Bringing together their two digital advertising shops Razorfish Health (based in the US) and Healthware (having 10 regional offices across the US, Europe and the Far East) will increase Publicis’s overall global footprint and create a pool of 300-400 employees.
Aside from Razorfish Health and Healthware, Publicis still retains two other digital specialists, Digitas Health (part of the Publicis VivaKi company) and Rosetta. Publicis acquired Rosetta Marketing Group for $575m in 2011, with its emphasis on offering consulting services.
Publicis bought Razorfish in October 2009 from Microsoft for $286.8m plus company shares which gave Microsoft a 3.3 per cent stake in Publicis Groupe.
Roberto Ascione, who has been president of Publicis Healthware will head up Razorfish Healthware.
Katy Thorbahn, Razorfish Health’s MD, will report to Ascione and Razorfish Healthware will no longer report through Digitas Health. With the restructure, presidents of Digitas Health, Alex von Plato and Michael du Toi will take on additional responsibilities at Groupe level.
With many believing that digital should be integrated within existing agency expertise rather than presented as a stand-alone speciality, speaking to Medical Marketing & Media, Ascione said: “There’s a school of thought that says that the pure-play digital agency shouldn’t exist any longer, but I believe there’s a place for both.”
Nevertheless, Razorfish Healthware will connect closely with Publicis’s full service agencies to implement new technology for clients such as the creation of medically prescribed apps.