CDM New York’s David Stemler has jumped ship to join Indegene’s newly acquired CultHealth as the marketing company’s first-ever chief creative officer.
He comes after most recently being the executive creative director at CDM New York, part of the Omnicom Health Group, with stints at The Bloc, a health creative agency, and the Huffington Post.
Now, Stemler finds himself at an agency carving out a new path and calls the recent connection of Indegene and CultHealth a “match made in heaven.”
“The creative opportunity at CultHealth is boundless, and the ability to tap into the data, analytics, AI and digital solutions of Indegene —without the bureaucracy of an agency-holding company standing in the way—is the definition of a symbiotic relationship. The sky is the limit,” Stemler told Fierce Pharma Marketing in an interview.
CultHealth has grown rapidly in recent years, working on some big brand names in the industry such including Novo Nordisk’s GLP-1 diabetes drugs Ozempic and Rybelsus as well as AbbVie’s migraine drug Qulipta.
Stemler says it’s “a privilege” to be working with the “dynamic team” CultHealth’s new CEO Jeff Rothstein has put together.
He notes a true camaraderie culture he hopes to retain “while simultaneously pushing the agency to produce work the industry at large is taking notice of via award wins, innovation and marquee creative cases that have top talent and courageous clients knocking on our door to work with us.”
Stemler was drawn to Indegene’s leadership role in the shift happening in the healthcare industry. “Gone are the days of the years-long, one-size-fits-all campaign development and adaptation,” Stemler said.“Today, behavior-changing ideas are adjusted in real-time, content is in our customers’ pockets and it is customized just for them, and the data that drives it all is smarter with every touchpoint and interaction along the way.”
Stemler clearly sees the future in AI, which is integral in the shift toward patients’ ownership of their healthcare needs. Patients no longer wait for a doctor’s appointment but monitor their health in real time with wearables and other insights that empower them to stay a step ahead of illness. Therefore, healthcare marketing needs to meet patients where they are.
Stemler says that “at CultHealth, proactivity is our default setting.” He is proud to be on a team with the mindset that “everything is an opportunity.”