imre Names Jeff Smokler Partner and Launches imre health Brand

News provided by

Feb 20, 2018, 10:00 ET

BALTIMORE, Feb. 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Marketing communications agency imre has promoted Jeff Smokler to partner after six years leading the firm's healthcare business. Smokler, who was previously President of imre's healthcare business unit, joins owners Dave Imre and Mark Eber and Partner Crystalyn Stuart to lead the agency into its 25^th year.

The agency, with offices in Baltimore, New York City, and Los Angeles, has also formally established the imre health brand alongside its long-standing consumer practice. imre health provides full-service marketing communications with a unique focus on creating and managing empathetic, patient-centric social and digital marketing programs for pharmaceutical companies.

"Under Jeff's leadership over the course of his six years with imre, our health care business, capabilities, and expertise have grown exponentially and has matured to the point where it now makes sense for us to carve out a healthcare brand within the agency," Dave Imre, Founder and CEO, said. "We're incredibly excited to add Jeff to the partnership and to double down on our healthcare success."

Revenue for imre health increased by 28% between 2016 and 2017, and by 232% over the last five years. Top clients include AMAG Pharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Zoetis.

Over the last year, imre has made significant investments in its healthcare business, including hiring accomplished team members with expertise in strategy, HCP marketing, social and digital programming and content creation. The agency also has taken steps to better understand how drug manufacturers and clinicians can create more meaningful interactions with their customers through the use of social media, and recently partnered with outside experts to complete empathy training and develop an empathy brief that teams already are applying to client engagements.

"We've been lucky to have the chance to work with pharma clients who understand the unique value—not to mention, authenticity—that social media can add to their marketing programs, especially at a time when traditional channels for reaching consumers, like television, are proving less fruitful," Smokler said. "As imre health continues to grow, our biggest challenge will be making sure that we're able to scale our services to meet the evolving demands of our clients while still maintaining our fiercely independent streak that makes our offering so unique."

In addition to working with pharmaceutical clients in a number of therapeutic categories, such as diabetes, respiratory, oncology, and women's health, imre health's portfolio also includes hospitals and health systems, health plans, and medical devices.

SOURCE imre