Med Ad News Announces Nominees for the 24th Annual Manny Awards as well as Industry Person of the Year, Faruk Capan

HAMILTON, N.J., March 28, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Med Ad News announces the nominees for the 24th Annual Manny Awards, celebrating the best in pharmaceutical and healthcare advertising, and announces Faruk Capan as the Industry Person of the Year. The Manny Awards is an annual gala event celebrating creative excellence in healthcare advertising and communications. More than 600 industry peers are expected to join Med Ad News in honoring winners in eight creative award categories, in addition to naming the year's Most Creative Agency, Most Admired Agency, Brand Team of the Year, and Agency of the Year I, II and III. The Manny Awards ceremony will be held on Thursday, April 25, 2013, at Pier Sixty at Chelsea Piers in New York, N.Y.

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The Manny Awards also continues its tradition of honoring agencies for their exceptional forward thinking and philanthropic efforts. The Vision Award recognizes exceptional ideas and initiatives that have the power to transform the way that healthcare communications agencies do business. The Heart Award was created by the Med Ad News editorial staff to recognize agencies' social responsibility and commitment to philanthropic and social causes. This year, all three finalists selected will receive a cash donation to their respective causes.

Med Ad News is pleased to announce Faruk Capan, CEO and Founder of Intouch Solutions, as the Industry Person of the Year. The honor recognizes Mr. Capan's leadership and influence on the healthcare communications industry. In 1999, Faruk founded Intouch Solutions in the basement of his home with two employees. Now, 14 years later, 400 employees strong and twice-named Agency of the Year, Intouch increased its 2012 revenue 31 percent to more than $51 million. Intouch Solutions' success is proof-positive of Faruk's entrepreneurial spirit. Faruk was chosen as Person of the Year based in part on the testimonials of current and former employees, agency peers, and industry clients who praised his leadership skills, vision, and decision-making abilities. Faruk was named twice by PharmaVOICE as one of the "Most Inspiring People in Life Sciences" and named a Kansas City Top 40 Under 40 by Ingram's magazine. He also has been extremely involved in the Helzberg Entrepreneurial Mentoring Program (HEMP), inspiring other young entrepreneurs to follow their dreams just as he did.

Voted by industry peers and the editors of Med Ad News, this year's Manny Award nominees are:

Agency of the Year Category I

• GSW, Fueled by Blue Diesel
• H4B Chelsea
• Klick Health

Agency of the Year Category II

• Giant Creative/Strategy
• Hobart Group Holdings
• McCann Torre Lazur

Agency of the Year Category III

• Fingerpaint
• ICC Lowe Trio
• The Navicor Group

Heart Award

• The CementBloc
• closerlook
• Rosetta

Vision Award

• Digitas Health
• HealthEd
• Klick Health

Most Admired Agency

• AbelsonTaylor 
• GSW, Fueled by Blue Diesel
• McCann Echo Torre Lazur

Brand Team of the Year

• The CementBloc for Eliquis
• ICC Lowe Pace for Kalydeco
• Palio+Ignite for Bydureon

Most Creative Agency 

• CDM New York 
• Draftfcb Healthcare 
• LehmanMillet 

Best Consumer Campaign

• AbelsonTaylor for Intermezzo 
• Draftfcb Healthcare for uKnow Peanut Test 
• GSW for Stryker GetAroundKnee 

Best Interactive Patient Campaign

• AbelsonTaylor for Dexilant 
• evoke interaction for Spiriva 
• GSW for Stryker GetAroundKnee 

Best Interactive Physician Campaign

• GSW for Cayston 
• ICC Lowe for Activyl
• Intouch Solutions for PAH App

Best Medical Device Campaign

• AREA 23 for MeDS Pump 
• Dudnyk for AdenoPlus
• GSW for Stryker GetAroundKnee 

Best Nonbranded Campaign

• CDM New York for HE's Back 
• Draftfcb Healthcare for Get Your Shift Together 
• McCann Torre Lazur for Neurodegeneration Gap 

Best Philanthropic Campaign

• AbelsonTaylor for Pharmapalooza 5 
• Draftfcb Healthcare for the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America 
• GSW for the Hurricane Sandy Relief T-Shirt Contest

Best Professional Campaign

• CDM New York for Zyvox 
• ICC Lowe for Activyl
• Ogilvy CommonHealth Worldwide for Zyrtec

Best Self-Promotion Campaign

• AREA 23 for We've Doubled
• Brandkarma for Play Nice 
• Dudnyk for Think. Reach. Stick.

The awards ceremony will conclude with the Best Video Submission of the Year winner, which will be voted on via text messaging, Twitter and online by the Manny Award attendees.

Med Ad News congratulates Industry Person of the Year Faruk Capan and all award nominees.

The 24th annual Manny Awards celebration on Thursday, April 25, 2013, at Pier Sixty at Chelsea Piers in New York, N.Y., will begin with a cocktail hour at 6:30 p.m., followed by a sit-down dinner at 7:30 p.m., and will conclude with a post-awards cocktail hour. The awards ceremony will commence at 8:30 p.m. The event is black tie.

For reservations, visit www.mannyawards.com or contact Joanna Siddiqui at [email protected]

For sponsorship opportunities, contact:
Daniel Becker at (973) 808-1191 or [email protected]

Press inquiries, contact:
Joanna Siddiqui at (973) 808-8847 or [email protected]

About the Manny Awards
For more than 20 years, the Med Ad News Manny Awards have paid tribute to the creative work of agencies serving the healthcare market, their people, and their contributions to the industry. Each year at this gala awards ceremony, Med Ad News and agency professionals come together to celebrate creative excellence in pharmaceutical and medical device advertising and to acknowledge those making significant contributions to healthcare communications. On this special evening, more than 600 industry peers are anticipated to join Med Ad News in honoring winners in a range of award categories.

About Med Ad News
The pharmaceutical industry's publication of record for 30 years, Med Ad News provides broad coverage and incisive analysis of the issues, events, trends, and strategies shaping pharmaceutical business, marketing, and sales. More than 16,500 readers – comprising corporate executives, marketing, sales, and product managers – receive Med Ad News 12 times per year. Med Ad News is a publication of UBM Canon Pharmaceutical Media Group. For more info, visit www.pharmalive.com.

About UBM Canon
UBM Canon, the leading B-to-B media company dedicated exclusively to the global $3.0 trillion advanced manufacturing sector, helps support the flow of information, commerce and innovation in such sophisticated segments as medical devices and pharmaceutical development. UBM Canon also addresses cutting-edge developments in broader areas of advanced engineering design and manufacturing, and manufacturing processes and packaging. UBM Canon is part of UBM plc (UBM.L) a global provider of media and information services for professional B2B communities and markets.

SOURCE UBM Canon; Med Ad News