The Bloc takes aim at medcomms with Impact, BioMedCom Partners deal

The Bloc signed a deal with Impact Communication Partners and its sibling agency BioMedCom Partners to expand its medical communications offerings in both North America and Europe.

The formal partnership announced Tuesday builds upon previous collaborations between The Bloc and Impact, in which the agencies worked together on various high-profile accounts.

With this partnership, the 2023 MM+M Agency 100 honoree hopes to achieve several goals, including expanding boundaries, challenging convention and creating new standards in the medcomms space.

“Our history with Impact underscores a shared vision and collaborative success,” The Bloc CEO Jennifer Matthews said in a statement. “Together, we’ve championed significant projects across marketing and medical communications.”

Matthews also stressed that the combined forces will focus on delivering behaviorally driven communications, or what she deemed, ‘BE-COMMS.’

Alessandro Seveso, who serves as managing partner of The Bloc in Milan, added in a statement that the partnership along with recent acquisitions in Europe would bolster the agency’s global medcomms capabilities built on the strength of being health-native on a local level.

The unification of the brand across the Atlantic Ocean comes amid a busy year for The Bloc.

The agency has taken on several acquisitions and partnerships across the pond, including agencies in Germany, Italy and Switzerland. 

In September, The Bloc unveiled a slew of acquisitions, including Italian communications firm Thenewway and X-Ray, a Swiss creative agency, while also establishing The Bloc in Germany.

The agency simultaneously rolled out a brand to reflect the expansion moves and showcase its “transformative vision and goals,” it said at the time.

The Bloc also made a series of executive hires this year, including Margaret Haskell, who returned to the agency as SVP and director of strategic planning after her stint at BGB Group. 

Additionally, Kellan Tortora joined as VP, creative director and Carolyn Atchinson joined to head The Bloc’s new consultancy division in its subsidiary, The Value Builders.

All of this came after a tough 2022 for The Bloc, which reported a 26% drop in revenue to $42.2 million from its 2021 revenue of $56.7 million, according to MM+M Agency 100 2023 revenue chart.