A long and
winding road into
medical marketing

Dr. Valerie Albrecht changed her career path when she joined Havas Life Bird & Schulte as Medical Manager in 2017.

Valerie, why did you decide to work for an advertising agency?
After a series of demanding postdoctoral positions and with no long-term prospects in research, I was looking for a new professional challenge that would be compatible with my family situation. The rest was pure coincidence: A neighbor told me about a marketing agency that was looking for scientists. Even though it seemed a little strange to me, I was ready for an adventure.

Why did it seem weird to you to apply to an advertising agency?
As scientist, you are trained to work with “hard” facts. From undergraduate through to Ph.D. and beyond, you collect data, interpret it and publish it in peer-reviewed journals. This work is rational and matter-of-fact. There’s little room for creativity or emotions. It seemed outlandish to me to transfer into the world of advertising, where there’s a lot of room for interpretation, innovative ideas and new media.

What won you over?
Science may be sober, but a scientific education can be a great asset for a healthcare marketing agency that primarily works for pharmaceutical companies.

Scientists and doctors are usually very skilled at summarizing data from original publications, and interpreting and presenting it to an expert audience. Medical writing with various levels of detail is becoming an important element in communicating with healthcare professionals. The entire team and the client, a pharmaceutical company, quickly taught me what I needed to know, for example, how a registration study can be turned into a chain of arguments to convey the necessary facts in a truly credible way.

Did you face any obstacles?
In the beginning, I was a little nervous because I didn’t have any marketing experience. I had never dealt with field service materials, information flyers, physician mailings, etc. What was I doing here?

I quickly realized that presenting scientific data in a professional and compelling manner is a team effort. Good pharma communication does not only include the WHAT, meaning the data itself, but also the HOW, i.e. the presentation of the data. To be honest, I’m still fascinated by what the graphic artists can make out of my sketches.

Do you ever regret your decision?
Actually, no. On the contrary – working as a scientist in an advertising agency is exciting and varied – and the position of medical manager doesn’t necessarily require specialist marketing skills. I really love this job and my work-life balance is much better now.