A Touch of Sugar broadened GCI Health’s ethos 'to caregivers, physicians, online influencers and the media, because healthcare is also about those stakeholders around the patient.

2019 documentary short from Merck isn’t what you’d expect to find at the Tribeca Film Festival. However, A Touch of Sugar, narrated by Oscar-winning actress Viola Davis, was lauded for giving varied patient voices to diabetes.

Made by GCI Health, the agency advocates for the healthcare industry to better serve patient needs. Last year, it broadened the GCI Health ethos “to caregivers, physicians, online influencers and the media, because healthcare is also about those stakeholders around the patient,” says Wendy Lund, CEO of the firm.

The documentary helped broaden GCI’s ethos to “caregivers, physicians, influencers and the media.”

In the U.S. — its dominant market globally — revenue jumped to an estimated $66 million. GCI Health has 10 offices across the U.S. New clients include GlaxoSmith- Kline’s ViiV, which specializes in HIV treatment, and Japanese pharma company Eisai.
While happy with its U.S. footprint, the firm opened offices last year in Singapore and Hong Kong, and plans to add more in Asia-Pacific this year. It also absorbed the healthcare arm of German WPP sibling agency Hering Schuppener.

Lund says GCI Health had expected “with all the innovation going on, 2020 would be positioned as a new frontier in healthcare.” The coronavirus flipped the script, with the agency now advising clients on the issue, from employee comms to thought leadership, and focusing on the work that still needs to be done around public health.