MDC Partners acquires majority stake in Concentric Pharma

Concentric Pharma Advertising, one of the largest and fastest-growing healthcare advertising agencies in the country, announced today that MDC Partners, Inc., has acquired a majority stake in the company. This marks MDC Partners' first significant investment in the U.S. healthcare marketing sector.

Named 2011 Agency of the Year by Med Ad News, Concentric is a full-service agency with a focus on the specialty pharmaceutical sector. From offices in New York and London, Concentric has built a top tier client list that includes Pfizer, Novartis, Amgen, Allergan, and Genentech. Concentric was also recently named agency of record for the rheumatology indication of Enbrel from Amgen and Pfizer Inc.

MDC is well known in the consumer world as a network of truly innovative shops like Crispin Porter + Bogusky, the architects of campaigns for brands such as Microsoft and Best Buy, and Attention!, the social media group that gives Barbie® her online voice. Their investment in Concentric brings their considerable reputation and acknowledged creative and strategic strengths to the pharmaceutical space.

"Clients in this sector increasingly are seeking to go beyond outdated one-size-fits-all approaches and find true evolution," said Miles Nadal, chairman and chief executive officer of MDC Partners. "The partnership between Concentric and MDC Partners launches a network model that integrates sophisticated multichannel strategies from the most cutting-edge agencies in the world and applies them to the needs of healthcare - using Concentric as the knowledge portal into the industry."

"We were only interested in partnering with a company that was willing to innovate -- to completely reinvent the model -- and at the same time matched our entrepreneurial spirit," noted Ken Begasse, Jr., co-founder and co-chief executive officer at Concentric. "Having worked with MDC for 18 months prior to our formal acquisition, we knew Concentric would have the opportunity, flexibility and resources to build a healthcare network that actually works."

Added Michael Sanzen, co-founder and co-chief executive officer: "We live in a more conservative world than many of our new partners in the MDC network, and I don't expect you'll be seeing anything like Burger King's Subservient Chicken in the pharma space anytime soon. But, the genius behind campaigns like that one has tremendous application to our business. And having access to that expertise is a huge advantage for us and for our clients."