It’s an existential question that many companies ask themselves at some point. And while it’s not Hamlet, it can mean the difference between marketing life or death. After all, rebranding is no small undertaking, and the results aren’t always guaranteed. No one wants another New Coke or failed Gap logo on their hands. However, when your service offerings evolve substantially—as ours did—it’s time to consider a refresh.
From multiple storefronts to one Avant
That’s where we were at DWA Healthcare Communications Group in late 2022. At that point, our agency had grown significantly since its beginnings in 1994, when Founder and Chairwoman Deborah Wood started a meeting planning services company for pharma clients out of a spare room in her house.
Fast forward to present day and we deliver a full array of healthcare marketing offerings, including promotional medical education, medical affairs, advertising and branding, omnichannel marketing, and analytics—as well as meeting planning and speaker bureau services.
However, our clients had to enter through multiple “storefronts” to access all these unique offerings. We were a house of brands, not a branded house, which was confusing for our clients and counterproductive for us. So, instead of capitalizing on the combined strength of our capabilities, we were cannibalizing them.
Right now, pharma marketers find themselves at a historic crossroads, standing between an unprecedented era of medical breakthroughs and a seemingly endless stream of information overload. In order to gain the attention of busy HCPs, they need a unified multichannel message that’s seamless throughout the buyer’s journey.
They need a holistic approach from a holistic partner that makes working together across different channels just as seamless as the HCP audience experience. That’s something we’re uniquely positioned to do, and it was time to let it be known, loud and clear.
It was time to bring home all of our capabilities under one roof and turn our house of brands into a branded house: Avant Healthcare.
A single identity that speaks to many strengths
As we built our new brand identity, we wanted the pharma world to know how the power of one Avant could help marketers reach their HCP audience, especially at this pivotal moment in healthcare.
We work from a trifecta of science, strategy, and creative expertise, with everything we do deeply rooted in science. In fact, we offer a wealth of scientific and medical know-how that’s unparalleled within the medical marketing space. This trifecta approach enables us to create high-impact communications that resonate with HCPs and help clients build transformative connections across today’s channels. We sum this up in our new tagline, We Speak HCP—because that’s what we do, literally every day.
On the visual side, the new Avant brand needed to communicate our unique strengths just as simply and powerfully. It needed to show how we are a single source for a wide array of pharma marketing services. That’s where a winter sunrise comes into play.
During an early morning walk, our Vice President of Digital caught the sun cresting over the horizon, turning the sky into brilliant shades of purple, bright pink, and orange. The bold palette of colors inspired our visual rebranding concept, “A New Day,” which reflects the broad range of capabilities and depth of experience that we offer. Across a changing healthcare landscape, Avant Healthcare can help clients reach HCPs where they work and live through a full spectrum of messaging and highly strategic partnering.
To rebrand or not to rebrand?
As a new era in medical innovation dawns, the answer for us at Avant was clear as day. As one branded house, we’re committed to helping our clients navigate the ever-evolving healthcare space. Together, as scientific, strategic, and creative experts, we stand ready to help them embrace the full palette of their potential. It’s not just something we do—it’s all we do, from morning to midnight since 1994.