





































      AMWA Journal / V36 N4 / 2021 / amwa.org     159

ABSTRACT 

An impactful pharmaceutical promotional piece is an amal-

gam of a relatable narrative and agreeable visuals, a result of 

a highly synergistic relationship among medical writers, art 

directors, and designers. When it comes to innovation and cre-

ativity, a collaborative relationship will increase the likelihood 

of producing a piece that will touch the lives of the audience in 

a memorable way. Although the audience of pharmaceutical 

promotion can comprise health care providers and patients, 

this article will focus on the latter. A few aspects of this part-

nership have been shown to increase the chances of achiev-

ing that goal, such as respectful communication, alignment 

on the brief, mutual encouragement, and use of lay language 

during discussions and brainstorming sessions. Although nur-

turing storytelling, a strong skill of creative teams, is critical for 

the success of promotional medical pieces, ensuring scientific 

accuracy and avoiding misbranding are also key for comply-

ing with the ethical paradigms of medical communication and 

the US Food and Drug Administration regulations. Therefore, 

fine-tuning the partnership between medical and creative 

teams translates into a collaboration that combines freedom of 

creation with regulatory and scientific guardrails, as well as a 

strong sense of respect for each other’s views and expertise.

INTRODUCTION
Over a year and a half have passed since the beginning of the 

COVID-19 pandemic, and we all have experienced profound 

changes in the way we live and interact with one another. In 

the realm of promotional medical education, this reality also 

applies. With the cancellation of congresses and personal inter-

actions being restricted to the virtual environment, the sector 

has elevated digital tools and channels, creating an appetite 

for more involvement of creative teams in medical communi-

cation.1,2 With that growth, we have also observed a massive 

migration of creative teams, such as art directors and design-

ers, from consumer agencies, that is, companies focused on 

advertising products outside the realm of health care, to medi-

cal communication, bringing a fresh perspective into the sea of 

sameness of the industry.

 With this shift, the presence of creative teams in medical 

communication has increasingly become more conspicuous, 

creating new work dynamics for medical writers, whose sci-

entific background tends to embrace a higher focus on pure 

science rather than creative elements, such as visuals and 

engagement tools.

 These new circumstances have pushed many of us, medi-

cal writers, to ask ourselves, “What is the best way to work with 

creative teams?”; “How can we explore the best of both worlds 

with such distinct trainings?”; and “How can we stir each oth-

er’s motivation to accomplish the most compelling piece for 

our client while also ensuring scientific accuracy?”

CREATING A PARTNERSHIP
A good pharmaceutical promotional piece is an amalgam of 

a relatable narrative and agreeable visuals, resulting from a 

highly synergistic relationship among medical writers, art 

directors, and designers. When it comes to innovation and cre-

ativity, a collaborative relationship will increase the likelihood 

of producing a piece that will touch the lives of health care pro-

viders (HCPs), the audience, in a memorable way.

 In the late 1950s, Bill Bernbach, founder of DDB Worldwide 

Communications Group, a globally renowned advertising 

agency, decided to integrate copywriters with art directors as 

a team. Because the approach worked undeniably well, other 

agencies gradually followed the approach. Nowadays, most 

advertising agency creative departments in the world comprise 

such cross-functional teams.3

 By and large, medical communication agencies have also 

followed the approach of integrating writers, art directors, 

Andrea Caricilli Blotta, PhD / Medical Director, Area 23, New York, NY

Effective Communication Between Medical 
Writers and Creative Teams: The Secret 
Condiment for a Flavorsome Sauce

F
E

A
T

U
R

E



160    AMWA Journal / V36 N4 / 2021 / amwa.org        

and designers as the core team that will ideate and produce 

all pieces according to brand strategic imperatives and the cli-

ent’s direction, which are ensured to be followed by the client 

service team. In some agencies, the creative team is under 

the umbrella of shared services, as exemplified by the edito-

rial department, whereas in others, each account has its own 

creative steward. The latter resembles that closer relation-

ship between art directors and copywriters proposed by Bill 

Bernbach, allowing medical writers and art directors to work 

together throughout the trajectory of a particular brand.

       Regardless of the model adopted, a few condiments have 

proven to be indispensable for the flavorsome sauce that is 

a memorable medical communication piece. One of them is 

building a solid relationship between medical and creative 

teams. According to Simon Veksner, the author of the book 

How to Make it as an Advertising Creative, “the basics are the 

same as any human interaction. You need to listen to each 

other, respect each other’s point of view, and not expect the 

other to be perfect. After all, you’re not.”3

 However, some could argue that this fundamental of 

human interaction does not always come easily, especially 

because moments of intense creativity can drive people to sub-

merge in their own experiences and emotions. Other times, 

the source of disconnect may come from the very nature of the 

training of each department, which may bring to the surface 

mismatched creative repertoires when brainstorming narra-

tives and visuals together. One approach to overcome these 

challenges is to turn the team’s attention to the client’s inter-

ests and the success of the brand. In this sense, although chal-

lenging each other may feel uncomfortable at times, emerging 

from these brainstorming sessions for a few moments to 

realign on client interests serves as a reminder to keep the con-

versation respectful and avoid deviations from the strategic 

imperatives of the brand.

 Another key approach for a successful partnership between 

these departments is alignment on the creative brief, which 

is the document used to outline the strategy of a project. The 

brief contains the purpose of the project, audience, messag-

ing, scope of work, timeline, and other key information that 

helps all members of the team to understand details about 

the piece that they will develop (Box 1),4 and it is a document 

that can be altered in case objectives or the scope change. 

The problem proposed in the brief needs to be clear for both 

medical and creative teams prior to their initial conversations 

and brainstorming sessions.3 This is a critical step for medi-

cal communication agencies, given that most art directors do 

not have scientific training, as opposed to traditional teams 

in consumer agencies, in which both the copywriter and the 

art director tend to have similar backgrounds. Having that in 

mind, a good approach to level set the team when discussing 

a brief is to present the 

problem or the unmet 

need of the project in 

layman’s terms.

 Along these lines, it 

is reasonable for medi-

cal, creative, and client 

services teams to write 

the creative brief for 

each project together. 

Joining brand strategy, 

which is also a reflec-

tion of a company strat-

egy, with solid scientific 

evidence and translat-

ing the problem that 

the brief proposes to solve into approachable language can 

enhance innovation and lead to a much more productive rela-

tionship between medical and creative teams.

THE IMPORTANCE OF AVOIDING MISBRANDING
Creative teams from consumer agencies are known for nurtur-

ing powerful storytelling in pieces that face fewer guardrails 

than medical communication agencies do. Although cultivat-

ing robust storytelling skills is critical for the success of pro-

motional medical pieces, ensuring scientific accuracy and 

avoiding misbranding are also key for complying with the ethi-

cal paradigms of medical communication. Principle 2 of the 

American Medical Writers Association Code of Ethics states the 

following: “Medical communicators should apply objectivity, 

scientific accuracy and rigor, and fair balance while conveying 

pertinent information in all media.”5

 In addition, avoiding misbranding is critical for compliance 

with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations. 

The Office of Prescription Drug Promotion (OPDP) is a section  

of the FDA, and it protects the public health by helping to 

ensure that prescription drug promotion is truthful, balanced, 

and accurately communicated. All pharmaceutical advertis-

ing and promotional labeling undergoes review by the OPDP to 

ensure that the information in these promotional materials is 

not false or misleading.6

 Among the tasks performed by the OPDP are providing 

written comments to pharmaceutical sponsors on proposed 

promotional materials to ensure clear and unambiguous com-

munication of the laws and regulations relating to prescription 

drug promotion, reviewing complaints about alleged promo-

tional violations, initiating compliance actions on promotional 

materials that are false or misleading, comparing the product 

labeling and promotional materials of various closely related 

products to ensure that the regulatory requirements are consis-

Box 1. Key Information Covered  
by a Creative Brief

 1. Company requestor
 2. Project description
 3. Objective
 4. Audience
 5. Unmet need
 6. Desired response
 7. Project overview
 8. Creative approach
 9. Project scope
10.  Constraints and assumptions
 11. Timeline
 12. Success criteria

 13. Budget



AMWA Journal / V36 N4 / 2021 / amwa.org    161

tently and equitably applied, traveling to major medical meet-

ings and pharmaceutical conventions to monitor promotional 

exhibits and activities, and acting as a liaison between OPDP 

and other divisions within the FDA on promotional issues.6

 Prescription drug promotion should not be false or mis-

leading. Specifically, every promotional piece must have a 

balance between efficacy and risk information and reveal 

material facts about the product being promoted, includ-

ing consequences that may result from the use of the drug. In 

this respect, when medical writers and creative teams work 

together to develop a promotional medical piece, they must 

make sure all claims are appropriately supported and all com-

parisons are derived from head-to-head studies. In addition, 

when crafting narratives, it is indispensable to account for fair 

balance throughout the piece. For example, if alluding to the 

overall response rate after the use of a medication, one needs 

to account for the depiction of safety data in the same section.6

 Given the importance of certifying that all promotional 

pieces comply with the FDA guidelines, a promotional review 

committee comprising representatives from the pharmaceu-

tical company’s medical, legal, and regulatory (MLR) depart-

ments is charged with ensuring materials are fair balanced and 

meet function-specific standards while achieving marketing’s 

goals. Each representative in an MLR committee has specific 

responsibilities and characteristics (Box 2).7

TECHNIQUES FOR BUILDING OPTIMAL 
PARTNERSHIP
Once medical, creative, and account services (ie, the depart-

ment responsible for ensuring that the client’s needs are met 

Box 2. Key The MLR Promotional Review Committee

Medical representative: Individual with an MD, PharmD, 

PhD or other advanced degree. Responsible for critically 

evaluating material for scientific and medical validity and 

consistency with the FDA-approved labeling.

Legal representative: Attorney with a JD degree. 

Responsible for advising on legal risk by broadly review-

ing materials for compliance with federal and state laws 

and industry codes/guidances. Areas of expertise include 

copyright and trademarks, fraud and abuse, and anti-

kickback issues.

Regulatory representative: Individual who generally has 

an advanced degree in the sciences or healthcare and 

acts as the representative during interactions with the 

FDA or OPDP. Responsible for ensuring that the material 

complies with all applicable FDA laws and regulations on 

drug promotion.

As a rule of thumb, medical and 

creative teams should follow the classic 

recommendation for brainstorming 

sessions in their everyday interactions: 

never use the word no.

accurately and on time) are aligned on the creative brief and 

all key aspects of the project to be developed, such as unmet 

needs and the chosen tactic, timeline, and supporting scien-

tific data, have been identified, it is time to let the creativity 

flow. Although creative teams are more familiar with the tech-

niques that boost the production of ideas for narratives and 

visuals than are medical writers, medical teams have a critical 

role in shepherding brainstorming sessions to ensure both sci-

entific accuracy and compliance with the FDA guidance. This 

fine balance translates into a partnership that combines the 

freedom of creation with regulatory and scientific guardrails, 

and it requires a strong sense of respect for each other’s views 

and expertise.

 As a rule of thumb, medical and creative teams should 

follow the classic recommendation for brainstorming sessions 

in their everyday interactions: never use the word no. In brain-

storming sessions, this recommendation is important to avoid 

ruling out any of the ideas—because this is an early stage in the 

development process, all ideas should be received positively. 

In addition, from a human point of view, the word no tends to 

cause unwillingness to participate and negative emotions over-

all. Instead of using the word no, one can modulate their tone 

of voice to make it clear they are unconvinced.3

 On this note, it is crucial to avoid long debates. Instead of 

spending extensive minutes or hours trying to kill each other’s 

suggestions, it is preferable to use the time available to put for-

ward new ideas. In addition, it is essential that medical and 

creative teams inspire each other on a daily basis. According 

to Paul Monnes, Medical Director at BGB Group, a medical 

communication agency, “The best approach is partnership. 

Medical brings deep knowledge of the data, creative crafts 

evocative expressions of that data. When medical and creative 

colleagues can inspire each other, you develop strong work” 

(instant message, September, 2021).

 Another key recommendation is to never show any dis-

agreement in meetings with the broader team (ie, account, 

project management, editorial, and strategy). Both the medical 

and creative teams need to establish internal alignment prior 

to sharing their proposals with other departments to avoid flat-

tening their credibility with the team. When creating an inno-



162    AMWA Journal / V36 N4 / 2021 / amwa.org        

vative piece, medical and creative teams should weave into 

each other and become a fort with a grounded understand-

ing of the brand. There are several approaches to optimizing a 

partnership between medical and creative teams during brain-

storming sessions (Box 3).3

THE IMPORTANCE OF EMOTION IN MEDICAL 
COMMUNICATION
HCPs, the audience for HCP-focused branded and unbranded 

promotional pieces, have been overwhelmed with content and 

messages from an increasing number of stakeholders through 

numerous channels, an unparalleled reality that demands 

unprecedented outputs. According to Chris Bartley, Deputy 

Managing Director at the medical communication agency Havas 

Life Medicom, “Cutting through the noise starts with develop-

ing a ‘big idea’ and requires clarity, originality, consistency and 

stand-out design in its execution. The fundamentals of creativ-

ity have never been so important. A great creative delivers an 

instant understanding of the problem and the solution on both 

an emotional and rational level. It’s difficult to describe, but 

when you see it, you know—it’s got that wow factor.”8

 When touching upon medical content, it seems natural to 

distance ourselves from emotions, just like most physicians do. 

Physicians, on one hand, are taught to remain detached from 

participating in any depth of emotions to maintain the objec-

tivity considered crucial to accurate clinical decision-making. 

On the other hand, emotions are already highly present in 

the patient–physician relationship. According to the author 

of the book From Detached Concern to Empathy: Humanizing 

Medical Practice, Jodi Halpern, emotions should be recognized 

and used constructively in the service of empathy. In fact, in 

Halpern’s view, critical clinical decision-making and diagnosis 

depend not on emotional distance but on emotional engage-

ment that allows the physician to gain a deeper understanding 

of, and insight into, the patient’s experience of illness.9

 Along these lines, emotional connection can be used as 

an approach to innovate in promotional medical education 

pieces. Creating room for emotions that we all yearn to express 

provides a sense of identity and genuineness. In addition, emo-

tions create a bridge for HCPs to connect with their patients on 

a human level.

 Although creating an emotional connection between a pro-

motional medical piece and its audience can be perceived with 

skepticism by some, it is a powerful storytelling resource that 

should be explored whenever applicable and executed accord-

ing to the FDA regulations. Tapping into emotions not only 

creates a memorable learning experience but also provides a 

chance to relate to the patients treated by the audience of these 

promotional pieces.

 Numerous approaches can be deployed when aiming 

for innovation, and it is true that technology can help create 

a highly engaging piece that will catch the eye of the audi-

ence. However, that does not necessarily equate to a memo-

rable experience. For example, a conference booth employing 

an interactive game to engage visitors can create an enjoy-

able experience, a pause from long and tedious presentations. 

However, if it does not also create an emotional connection, the 

audience will likely turn its back once the activity is over and 

soon forget the core messages, if not the product altogether.

 These observations highlight the importance of creating a 

strong partnership between medical and creative teams—after 

all, exploring genuine and relatable emotions within every 

medical piece requires complete alignment and enthusiasm 

for working together as a team. Anything less than a solid alli-

ance will likely not tap into real emotions and therefore will not 

result in a memorable and innovative piece.

CONCLUSION
The evolving landscape of medical communication with the 

incoming creative teams from consumer agencies has cre-

ated a new opportunity for medical writers to explore new 

approaches to storytelling and visual engagement. Thus,  

building a synergistic relationship between medical and  

creative departments is imperative to bring differentiation  

and excellence to our industry.

Acknowledgment

Thank you to Ivan Blotta, Paul Monnes, Brett Bauchner, Nicole 

Luciano, Diala Habib, David White, Shirin Mesbah Oskui, Ian 

Box 3. Discussion Techniques to Optimize 
Partnership Between Medical and Creative Teams

What You Want to Say How to Say It

Acceptable, but we can do 
better.

Good.

Following strategic 
imperatives, but not  
very interesting.

Yes, that works (neutral 
tone of voice).

I see something interesting, 
but it does not work.

Good—let’s develop 
this idea a bit more.

Off-brief and not interesting 
at all.

I see (neutral tone of 
voice).

Terribly off-brief. Can you say that one 
more time?

Very boring idea. OK.

Terribly off-brief, boring, 
and uninspiring.

How about a coffee 
break?

Adapted from Veksner S. How to Make it as an Advertising Creative. 
Laurence King Publishing Ltd; 2010.



AMWA Journal / V36 N4 / 2021 / amwa.org    163

LaFond, Adam Lach-Szyrma, and Javier Inductivo for inspir-

ing conversations about creativity in medical communica-

tion and to Haifa Kassis for feedback and recommendations 

to improve this piece.

Author declaration and disclosures: The views and opinions 
expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily  
reflect the views of Area 23, its affiliates, or its employees. The author 
notes no commercial associations that may pose a conflict  
of interest in relation to this article.

Author contact: caricilli@gmail.com

References
1. Lipworth K, Cuozzo S, Jones B. How medcomms has risen to 

the COVID-19 challenge. The Difference Collective website. 

Published June 10, 2020. Accessed September 8, 2021. https://

thedifferencecollective.com/medcomms-rises-to-the-covid-19-

challenge/

2. Graham M. How a stay-at-home year accelerated three trends in 

the advertising industry. CNBC website. Published March 13, 2021. 

Accessed September 8, 2021. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/13/

how-covid-19-changed-the-advertising-industry-.html

3. Veksner S. How to Make it as an Advertising Creative. London: 

Laurence King Publishing Ltd; 2010.

4. How to create a good advertising brief. Digital School of Marketing 

website. Published December 10, 2019. Accessed September 9, 2021. 

https://digitalschoolofmarketing.co.za/blog/how-to-develop-a-

good-advertising-brief/

5. AMWA Code of Ethics. American Medical Writers Association 

website. Updated June 2008. Accessed September 12, 2021. https://

www.amwa.org/general/custom.asp?page=Code_of_Ethics

6. The Office of Prescription Drug Promotion. US Food and Drug 

Administration website. Updated July 1, 2021. Accessed September 

11, 2021. https://www.fda.gov/about-fda/center-drug-evaluation-

and-research-cder/office-prescription-drug-promotion-opdp

7. Dankiewicz E. Time to review your promotional review? Best 

practices in the US. DIA website. Accessed September 12, 2021. 

https://globalforum.diaglobal.org/issue/april-2021/time-to-review-

your-promotional-review/

8. Ross C. Creativity in health communications. PMGroup website. 

Published December 10, 2014. Accessed September 1, 2021. 

http://www.pmlive.com/pharma_news/creativity_in_health_

communications_617873

9. Angoff NR. Making a place for emotions in medicine. Yale J Health 

Policy Law Ethics. 2002;2(2):8. https://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/

yjhple/vol2/iss2/8

Alliance for Continuing Education in the Health 
Professions 
January 12-15, 2022 
Aurora, Colorado 
https://www.acehp.org/Annual-Conference

European Meeting of ISMPP  
January 25-26, 2022
London, UK
https://www.ismpp.org/european-meeting

American Association for the Advancement of Science 
February 17-20, 2022 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Virtual 
https://meetings.aaas.org/ 

APhA Annual Meeting & Exposition 
March 18-21, 2022 
San Antonio, TX 
https://aphameeting.pharmacist.com

DIA Europe 2022
March 29-31, 2022 
Brussels, Belgium, and Virtual 
https://www.diaglobal.org/en/flagship/dia-europe-2022 

ACES Annual National Conference
March 31 – April 2, 2022
San Antonio, TX 
https://aceseditors.org/conference/

Annual Meeting of ISMPP
May 9-11, 2022
Washington, DC
https://www.ismpp.org/annual-meeting

STC Technical Communication Summit
May 15-18, 2022
Virtual 
https://summit.stc.org

DIA 2022 Global Annual Meeting
June 19-23, 2022
Chicago, IL
https://www.diaglobal.org/Flagship/DIA-2022

CALENDAR OF MEETINGS
Please confirm with individual meeting hosts

https://www.acehp.org/Annual-Conference
https://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/yjhple/vol2/iss2/8
mailto:caricilli@gmail.com
https://thedifferencecollective.com/medcomms-rises-to-the-covid-19-challenge/
https://thedifferencecollective.com/medcomms-rises-to-the-covid-19-challenge/
https://thedifferencecollective.com/medcomms-rises-to-the-covid-19-challenge/
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/13/how-covid-19-changed-the-advertising-industry-.html
https://digitalschoolofmarketing.co.za/blog/how-to-develop-a-good-advertising-brief/
https://digitalschoolofmarketing.co.za/blog/how-to-develop-a-good-advertising-brief/
https://digitalschoolofmarketing.co.za/blog/how-to-develop-a-good-advertising-brief/
https://www.amwa.org/general/custom.asp?page=Code_of_Ethics
https://www.amwa.org/general/custom.asp?page=Code_of_Ethics
https://www.fda.gov/about-fda/center-drug-evaluation-and-research-cder/office-prescription-drug-promotion-opdp
https://www.fda.gov/about-fda/center-drug-evaluation-and-research-cder/office-prescription-drug-promotion-opdp
https://www.fda.gov/about-fda/center-drug-evaluation-and-research-cder/office-prescription-drug-promotion-opdp
https://globalforum.diaglobal.org/issue/april-2021/time-to-review-your-promotional-review/
https://globalforum.diaglobal.org/issue/april-2021/time-to-review-your-promotional-review/
https://globalforum.diaglobal.org/issue/april-2021/time-to-review-your-promotional-review/
http://www.pmlive.com/pharma_news/creativity_in_health_communications_617873
https://www.ismpp.org/european-meeting
https://meetings.aaas.org/
https://aphameeting.pharmacist.com
https://www.diaglobal.org/en/flagship/dia-europe-2022
https://aceseditors.org/conference/
https://www.ismpp.org/annual-meeting
https://summit.stc.org
https://www.diaglobal.org/Flagship/DIA-2022



