Medical & Scientific Comms Agency Restructures & Rebrands

(MENAFN- PRovoke) LONDON - Medical and scientific communications firm Elements Communications has rebranded as Obsidian and restructured its senior leadership team, as it embarks on its next phase of growth.

Elements was founded 20 years ago by Wendy Mathias, who sold it to Dublin-based medtech firm Clanwilliam in 2018. After Mathias completed her earn-out last year, the agency hired Deesha Majithia – formerly EVP at Weber Shandwick's health marketing and scientific comms agency DNA Communications – as managing director.

The 75-strong agency has now rebranded as Obsidian, with a new senior team, business strategy, mission and brand identity. The leadership team – also including former DNA director Charlotte Florence as commercial director, Craig Kennedy as finance director and April Williams as HR director – has grown revenues by 22% and increased its client base by 33% over the past 12 months.

Recently, the agency has also appointed three new business unit directors: Chris Pitman, who has been with the agency for 13 years; Dipi Kohli, who joins from Ketchum; and Francisca Costa, who joins from Open Health. In addition, Ben Holtom, who joined the agency in 2018, has been elevated to group director of scientific services.

Majithia (pictured) said Obsidian's new mission – 'transforming healthcare through scientific communications' –“combined the firm's commitment to scientific accuracy and rigour with its belief in the importance of innovative, tech-powered approaches to engage healthcare stakeholders.”

She told PRovoke Media:“We've been a solid mid-sized agency, holding steady in industry turmoil and growing purely organically, but we've been under the radar. Our clients keep coming back, but we needed to be clearer about our vision; you never know what's round the corner, so now's a good time to rebrand, reset our mission and embark on a new business drive.

“The leadership team is laser-focused and we have the huge USP of being owned by a health tech company which works with Microsoft, building apps and the software behind prescriptions, as well as operating theatre technology. Clanwilliam give us total autonomy – we are their only med comms agency and we can cement ourselves further into their business. It's been a whirlwind but it's very exciting.”

Obsidian's services for pharma, bio-tech and healthcare providers include strategic consultancy, medical affairs, medical education, scientific meetings and events, internal communications, creative and digital services and commercial strategy.

Over the past 12 months, the agency has become more integrated with Clanwilliam in areas such as data analytics and artificial intelligence, and has plans to leverage other emerging, innovative technologies within the group.

Clanwilliam founder and CEO Howard Beggs said:“We are 100% committed to supporting Deesha and the new senior management team in executing on their new strategy and delivering against their ambitious growth goals. We see opportunities for synergies between the agency and other brands in our portfolio as technology transforms all facets of the healthcare sector.”

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