Heartbeat Launches New Patient Activation Division, Uniting Langland U.S. and BBK Worldwide

This new division responds to the fundamental truth in clinical research: finding patients isn’t the challenge—activating them is.

NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES, December 3, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Heartbeat, the agency known for challenging healthcare marketing conventions, today declares the end of traditional clinical trial recruitment by uniting Langland U.S. and BBK Worldwide to launch its new Patient Activation Division, Heartbeat Clinical Research. Langland, the global full-service agency headquartered in the U.K., will continue to support clinical trials—combining art and science to deliver a diverse set of capabilities to engage patients, site staff, and HCPs.

“Patient recruitment, as we know it, is over,” said Sarah McKeown-Cannon, Senior Vice President and Head of Heartbeat Clinical Research. “The clinical trial industry has been solving the wrong problem. While others focus merely on finding patients through increasingly sophisticated data platforms, the real revolution lies in activation—transforming qualified patients into engaged participants and ultimately into advocates for their own health outcomes.”

The new division marks a shift from conventional patient recruitment to a data-driven model that focuses on patient activation pathways and behavioral economics. This approach moves beyond traditional recruitment metrics to measure and optimize the factors that drive patients—and their clinicians—to say “yes” to clinical research participation.

“We’re not just launching another clinical research division—we’re fundamentally reimagining how we engage with the stakeholder ecosystem in Clinical Research,” said James Talerico, President at Heartbeat. “By focusing on activation rather than recruitment, we’re addressing the actual barriers to study success: trust, complexity, and disconnected experiences.”

Heartbeat’s Patient Activation Division will partner with pharmaceutical companies and research organizations to:
• Transform traditional recruitment programs into activation pathways and health literacy-generating experiences
• Design trial experiences that turn patients into health activists
• Create culturally relevant engagement strategies that drive meaningful participation
• Build sustainable, long-term activation strategies at the asset, rather than study level
• Depart from traditional and transactional sponsor-to-vendor relationships, forging new partnerships within the ecosystem

“This isn’t about incremental improvements to the current system,” added McKeown-Cannon. “It’s about challenging the fundamental assumption that patient recruitment is the answer. Our data shows that activation—getting the right patients to say yes and stay engaged—is what truly drives successful programs.”

The division launches with several flagship partnerships already in place, focusing on therapeutic areas where traditional recruitment methods have historically fallen short.

About Heartbeat:
Heartbeat is a full service agency with a POV like no other — it is uniquely built to help healthcare Challenger brands defy the odds and create new, healthier realities. The agency is known for helping brands overcome their thorniest marketing challenges, ranging from shifting deeply ingrained prescribing habits, to making the most of advertising spend, to activating the hardest to reach study audiences.

That’s the mission, here are the creds: 250+ talented thinkers and makers, 44% of whom have been with the agency for 4 or more years (and several as many as 20 years); a proud member of Publicis Groupe; a pile of industry awards for their brand communications and a 7-time winner of “Best Place to Work” by Ad Age and MM+M; the most diverse agency of its size and damn proud of it.

Skylar Moore
Heartbeat Clinical Research
+1 614-307-9004
Skylar.moore@weareheartbeat.com
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