Leading pharmaceutical business and marketing publication Med Ad News announces the nominees for the 32nd Annual Manny Awards, recognizing the best in healthcare advertising and communications. The 2021 Manny Awards ceremony will be held virtually on Thursday, April 22.

Lori Grant

Klick Health CEO Lori Grant is being honored as the 2021 Industry Person of the Year. A highly regarded thought leader and proactive problem solver, Grant has been instrumental in building Klick’s thriving client roster, client services teams, and in the company’s overall growth and success.

Dedicated to healthcare marketing, Grant has more than 30 years of strategic leadership and expertise on both the client and agency side. Grant was named CEO at Klick’s internal Town Hall in December 2019 after serving as President for six years. Before her position as President, she spent seven years as Senior Vice President of Brand Development and Digital Strategy at Klick.

Grant has been recognized as one of the WXN Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada, PharmaVOICE 100 Most Inspiring People in Health, and in MM&M magazine’s “Hall of Femme.” She has also been named a PM360 ELITE Mentor.

“She has steered our valiant ship through what has been the most turbulent storm in our lifetimes, all the while leading our business through ongoing significant growth, demonstrating what a people-first culture is really all about, and further illustrating just how different Klick is,” says Rich Levy, CCO, Klick Health. “I don’t know another CEO who single-handedly writes and sends personalized congratulatory notes to every single one of her 1,300+ employees on their hiring anniversary – even in the best of times when the world is normal and we’re not fighting a deadly virus. But that’s Lori. And just one of the many reasons she should be recognized as Med Ad News’ Industry Person of the Year.”

Maria Sanchez

Nominated by McCann Health New York, the Med Ad News 2021 Marketer on the Rise is Maria Sanchez, Associate Director, Consumer Marketing, Novartis. “Maria Sanchez puts her whole heart into everything she does. So, it’s no surprise her heart failure brand, Entresto, is continuing to have high record growth, even in year 6 of its life cycle,” according to McCann Health New York.

Year after year, Sanchez finds new ways to challenge the boundaries of pharma marketing. In 2018, she played a key role in persuading management to run :30-second TV spots for a boxed warning drug – a first for Novartis – that instantly doubled the impact of her media budget.

Under the leadership of Sanchez, Entresto was named one of the top five most visible advertisers on Facebook. In 2020, Sanchez launched the “Did You Know” campaign – a series of OLVs and banners that encourage patients to learn the facts about heart failure. Together with other tactics, the effort has generated more than 177,000 new leads, just in time for Entresto’s 2021 label expansion.

Sanchez has also been a pioneer in using social media tools typically reserved for non-pharma brands. She was the first in pharma to use unbranded to branded retargeting ads to increase consideration, automated responses via Social Messenger to encourage and build trust in the CRM program, and programmatic targeted online video overlays. 

When COVID hit, Sanchez made sure that Entresto was one of the very first brands to express appreciation for the tireless efforts of healthcare workers, adding a message of gratitude in the brand’s TV advertising. She also took the lead in finding new ways to support patients during the pandemic, including the promotion of 90-day prescriptions and telehealth opportunities.

Voted by Med Ad News staff and industry peers, these are the 2021 Manny Awards nominees:

Agency of the Year – Category I

• AREA 23
• Fingerpaint
• TBWA\WorldHealth

Agency of the Year – Category II

• Calcium
• closerlook
• JUICE Pharma Worldwide

Agency of the Year – Category III

• Brick City Greenhouse
• Moon Rabbit        
• Splice Agency

Agency on the Rise

• Create NYC
• Peregrine Market Access
• SFC Group

Best Consumer Campaign – Print

• AbelsonTaylor: Latuda
• GSW: [Re]remission Plan
• TBWA\WorldHealth: Ajovy “Balance”

Best Consumer Campaign – TV/Radio

• AREA 23: Storied Eyes
• FCB Health New York: “Battle Back” for Cequa
• McCann Health New York: Fasenra Quiet

Best Consumer Campaign – Web

• AREA 23: Max & Maxine
• CDMP: Fight For Zero Seizures
• GSW: Hectare’s

Best Experiential Campaign

• AREA 23: Fighting for Words
• FCB Health New York: A Virtual Mind
• Proximyl: Neuropathy Reality Experience

Best Interactive Patient Campaign

• AREA 23: Fighting for Words
• FCB Health New York: iHeart MS Vibes
• Klick Health: Unfollow HPV

Best Interactive Physician Campaign

• FCB Health New York: Healing the Healers
• Intouch Group: Ben’s Room
• y’all: Jelmyto

Best Launch Campaign

• Brick City Greenhouse: Trodelvy
• CDMP: Reblozyl
• closerlook and CultHealth: Rybelsus (separate campaigns)

Best Managed Markets Campaign

• 1798: MorphoSys
• McCann Health Managed Markets: Everyday Hero
• Navisync: Eylea

Best Medical Device Campaign

• AbelsonTaylor: Endosee Advance
• FCBCURE: “No Slogans”
• Fingerpaint: “Say Goodbye”

Best Nonbranded Campaign

• AREA 23: An Animated Anthology
• Harrison and Star: She Tree      
• Heartbeat: So Done Club

Best Patient Engagement Campaign

• AREA 23: Cards To Heroes
• AREA 23: Fighting for Words
• FCB Health New York: iHeart MS Vibes

Best Philanthropic Campaign

• FCB Health New York: The Trial for Clinical Equality
• Harrison and Star: Cancer Took My Savings
• McCann Health New York: The Unfinished Votes

Best Professional Campaign – Print

• AREA 23: Little Ones
• Fingerpaint: “Say Goodbye”
• Harrison and Star: Heart Bomb

Best Professional Campaign – Web

• AREA 23: An Animated Anthology
• DDB Health: Alprolix “See the Future”
• Fingerpaint: “Say Goodbye”

Best Rare Disease Campaign

• AREA 23: An Animated Anthology
• McCann Health New Jersey: Beyond the Smoke
• MicroMass: Being Super Shouldn’t be Rare

Best Self Promotion Campaign

• AREA 23: The Stranger The Stronger
• CDM New York
• Klick Health

Best Social Media Campaign

• FCB Health New York: The Trial for Clinical Equality
• Heartbeat: So Done Club
• TBWA\WorldHealth: Black Health Now

DE&I Champion

• CMI Media Group and Compas
• Klick Health
• TBWA\WorldHealth

Heart Award

• FCB Health Network
• Klick Health
• McCann Global Health

Industry Person of the Year

• Lori Grant, CEO, Klick

Marketer on the Rise

• Maria Sanchez, Associate Director, Consumer Marketing, Novartis (Entresto) (nominated by McCann Health New York)

Most Admired Agency

• AREA 23
• Klick
• McCann Health

Most Creative Agency

• AREA 23
• FCB Health New York
• Harrison and Star

Network of the Year

• FCB Health Network
• Fishawack
• McCann Health

Vision Award

• Klick Ventures
• PRECISIONvalue
• TBWA\WorldHealth  

Med Ad News thanks Platinum Sponsors Calcium, Fingerpaint, Intouch Group, and TBWA\WorldHealth; and Sponsors Biolumina Group, The Bloc, Concentric Health Experience, GSW, JUICE Pharma Worldwide, LevLane, and McCann Health New York.