or 2015, leaders at GA
Communications Group
reported nearly 30 percent
growth in revenue compared with 2014; four significant new business wins/assignments;
and 24 percent growth in staff compared
with the previous year. And in 2016, the
agency announced it had become Sandbox, the founding agency partner and architect of a unique new entity.
2015 was an unprecedented year of
growth and transition for GA Communication, executives say. The year began
with a very busy and uniquely productive first quarter, which set the stage for
the most dynamic year in the agency’s
33-year history.
“We competitively pitched and were
awarded three significant new assignments in the first three months of the
year, and that set the tone for the remainder of 2015,” says Nancy Finigan,
agency president.
Those three new business wins includ-
ed the global launch for a Duchenne mus-
cular dystrophy drug, also for long-time
GA client BioMarin; the patient AOR
designation (to go along with its HCP
AOR role) for the oncology product Imb-
ruvica, a co-promotion between Phar-
macyclics and Janssen Biotech; and a
pipeline epilepsy drug for long-time GA
client Upsher-Smith Laboratories
The agency also began a new relation-
ship with Organogenesis in the first
half of 2015, taking on the AOR role for
its wound care product line.
“We were already geared up for a strong
2015 with several product launches, so
with this influx of hard-fought and well-
earned new business early in the year, we
quickly set out to build on and expand
our talent base and resources to ensure
we continued to over-deliver,” says Mark
Goble, agency principal.
The agency added significant staff and
leadership talent throughout the course
of the year. Two key hires included se-
nior, experienced account leaders who
immediately stepped in to lead signifi-
cant accounts: Julie Hamilton and Chris
Weber, both joining the agency as senior
VPs, group account directors.
“In many ways finding the right talent
was last year’s biggest challenge,” Finigan
says. “But we are drawing new employees
from all over the country and from many
different areas in and out of healthcare.
Julie and Chris are two great examples of
our approach. Julie came to us from mar-
keting one of the biggest brands in the
world, McDonald’s, while Chris has over
two decades of experience marketing
some of the biggest brands in healthcare.
We made a commitment to be deliber-
ate and focus on the caliber of people we
want, and not just rush to fill seats.”
According to agency principal Joe
Kuchta, “When it was all said and done,
at the end of year we realized nearly 30
percent growth in revenue and over 40
new employees in our Chicago and LA of-
fices alone. We’re used to steady, double
digit growth every year and expanding
our staff accordingly, but this was defi-
nitely a high water mark for us. And on
top of all of this great business, we had
this ‘Sandbox’ thing going on.”
Agency executives say Sandbox is an
entirely new, single, integrated marketing agency, the result of a few years
of effort by Goble and Kuchta to build
the next chapter for their agency. It is
an agency comprising four successful,
independent agencies whose principals
believe that, together, they can deliver so
much more for their clients.
“This is an exciting new stage in our
evolution, a strategic move for our fu-
ture,” Goble says. “This way our focus
will always remain on our clients, people
and culture, and now we’re significantly
more powerful. Our collective talent and
resources now allow us to compete with
anyone on a global scale, and we’ve cre-
ated an environment that allows us to
become the destination for the best talent
and shape our own future.”
Kuchta adds, “The plans to create
Sandbox started a few years ago, when
we were assessing our future. We looked
at all of our options to stimulate growth
and that included talking to all of the big
public networks; talking with private eq-
uity; talking with venture capita – all the
folks who we knew could provide help
and guidance. But none of those deals or
options really seemed right for us.”
The four founding members of Sand-
box are GA, with its offices in Chicago
and Los Angeles; McCormick Company,
with offices in Kansas City, Indianap-
olis, and Des Moines, Iowa; Manhat-
tan-based Underline Communications;
and Canadian firm One Advertising,
headquartered in Toronto.
“Now, as Sandbox, we have even more
to offer our clients in so many areas,” Finigan says. “We are deep in a diverse range
of long-established practice areas, including human and animal healthcare, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, biotechnology, agriculture, financial services, travel,
and consumer products. And our collective capabilities are comprehensive, with
unbelievable talent in strategic planning,
integrated marketing, creative, branding,
relationship marketing, digital media...
the list goes on and on.
“This is exciting for our clients and exciting for our future. I can only imagine
what 2016 holds for us.” medadnews
F
Sandbox
One East Wacker Drive, 32nd Floor
Chicago, IL 60601
Telephone: 312-803-1900
E-mail: info@sandboxww.com
Website: sandboxww.com
(left to right) Joe Kuchta, principal; Mark Goble, principal; Nancy Finigan, president
The year’s accomplishments
Structure and services o;ered
ACCOUNTS
Account wins
4
Active business clients
16
BRANDS BY 2015 SALES
Brand-product accounts held
26
$25 million or less
2
$25 million – $50 million
5
$50 million – $100 million
2
$100 million – $500 million
7
$500 million to $1 billion
6
$1 billion or more 1
Products not yet approved/launched
3
Sales support and marketing materials
in all media 30%
Direct to healthcare professionals 25%
Direct to patient communication
and education 25%
Brand strategy and planning 20%
Baxalta
Baxter
BioMarin
Illinois Biotechnology Industry
Organization (iBIO)
Invictus Medical
Mylan Institutional
Obagi Medical Products
Organogenesis
Pharmacyclics/Janssen Biotech
Sakura Finetek U.S.A.
Upsher-Smith Laboratories
Valeritas
