The MM+M Podcast

Few things in life carry as much vintage prestige as the presence of a real New York adman. 

That rarified air is typically reserved for the likes of a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue, a 1957 Chevy or a Patek Philippe watch.

Ellis Verdi is a classic New York adman with more than a few dozen stories to tell. Ellis worked across various brands and ad agencies in the 1970s and 80s before founding his own firm, DeVito/Verdi, in the latter part of the decade.

Known for its at-times irreverent, at-times provocative creative output, DeVito/Verdi has endured as a New York-based institution throughout the years and even appeared on the MM+M Agency 100 list.

From a medical marketing standpoint, Ellis has worked with a number of prominent hospital and health system clients, which scratches my itch after having covered the provider sector earlier in my career.

Over nearly 40 years, DeVito/Verdi has worked with Mount Sinai, Lenox Hill Hospital, Mass General, UChicago Medicine, VCU Health, BayCare and MetroHealth in Cleveland.

Ellis also has tales from the halls of the White House after the agency pitched and won the right to provide ad support for former First Lady Hillary Clinton’s senate campaign in 2000. 

It’s our 60th anniversary year, so who better to have in the studio than an industry legend like Ellis for a longform, wide-ranging interview.

Music: “Deep Reflection” by DP and Triple Scoop Music.

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To read more of the most timely, balanced and original reporting in medical marketing, subscribe here.

Music: “Deep Reflection” by DP and Triple Scoop Music.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Lola Offenback, MM+M’s editorial fellow, is finishing her second summer working with us. 

To quote Herman’s Hermits: “Second verse, same as the first.”

Lola has once again exceeded our expectations with her versatility and resourcefulness as a reporter. She returned to MM+M just before Cannes and helped us manage the wave of news coming out of the French Riviera.

From there, she took on deeper reporting assignments exploring women’s health trends, medical marketing internship programs and allergy-focused ad campaigns. 

She also got to cover some in-person activations around New York and hosted a two-part episode of the podcast about health brands advertising during the FIFA World Cup ahead of the final match.

We’re thrilled to have one more sit-down conversation with Lola to discuss how the eight-week internship went, what she made of her second year covering the medical marketing industry and what comes next for her career.

For our Trends segment, we’re talking about the proposed changes to the vaccine schedule and the policy messaging from Trump administration health officials that is untethered from the medical establishment. 

Check us out at: mmm-online.com

Follow us:
YouTube: @MMM-online
TikTok: @MMMnews
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Twitter/X: @MMMnews
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To read more of the most timely, balanced and original reporting in medical marketing, subscribe here.

Music: “Deep Reflection” by DP and Triple Scoop Music.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Matthew Zachary doesn’t need any help to have his voice heard – but we’re giving him our platform anyway.

As one of the most prominent cancer patient advocates in the country, Matthew has been at this for a long time, 30 years to be exact. 

He was diagnosed with brain cancer in college and survived, kicking off a lifelong career in healthcare advocacy.

If you follow Matthew online, you know he is a prolific poster, particularly on LinkedIn. Additionally, he hosts the Out of Patients podcast and also has a new book out titled We The Patients. 

As you’d expect, he has plenty of thoughts on where healthcare organizations and their leadership teams can step up to help improve patient outcomes. We wanted to bottle that up in a rousing episode of the MM+M Podcast. 

This week, Matthew sits down for an in-person interview with reporter Bella Czajkowski about his continually relentless advocacy work, the access issues plaguing the nation’s fragmented healthcare system as well as his piano recital/book launch event at Merkin Hall. 

Music: “Deep Reflection” by DP and Triple Scoop Music.

Check us out at: mmm-online.com

 

Check us out at: mmm-online.com

Follow us:
YouTube: @MMM-online
TikTok: @MMMnews
Instagram: @MMMnewsonline
Twitter/X: @MMMnews
LinkedIn: MM+M

To read more of the most timely, balanced and original reporting in medical marketing, subscribe here.

Music: “Deep Reflection” by DP and Triple Scoop Music.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Executive editor Jack O’Brien first met Wendy Lund, an honoree from our Pinnacle Awards and Women of Distinction program, in September of 2022.

Lund had just left her position as CEO of Agency 100 honoree GCI Health to serve as chief client officer for health and wellness at WPP.

Now in her new post as CEO of Stagwell-owned agency Allison, Lund joins this week’s podcast for an in-person interview with reporter Bella Czajkowski.

Lund dives into a recent HarrisX–Allison Worldwide study on how GLP-1s are reshaping attitudes toward weight loss and care. 

The report was released late last month and chief among its numerous findings was the observation that GLP-1s have moved firmly into the mainstream, though the public conversation around them remains split between medical breakthrough and moral judgment.

As Wendy told Bella, “culture is shaping health, but health is also shaping culture.”

And for our Trends segment, O’Brien and Czajkowski are joined by editor-at-large Steve Madden for a conversation on all that went down during the FDA’s recent two-day advisory panel focused on peptides. 

Check us out at: mmm-online.com

Follow us:
YouTube: @MMM-online
TikTok: @MMMnews
Instagram: @MMMnewsonline
Twitter/X: @MMMnews
LinkedIn: MM+M

To read more of the most timely, balanced and original reporting in medical marketing, subscribe here.

Music: “Deep Reflection” by DP and Triple Scoop Music.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Super Bowl-winning quarterback and 2026 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Drew Brees talks about participating in an awareness campaign to promote ARS Pharmaceuticals’ emergency allergy spray, Neffy. 

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Drew Brees can add pharma brand spokesperson to his already impressive résumé.

This week’s episode features executive editor Jack O’Brien in conversation with the Super Bowl-winning quarterback and 2026 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee. 

Brees talks about how he got involved with ARS Pharmaceuticals on its Neffy awareness campaign, his own journey as an allergy patient, how this medical marketing work compares to other ad campaigns he’s participated in (such as that Pepsi commercial featuring One Direction) and even indulges in a little football talk.

Check us out at: mmm-online.com

Follow us:
YouTube: @MMM-online
TikTok: @MMMnews
Instagram: @MMMnewsonline
Twitter/X: @MMMnews
LinkedIn: MM+M

To read more of the most timely, balanced and original reporting in medical marketing, subscribe here.

Music: “Deep Reflection” by DP and Triple Scoop Music.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.