Perhaps the biggest question confronting LevLane heading into 2021 was how the agency’s guiding ethos, “Who Loves Ya?” would translate to the virtual world.

Would clients still feel the love over Zoom? And while brand awareness efforts are ubiquitous online, would the Philadelphia-based firm be able to convert clicks into true-brand believers in a world deprived of physical connection?

To hear Kevin Dunn, LevLane’s SVP of strategy and client engagement, tell it, one of the agency’s biggest challenges from last year came down to the ways it approached prospective clients.

“We had to relearn how to pitch,” he says. “Previously you were able to pitch in person and engage with clients that way. Now it’s about one-to-one conversations, and the person you’re talking to is in their spare bedroom with slippers on.” 

LevLane’s ability to foster a warm, welcoming interactive environment on those pitches has gone a long way toward helping secure new business, Dunn believes. “You have to give them the camera a little bit and ask questions to keep them involved.”

Also helpful in the virtual world as in the in-person one: remaining “targeted and focused with whom you want to do business,” adds Timmy Garde, LevLane’s chief innovation leader. 

That approach appears to have paid off in 2021. The agency added Gateway Health, now a fully owned subsidiary of Highmark Wholecare, to its roster, and helped the insurance plan provider connect with small businesses. It also started working with lung-cancer diagnostic upstart Biodesix. 

However, the company’s most high-profile win was an organic one. Last year, LevLane was enlisted by client Agile Therapeutics to work with retired soccer star and corporate envoy Carli Lloyd to promote Twirla, the drugmaker’s new contraceptive patch.

Dunn says the campaign’s driving force was a single message: Don’t let people tell you what’s possible.

“Carli was cut from the women’s soccer team and went on to become its top goal scorer of all time. This scrappy attitude embodies what this company wants to do as a startup in women’s health,” he explains. LevLane helped launch a website for the brand along with a corporate video.

Those and other wins helped bump LevLane’s revenue upward by 6% in 2021, to $12.5 million from $11.8 million the year prior. Head count rose to 85 by the end of the year, from 75 at the same point in 2020. 

To accommodate the growth, the company filled out its C-suite. LevLane brought in a new CFO(Nicole Landau) and appointed its first chief talent officer (Adam Heagy). “We wanted to make sure we have a succession plan for everybody,” Garde says of the agency’s decision to formalize its recruiting function. 

As for how broader healthcare conversations have changed over the past year, Dunn points to the debate on vaccines spurred by the pandemic. “Healthcare is vastly different now,” he says. “You have to figure out how to address different audiences; everybody needs to be a part of the equation. We have to keep that in mind as marketers.” 

Nike. When you bring emotion to advertising you win — all of its inspired commercials drive your emotions. It uses a brilliant combination of voiceover, music and visuals. Its spots convey individuality but also teamwork and overcoming adversity, as well as the impossibility-to-possibility and negativity-to-positivity arc. Nike ads communicate that no matter who you are, you can do it — and you shouldn’t let anyone tell you otherwise. — Garde

From the June 01, 2022 Issue of MM+M - Medical Marketing and Media

MM+M Women of Distinction program celebrates the individuals whose leadership, creativity and insight continue to inspire everyone who encounters them.

Lilian Galarraga, Kate Horvath and Heather Hoy sat down to discuss the challenges of being a mom as well as a business leader and starting every new program with your equity hat on.

Christina Kim sat down with her frequent collaborator and friend Nina Manasan Greenberg for a discussion about the importance of representation.

Telehealth isn’t going away, and it’s time for marketers to take the unique platform seriously.

Biolumina’s focus on culture and values drives who they are as an organization, the work they do, and what their future looks like.

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