Neon: 2023

Neon, an IPG Health company

1400 Broadway,  New York, NY 10018 

212-727-5600 • neon-nyc.com

Quick Facts

Accounts

• Account wins: 10
• Active business clients: 22

Winner | Best Patient Engagement Campaign
The Love Me Not campaign was created to negate toxic isolation, catalyze awareness, and shift the thought paradigm of insidious forms of abuse.

Brands by 2022 sales

• Brand-product accounts held: 30
• $25 million or less: 2
• $25 million-$50 million: 3
• $50 million-$100 million: 1
• $100 million-$500 million: 10
• $500 million-$1 billion: 1
• $1 billion or more: 4
• Products not yet approved/launched: 9

Services mix

• Professional advertising: 80%
• Direct-to-patient advertising: 20%

Client roster

• Abbvie
• Amryt
• Biohaven
• Blueprint Medicines
• Exact Sciences/Pfizer
• F2G
• GBT
• Genentech
• Grifols
• Incyte
• Janssen
• Merck KGaA 
• Novartis
• Novavax 
• Pfizer
• Regeneron
• Rhythm Pharmaceuticals
• Sanofi
• Shionogi
• Taiho Oncology
• United Therapeutics
• Vectura
• Xeris

Winner

• Best Patient Engagement Campaign
• Best Social Media Campaign

Finalist

• Best Rare Disease Campaign

“Every little agency dreams of being big when they grow up – to win new business, attract the best talent and do great work,” leaders at Neon say. “But growing too fast can sometimes cause an agency to lose everything that makes them special in the first place. Can any agency strike the balance between getting bigger and maintaining their unique culture? 

“At Neon, we’ve been able to grow without sacrificing culture by staying true to our people, our values, and our identity. We continued our unprecedented growth streak that began in previous years with new business, new talent, and new core offerings. But we held tight to that special magic that makes Neon a one-of-a-kind agency to our clients and our people. From implementing a new employee recognition initiative to leading groundbreaking launches, Neon never stopped ‘Lighting the Way’ in 2022.” 

Neon is a full-service healthcare agency co-led by Managing Directors Mardene Miller and Jesse Kates. “While we’re headquartered in New York City, our meteoric growth has made it possible for us to hire talent from around the globe,” executives say. “And, as a member of one of the largest and most-awarded healthcare communication networks in the world, we seamlessly integrate with other IPG Health agencies to provide even more global resources and capabilities to our client engagements.”

Recent accomplishments

In 2022, we continued to light the way for existing and new clients,” according to agency leaders. Neon added 10 new brands from eight clients, “which included everything from tried-and-true industry juggernauts to breakthrough treatments.”

“Many business sectors experienced challenges in 2022, and healthcare was no exception,” Miller says. “At Neon, despite these strong headwinds, we were able to maximize opportunities and create wonderful new partnerships that led to our growth throughout the year.”  

Neon averaged one major launch per month in 2022. “From new drug approvals to a new patient support program, 2022 was a year of milestones,” executives say. And as the client roster expanded, so did the agency, as staff grew by nearly 30 percent. 

Neon also grew its core offerings and staff across experience design (XD), operational excellence, broadcast, and engagement strategy. 

“We are continuing to expand our focus and offerings on customer experiences, not just creative ideas,” Kates says. “A great idea is only as good as where, when, and how it is experienced, and we intend to make those experiences as personal and motivating as possible.”  

 Structure and services

In a year of rapid growth, Neon continued to maintain its strong agency culture, the leadership team says. “We expanded our successful remote working policy, giving teams the ability to decide how best to work.” 

In addition to neighborhood meet-ups, team dinners, and special in-person happy hours, Neon introduced a new employee recognition program in January of 2022, in which each month, employees nominated their coworkers for the Lumineer Award. 

“A Lumineer is a person who brings leadership, excellence, an agency focus, passion projects, and teamwork to everything they do at Neon,” executives say. “Winners are honored through an email announcement and receive a gift card as well as fun Lumineer swag.”

Like other IPG Health agencies, when it comes to its return-to-office approach, Neon follows its parent’s philosophy of flexibility, accountability, and trust. “Unlike other agencies and networks, we trust our employees to work with their teams to figure out what works best for themselves, their families, and their clients,” executives say. 

Last year, IPG Health announced its EDI+You, an EDI strategy that formalizes the network’s approach to creating systemic changes and solutions across the four core pillars of its business: “Our People, Our Culture, Our Creative Solutions, and Our Impact.” 

“Building on this strategy, Neon initiatives in 2022 included a speaker forum on gender disparities, a Women Honoring Women social campaign, and the promotion of Black-owned businesses,” agency leaders state. “But EDI is not just about internal values. We also worked hard in 2022 to ensure that the work we put out was ADA compliant, diverse, and culturally relevant.” 

Future plans

Once upon a time, Neon was a little agency with big dreams,” managers say. “We’ve grown immensely since those early days and have seen many dreams come to fruition. But we’ve never changed what makes us unique. 

“Look inside Neon and you’ll find team meetings full of sharp strategy, innovative ideas, and lots of laughter. We have leadership who truly believe in their people, and people with as many quirks as they have creativity. Yes, we’ve grown but we will never outgrow what it means to be a Neonite. Together, we ignite a spark that Lights the Way for our clients their brands, and our people.”

Philanthropy/citizenship

Winner | Best Social Media Campaign
With Uninterrupted Stories, Neon put a spotlight on real human stories interrupted by normalized abuse.

According to executives, one of Neon’s proudest achievements is the partnerships it has built with several pro bono clients. “In 2022, we responded to rising rates of domestic violence by developing ‘The Last I’m Sorry’ campaign in partnership with Safe in Harm’s Way and DomesticShelters.org. The campaign was awarded Gold at the MM+M Awards 2022 for use of Data/Analytics or Innovation. After that success, we expanded the campaign with the ‘Feeling Small’ initiative.” 

“Feeling Small” is a 20-second animation of a man looming over a woman at a kitchen table, and addressed people who may not see themselves as victims, managers say, adding that the PSA debuted on more than 340 screens in high-traffic areas across the country. 

To coincide with Women’s History Month, Neon created the “Uninterrupted Stories” campaign, taking over Instagram’s “This Story is no Longer Available” screen with the names of domestic violence victims. “Each name led to a memorial gallery and allowed users to donate to Safe in Harm’s Way. Millions of Instagram followers saw these stories in their feeds,” executives say.

Because testicular cancer is 99 percent curable if caught early and half of men have never performed a testicular self-exam, Neon wanted to help bring awareness to early detection. 

The agency partnered with the Testicular Cancer Foundation to create the “Grab Them from Home” campaign. “In a series of ads, we encouraged men to perform testicular self-exams while working from home,” executives say. “After all, no one can see what you’re doing below the waist when you’re on a Zoom call. The campaign images were funny, memorable, and got people talking about an important topic.” 

(left to right) Jesse Kates, executive VP, managing director/chief creative officer; Mardene Miller, executive VP, managing director

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