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Real Chemistry
Company typePrivate
IndustryHealthcare
Founded2001
Number of locations
10[1]
Key people
Jim Weiss, Founder and Chairman
Shankar Narayanan, CEO[2]
Jennifer Gottlieb, Chief Client Officer[3]
Revenue$555 million (2022)[4]
Number of employees
2,000 (2022)[5]
WebsiteOfficial website

Real Chemistry, formerly known as W2O Group, is a global health innovation company that utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) for its healthcare services. Founded by Jim Weiss in 2001, Real Chemistry is an American company with global offices in Europe and Canada.

Corporate history

Real Chemistry was founded as WeissComm Partners in 2001 by Jim Weiss as a one-person marketing consulting firm, with clients primarily in the healthcare industry.[6][7] His firm grew quickly until 2008. According to Weiss, less favorable conditions in the healthcare industry led to a series of layoffs.[6]

In response, the following year Weiss acquired creative services firm ODA and social media marketing firm, Common Sense Media Group, in order to diversify his interests and reduce reliance on the healthcare industry.[6][7] That same year, Weiss re-formed the company under the acronym WCG, consolidating the two acquisitions under a new corporate umbrella.[8][9] The acquired companies and the firm's revenues continued growing.[6][7] By 2011 it had annual revenues of $48 million.[7]

In 2012, WCG was re-structured again under a new holding company called W2O Group, which was made up of three companies: WCG, W2O Ventures, and Twist Mktg.[9][10] The fourth company in the holding group, Brewlife, was formed the following year to focus on startup companies.[11] The holding group had $75 million in annual revenues by 2013[12] and $82.6 million in 2014.[13] In 2014 and 2015, W2O opened new offices in major U.S. and European cities.[14]

In May 2016, a private-equity firm called Mountaingate Capital made an investment in W2O Group, which funded a series of acquisitions.[15] Seven months after acquiring Fox Communications, W2O Group laid off founder Lynn Fox, who sued alleging gender discrimination.[16][17][18]

In June 2019, New Mountain capital acquired an interest in W2O Group for an undisclosed amount.[19][20] Following the acquisition, the company acquired Elysia Group, Discern Health and 21GRAMS.[21][22]

The company acquired starpower LLC, an entertainment marketing agency, in 2020.[23] In January 2021, Swoop, Inc., which specializes in pharmaceutical IT,[24] and IPM.ai, a data and analytics company, were both acquired.[25]

In March 2021, W2O Group was rebranded as Real Chemistry, and all subsidiaries were consolidated into the newly unified company. As a result of rapid acquisition activity in 2019, Real Chemistry has grown to employ over 2,000 people in 10 locations worldwide.[26]

In January 2022, Shankar Narayanan took over as CEO, and founder Jim Weiss became chairman.[2]

In April 2022, Real Chemistry acquired the conversational AI company conversationHEALTH.[27]

In March 2023, Real Chemistry acquired TI Health, a data-driven marketing and predictive analytics company.[28]

Acquisitions

Date Company Description References
2009 ODA Creative services [6]
2009 Common Sense Media Group Social media marketing firm [6]
2012 Ravel Data analytics; based in Austin [7]
2012 VM Foundry Web and mobile development; based in Austin [29]
2013 Partners for Medical Education Medical consultation
2015 ARC2 Communications & Media Boutique public relations firm; based in Los Angeles [13]
2015 Vintank Social media and CRM software company [30]
2016 Pure Communications Marketing consultancy [15][31]
2016 Marketeching Solutions Social listening [15][32]
2017 Sentient Interactive Digital media and analytics [15]
2019 Arcus Media Medical analytics [33]
2019 ISO Health Medical communications company [34]
2019 Radius Digital Science Scientific digital creative agency [35]
2020 Symplur LLC Social media analytics [36]
2020 Discern Health Health Economics and Outcomes Research (HEOR) consulting firm [37]
2020 Elysia Group LLC Health Economics and Outcomes Research (HEOR) consulting firm [21]
2020 21GRAMS Pharmaceutical marketing agency [22]
2020 starpower LLC Entertainment marketing agency [23]
2021 Swoop, Inc. Pharmaceutical IT company [24]
2021 IPM.ai Data and analytics company [25]
2022 conversationHEALTH Pharmaceutical AI company [27]
2023 TI Health Predictive analytics company [28]

Operations and services

Real Chemistry provides marketing and tech-enabled global health services to healthcare and technology companies.[7] The company operated through five subsidiaries: WCG, Twist, Pure, Sentient and Marketeching, but has since unified into Real Chemistry.[38] WCG was the public relations arm. As of 2012, it was responsible for about 80 percent of the company's revenue.[8] Twist is a 50-person division that initially served largely as a conflict and analytics division.[7][9] The Brewlife division serves the company's startup and emerging technology clientele.[11]

Real Chemistry is the second largest PR firm by revenue in O'Dwyer's annual rankings of U.S. agencies and is the largest in the healthcare sector as of 2023.[39] More than 90 percent of its revenues are from U.S.-based clients.[13] Healthcare tends to be its fastest growing practice area[13] and was the firm's focus early on, though more recently the analytics practice has taken a larger role.[14]

According to PR Week, the company's most-used services include "PR, analytics, and its CCX creative unit."[13] It also started a multicultural practice in early 2015.[13] One of Real Chemistry's software services is MDigitalLife, which stores data on the online activity of doctors and patients. It is used by pharmaceutical companies to understand sentiment in the healthcare field.[14]

References

  1. ^ "Contact". Retrieved June 13, 2023.
  2. ^ a b "Real Chemistry Founder and Chief Executive Officer Jim Weiss to Become Chairman and Shankar Narayanan to Become Chief Executive Officer". PharmExec. December 3, 2021.
  3. ^ Kanski, Alison (January 22, 2018). "Jennifer Gottlieb named W2O Group president". PR Week. Retrieved April 11, 2018.
  4. ^ "Real Chemistry's double-digit growth in advertising, communications segments boosts revenue to $555M". MM+M. March 8, 2023.
  5. ^ "HELPING PEOPLE LEARN AND GROW".
  6. ^ a b c d e f "Agency Profiles - WCG". PR Week. May 14, 2010. p. 52.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Chase, James (July 2012). "W2O Group: Starting small, this shop found big growth via speed and flexibility". Medical Marketing and Media.
  8. ^ a b Arnold, Matthew (April 2012). "New companies expand WCG's reach". Medical Marketing and Media.
  9. ^ a b c Dickson, Virgil (March 8, 2012). "WCG restructures, creates W2O Group parent company, two sister firms". PR Week. Retrieved December 23, 2015.
  10. ^ "WCG Creates New Parent Company, Network of Firms". Adweek – Breaking News in Advertising, Media and Technology. March 8, 2012. Retrieved December 23, 2015.
  11. ^ a b Coffee, Patrick (January 7, 2013). "W2O Launches New 'Brewlife' Agency". W2O Launches New ‘Brewlife’ Agency. Retrieved December 23, 2015.
  12. ^ Lewis, Tanya (July 2014). "W2O Group". Medical Marketing and Media.
  13. ^ a b c d e f "W2O Group: Agency Business Report 2015". US Home. April 27, 2015. Retrieved December 23, 2015.
  14. ^ a b c Deri., Chris (April 10, 2015). "W2O Group Revenues Up 10% To $82.6 Million In 2014". The Holmes Report. Retrieved December 23, 2015.
  15. ^ a b c d Sobczyk, Carolyn (December 7, 2016). "W2O Group acquires Sentient Interactive". MM&M. Retrieved April 11, 2018.
  16. ^ Shah, Aarti (August 10, 2016). "W2O Faces Gender Discrimination Lawsuit From Former Media Head". The Holmes Report. Retrieved April 11, 2018.
  17. ^ Bradley, Diana (August 10, 2016). "W2O faces gender discrimination suit from former staffer Lynn Fox". PR Week. Retrieved April 11, 2018.
  18. ^ The lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice in May 2017: Case Info & Dismissal
  19. ^ Kanski, Alison (May 29, 2019). "W2O receives new private equity investment from New Mountain Capital". PR Week. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  20. ^ "New Mountain Capital Invests in W20 Group - Thu., May 30, 2019". ODwyers. May 30, 2019. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  21. ^ a b "W2O Acquires Elysia Group". O'Dwyer's. September 24, 2020.
  22. ^ a b "Acquisitive W2O Group snaps up New York creative shop 21GRAMS". Fierce Pharma. January 13, 2020.
  23. ^ a b Weissbrot, Alison (October 5, 2020). "W2O acquires Starpower to expand influencer marketing chops". PR Week.
  24. ^ a b "W2O acquires Swoop and IPM.ai". PharmaLive. February 16, 2021.
  25. ^ a b "W2O Acquires Swoop and IPM.ai, Fueling New Health Technology Business". Business Wire. January 7, 2021.
  26. ^ "W2O Group Rebrands As Real Chemistry". PRovoke Media. March 10, 2021.
  27. ^ a b Lecia Bushak (April 5, 2022). "Real Chemistry acquires AI firm ConversationHealth". MM+M.
  28. ^ a b Marc Iskowitz (March 1, 2023). "Real Chemistry continues data and AI buying spree with doctor-focused ad-tech firm TI Health". MM+M.
  29. ^ "W2O buys Austin-based digital agency VM Foundry". PR Week. December 12, 2012.
  30. ^ "W2O Buys Geo-Fencing Platform VinTank". The Holmes Report. March 31, 2015. Retrieved December 23, 2015.
  31. ^ Sobczyk, Carolyn (September 7, 2016). "W2O acquires Pure Communications, plans to create new health and tech agency". MM&M. Retrieved April 11, 2018.
  32. ^ Kanski, Alison (November 7, 2016). "W2O acquires research and analytics firm Marketeching Solutions". PR Week. Retrieved April 11, 2018.
  33. ^ "W2O Group Buys Arcus Medica To Boost Science, Medical Comms". PRovoke Media. October 9, 2019.
  34. ^ "W2O acquires medical comms firm ISO.health". PRWeek. November 6, 2019.
  35. ^ "W2O acquisitions continue as it buys Radius Digital Science". Pharmaphorum. November 21, 2019.
  36. ^ "W2O acquires health social media analytics platform Symplur". PharmaLive. April 27, 2020.
  37. ^ "W2O acquires value and payment consulting firm Discern Health". MM+M. July 28, 2020.
  38. ^ Kanski, Alison (October 24, 2017). "W2O looks to eliminate confusion with network rebrand". PR Week. Retrieved October 3, 2019.
  39. ^ "Top PR Firms - 2023 Firm Rankings". O'Dwyer's. 2023. Retrieved June 13, 2023.

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