GSW Worldwide Expands Health and Wellness Capabilities

COLUMBUS, Ohio, March 30, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- GSW Worldwide, an inVentiv Health Company and one of the largest healthcare advertising agencies in the world, today announced the launch of a new health and wellness capability called The Well @GSW.

The Well @GSW was formed to support brands and companies pursuing a position of relevance in health and wellness. It will focus on providing marketers with a deep understanding of every state of a consumer's health and how wellness decisions are made.

"For pharmaceutical companies, consumer packaged goods, retail and government programs, we recognize that prevention and healthy behavior are a critical part of the new healthcare equation," said Brian Heffernan, founding partner of The Well @GSW and chief marketing officer for GSW Worldwide. "The Well @GSW was created in part because we understand that in order to be effective, people need education, motivation and support beyond a doctor visit."  

Recognizing an accelerated shift toward prevention and wellness brought on by a confluence of forces in the marketplace, The Well @GSW provides clients with a flexible service model that includes:

• Counsel on strategic issues and program design by leveraging proprietary research, workshops and tools;
• Content that goes beyond syndicated wellness information to curate and create original content of value to client stakeholders;
• Communications to help clients tell their wellness story to consumers and to connect across stakeholders.

The Well @GSW, which includes a staff of 50, draws upon the expansive healthcare expertise and communication resources of GSW Worldwide, leveraging the agency's considerable depth of knowledge about changing market dynamics, including healthcare reform, new commercial models, and evolving consumer expectations that are putting increased pressure on companies to deliver more value to their customers.

The Well @GSW was founded on the basis that wellness is a choice an individual makes in any state of health. The team will include Pink Tank, specialists in understanding how women, the WellGuardians, make wellness decisions for themselves and their families.

"For the individual or family with no health concerns, wellness is the choice of better-for-you foods, exercise and behaviors that maintain and enhance the health they have," said Marcee Nelson, founding partner and chief creative/content officer for The Well @GSW and founder of Pink Tank.

"For those looking to prevent a specific condition, it's the choice to commit to optimistic actions that have no apparent immediate reward," she added. "And for those in the midst of a health event, wellness is the choice to be the 'well patient' — to adhere to therapy and to do whatever it takes to have a positive physical, emotional and spiritual outcome."

According to Heffernan, some of the key benefits for clients looking to apply a health and wellness lens to brands and companies include:

• Strengthening brand and company Health & Wellness perceptions
• Raising a brand's profile and access to the healthcare community
• Understanding how consumers choose their health pathway
• Identifying the best way to communicate a brand's story
• Creating on-going relationships with health-conscious consumers and patients
• Understanding how to best persuade consumers and patients to use a product regularly to improve their health

The Well will be led by an experienced team of founding partners that includes Heffernan and Nelson, as well as Scott Page, Managing Director; Jim Johnson, Director, Creative Innovation; and Gretchen Goffe, Director of Strategic Planning.

Their combined experience includes leadership roles creating marketing communications for companies such as the American Diabetes Assn., Disney, Eli Lilly & Company, General Mills, Kraft Foods, Nestle, Procter & Gamble, Roche, Sanofi-Aventis, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, and Unilever.

The Well @GSW logo, photos and biographies of the founders are available upon request. For general information please visit www.thewellatgsw.com

About GSW Worldwide
GSW Worldwide is a full-service advertising agency that provides liberating ideas™ to pharmaceutical, biotech, and health-and-wellness clients through extensive resources in 18 major markets around the world. One of the largest healthcare advertising agencies in the world, GSW Worldwide creates marketing solutions through a comprehensive and wide array of services including advertising, digital and closed loop marketing, strategic insight, branding, communications planning, predictive modeling, market access strategies, media and market research. GSW Worldwide is led by a team of best-in-class marketers who have experience with a variety of stakeholders such as healthcare professionals, patients, caregivers, payors and consumers. For more information visit http://www.gsw-w.com

SOURCE GSW Worldwide