NEWTON, MA--(Marketwire - Sep 12, 2012) - HealthTalker (www.healthtalker.com), a leading word-of-mouth marketing agency that creates innovative programs for the life sciences industry, today announced a substantial investment that will strengthen and accelerate the continued adoption of word-of-mouth marketing within the pharmaceutical and life sciences industries. Investment company Black Tiger Partners, LLC and its team have partnered, as a majority share holder, with HealthTalker founder Andy Levitt to manage daily operations, bolster research and product advancement, augment business development and deepen penetration of the company's customer base.
Steve Simcox, founder of Black Tiger Partners and former CEO of MediMedia, will manage day-to-day operations for HealthTalker. In addition, seasoned industry veterans including Russell Grimaldi, Joseph Gillis and Blake O'Neill will join Simcox and Levitt as partners to manage the company through its expansion to further establish word-of-mouth marketing as the premier method of consumer-to-consumer marketing for prescription drugs.
"HealthTalker has developed a unique platform and approach to leverage the power and trust that exists within word-of-mouth, and developed a powerful process that delivers strong results in the life sciences and pharmaceutical industries," said Steve Simcox, Managing Partner, HealthTalker. "Research shows that 92 percent of consumers trust recommendations from friends and family more than any other form of advertising. Recognizing that fact, we are empowering smart pharma marketers to better promote their products in an innovative, high-value way."
Industry research says that 70 percent of consumers believe that pharmaceutical information from peers is credible, and 83 percent of consumers are interested in hearing from others with the same condition. Since the company's inception in 2007, HealthTalker's successful approach for harnessing word-of-mouth into effective campaigns has proven the value of word-of-mouth marketing across a range of health categories.
"Savvy marketers recognize when emerging trends and new ways of doing business need to become part of their marketing strategy. Today, they are realizing that word-of-mouth needs to be wrapped into the DNA of how they market their products," added Simcox.
"This investment in HealthTalker serves as a meaningful endorsement for the work we've done, especially given the depth of experience across the entire management team. It's flattering to know that the unique value that HealthTalker brings to the marketplace has been recognized with this partnership, and together we can expand upon the unrivaled power that word-of-mouth marketing holds for the industry," said Andy Levitt, Founding Partner, HealthTalker. "We are now uniquely poised to broaden HealthTalker's reach, enabling us to achieve what we have always known is possible with word-of-mouth: increased volume of conversations, anchored in trust and authenticity, which deliver high message retention and trigger an incredibly high intent to act. This is what drives great results and strong ROI for our clients."
About HealthTalker
HealthTalker, with offices in Newton, MA and Chatham, NJ, is a privately held word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing agency that creates innovative programs for the life sciences industry in the United States and across the globe. HealthTalker programs identify, recruit and engage consumers to have more conversations about health conditions and treatment options in order to improve physician-patient dialogue. HealthTalker utilizes its proprietary software platform to capture data across multiple channels to offer unique insights to its clients while conforming to the complex regulatory requirements of the healthcare industry. HealthTalker works with a dozen of the world's largest and most innovative drug manufacturers to create WOM programs that drive business results. For more information, visit healthtalker.com.
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