Our agency has always staked its reputation on challenging outdated norms, so strengthening our commitment to anti-racist practices is a natural and necessary extension of our core beliefs. We’re listening, learning, and becoming better allies in this fight.
NEW YORK (PRWEB) August 13, 2020
Leading healthcare marketing agency Heartbeat has been named by Med Ad News as the 2020 Diversity & Inclusion Champion at this year’s prestigious MANNY Awards healthcare advertising competition. Building on its tradition of activism for industry-leading equality, Heartbeat has also released a commitment letter to reaffirm their dedication to an inclusive, anti-racist workplace.
Sponsored by pharmaceutical business and marketing publication Med Ad News, the MANNY Awards recognizes the best in the healthcare communications industry. Winners were announced at a virtual ceremony on June 18th, 2020. The Diversity & Inclusion Champion category looks for missions, strategies, and practices that support diverse work environments, and recognized Heartbeat as an agency that embraces diversity and inclusion in all aspects of their business.
“Heartbeat leaders have worked tirelessly on a years-long internal campaign to revolutionize the company culture and upend old-fashioned notions of how to promote diversity and inclusion within their community,” writes Med Ad News. “The result is a nurturing, supportive, and inspiring work environment that is truly inclusive of all races, gender identities, ages, religions, and sexual orientations. This dedication to culture and community has led to three straight ‘Best Place to Work’ honors for Heartbeat, employee satisfaction numbers that are difficult to comprehend, and diversity statistics that are shattering the ad industry’s D&I benchmarks.”
Affirming their commitment to this “truly inclusive” work environment, Heartbeat has also released a detailed commitment letter, publicly taking a stand against racism in the workplace. The letter reveals current diversity statistics, cites future racial justice goals, and outlines plans for continuing to make their organization more racially equitable.
“We’re immensely proud of the work we’ve done, but we know we have further to go when it comes to creating a safe, diverse and just workplace for all Heartbeaters,” says Michelle Edwards, Heartbeat’s VP, Human Resources. “Our agency has always staked its reputation on challenging outdated norms, so strengthening our commitment to anti-racist practices is a natural and necessary extension of our core beliefs. We’re listening, learning, and becoming better allies in this fight, and we hope the wider advertising industry will join us.”
Heartbeat’s diversity dedication is the subject of a recent interview with Med Ad News, and the full commitment letter can be found on the agency's website.
ABOUT HEARTBEAT
Heartbeat is a full-service agency for healthcare Challenger Brands. Challengers play a high-stakes game—they must battle behemoth market leaders, upend ingrained treatment habits, or transform a “me-too” product into “yes-please.”
The agency is known for serving up distinctive strategies and differentiating approaches, ensuring clients’ market positions are uniquely owned. Heartbeat designs their organization around a 100% integration model, housing media, strategy, med comms, creative, technology, and even point of care/population health under the same roof for the tightest, most integrated campaigns possible. They price work based on outcomes, not outputs. Their innovative model delivers not only alignment, but powerful orchestration, greater efficiency, and maximum impact for every dollar spent—all the necessary elements for Challengers to triumph.
That’s the philosophy. Here are the creds: 250+ employees between NY & CA; 6 agency leaders with decades of tenure; a pile of awards from the likes of the MANNYs, MM&M Awards, OMMAs, and Clios; an industry-leading commitment to diversity + inclusion (with a Med Ad News D&I Champion nod to match); and a President who dared to be quoted as follows: “We celebrate people who stand up and say, ‘You know what? This is dumb.’” Damn straight.