Independent pharma agency Intouch shuffles and rebrands as it levels up to rivals

In a bid for new growth, Intouch Solutions has reorganized and rebranded across six business units. The burgeoning independent pharma and healthcare agency adopted a new umbrella name—Intouch Group—to reflect its broader organizational structure, ambitions and global presence.

Intouch Solutions will remain a full-service health and pharma agency and will be the largest segment and driving force of Intouch Group, but is now just one of six units.

The others are Intouch Proto, a full-service smaller agency for West Coast clients, Intouch International in a joint venture with Healthware International to offer clients global reach, Intouch B2D as its tech and production hub, Intouch Media for buying and planning, and Intouch Analytics’ data-driven practice.

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As CEO Faruk Capan said, the original Intouch had already been competing at higher levels with major creative agencies, global networks and media heavyweights. Its operational shuffle was a matter of formalizing what was already happening and better organizing the 750-person agency around its expertise and offerings.

“The network model gives us a greater competitive edge,” he said in an email interview, adding, “This organizes our offerings into something that makes more sense to clients seeking major business partners. It sends the clear message that we can handle a wide variety of client needs, and will do so as well as or better than anyone else in the industry.”

The move also helps push back on the holdover reputation of boutique digital agency that Intouch was at its launch in 1999. About half of its revenue now comes from strategic and creative work, Capan said.

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As part of the reorganization, Intouch Solutions got a brand refresh while the Intouch Group and the other affiliates got brand-new visual identities. Intouch plans to promote the changes “in a variety of ways in the coming months.” Clients are already on board, with many giving advice and input along the way in developing the new model, Capan said.