives of people living with PNH (paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria) from the perspective of their belongings. It’s definitely a new take on the day-in-the-life concept. — Turner
