Douglas Neale Joins Jack Morton Worldwide as Pharma, Healthcare VP

NEW YORK, Aug. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Experiential marketing agency Jack Morton Worldwide today announced the appointment of Douglas Neale as Vice President of Business Development for the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Sector.

Neale's hire reflects Jack Morton's continued commitment to expand its position within the pharmaceutical and healthcare sector. In this new position, Neale will bridge the gap between agency and client through his unique first-hand experience in brand building and product marketing within an increasingly difficult regulatory environment in which pharmaceutical companies operate.

"The dynamics marketing teams face today are more challenging than ever before," said Neale, who was responsible for marketing Aricept(R), the market- leading treatment for Alzheimer's disease. "The balance between effectively communicating a product's value proposition to healthcare providers, patients, payers, general consumers and, now, the government with MMA, is delicate and under intense scrutiny. Yet there's still a need to be innovative and creative. We can't have a business-as-usual attitude."

Neale will also bring marketing and promotional experience to an increasing number of companies involved in co-promotion and joint venture relationships, and encourage marketing initiatives aimed at multicultural audiences who continue to be under-serviced despite the anticipated increase in non-white, non-English speaking populations over the next five-to-ten years.

"We are pleased that Doug has joined our team to help us meet the strategic business needs of our pharmaceutical clients," said Chris Cavanaugh, Executive Vice President, Jack Morton. "Because of his in-depth experience in so many aspects of sales and marketing, Doug provides a unique perspective we feel clients will appreciate and have confidence in."

Doug Neale joins Jack Morton from Eisai Inc. where he spent nine years. At Eisai, he was most recently Group Director for the CNS Franchise with responsibility for Aricept, the market leader in Alzheimer's disease, Zonegran(R) for epilepsy and Rasagiline(R) for Parkinson's disease. Prior to that, he was responsible for the marketing of Aciphex(R) for GERD, and held various positions within sales and sales training. Doug also spent one year in Japan where he helped launch Aricept into the Japanese market. He has extensive co-promotion experience as the relationship manager for each of Eisai's co-promote partners, including Pfizer Inc, Janssen Pharmaceutica and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.

Jack Morton Worldwide is an experiential marketing agency that helps the world's leading companies improve performance, increase sales and build brands. The agency creates live events, branded environments and interactive experiences that engage, educate and entertain employee, business and consumer audiences, as well as large-scale, globally televised ceremonies such as the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Jack Morton has a staff of 600 employees throughout the United States, Europe and Asia- Pacific, and is part of the Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. . More information is available online at http://www.jackmorton.com/.