About Us
At Cambridge BioMarketing, we are on a mission to improve the lives of the 400 million people affected by rare diseases worldwide.
One-of-a-kind agency.
We believe deeply in the work we do—and the work you do—and the potential it holds to change people’s lives. It’s what inspires and drives each and every one of us to deliver the best work possible every day. No other agency can match our enduring commitment to service, strategy, and deep understanding of rare medicine.
AboutWe live for the challenge of rare. We believe every rare challenge deserves a unique solution. Our RareIDSM approach unites our rare experience with our creative communications solutions.
RareIDSM and what it can do for you.
RareIDSM is our proprietary approach to identifying the best solutions for your rare market challenges. We combine customized client algorithms with our unmatched rare disease knowledge base to develop market-shaping strategies and action-driving initiatives that also maximize budgets. Our core competencies include:
Finding both diagnosed and undiagnosed patients—and the HCPs likely to treat them—so they can get the answers, medicine, and support they deserve quicker than ever before.
Developing markets and launch meaningful brands—for both novel and crowded treatment categories—that accelerate time to diagnosis, empower patients to demand more from their HCPs, and give HCPs a concrete way to offer hope to some of their toughest cases.
Activating rare communities to drive awareness, diagnosis, and urgency, and spark patients and HCPs to champion new treatment paradigms that align with their wants and needs.
Nurturing relationships between patients, HCPs, industry, and advocacy organizations to foster a level of empathy and understanding that results in optimal support for rare communities.
Forget silos. Today is about omnichannel.
Gone are the days when you could think about print and digital as separate entities that don’t need to talk to each other. With today’s data and technology, we can develop smart, powerful omnichannel platforms that efficiently distribute and evolve custom messaging to key customers—using the right channels at just the right time.
With the power of data-driven decision making, CB enables you to implement unique marketing solutions that drive market change. That is, no one has more experience using advanced analytics and the latest technology in the rare disease space than we do.
Ever wonder who the agency responsible for the most successful rare disease and orphan brands was?
Yes, that was rhetorical.
Cambridge BioMarketing is a one-of-a-kind agency.
Capabilities.
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Strategic planning
By distilling complex customer research into meaningful insights, our strategy team develops actionable commercial strategies and hypertargeted brand experiences to ensure the right message reaches the right audience.
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Medical
Our integrated medical expertise model ensures our strategies, creative execution, promotional messaging, and omnichannel programs are not only unique, but medically informed, sound, and relevant to the audiences we reach.
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Creative
We have a team of talented and seasoned writers, designers, and visionaries who are fully immersed in the rare mindset, data, and experience to deliver show-stopping creative solutions and messaging that gets noticed and gets results.
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Technology
Whether you’re a young, small company that needs to plan and build your infrastructure and systems from the ground up or you’re a larger, more established company with existing technology and tools that you need to integrate with, we can help find the best strategic solution.
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Production
When it comes to executing a vision, the experienced staff at CB can seamlessly manage any production task. Whether it is a simple printed flashcard or a complex, multiday documentary film shoot with a variety of talent and locations to coordinate, these creative problem solvers will ensure everything runs smoothly and the highest quality product is delivered—every time.
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Emerging media
New technologies such as virtual reality have the power to tap into hard-to-reach customers and elicit a higher level of engagement with users. The CB team is constantly assessing new media and will recommend its specific use only if it aligns with your core objectives and strategies—not just because it’s the cool new thing.
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Data
Overwhelmed by the amount of data available to us today? Not us. We live for data—and more importantly, we know what to do with it. Through clinical data analysis, data management and security, campaign performance measurement, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and more, we can gather, secure, and analyze information and help you make real-time, data-driven decisions about your brand.
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Purchased media
We understand that efficiency in finding and activating patients and HCPs across all channels is critical for all of our clients. That’s why we offer comprehensive media services including strategy, planning, and execution.
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Brand growth
We work with brands throughout their life cycles and can help clients move beyond launch to grow their customer bases through segmented messaging, hyperfocused campaigns, innovative pilot programs, and ongoing research and analysis of market conditions.
Meet our management team.
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Maureen Franco
Chief Executive Officer
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Alyse Sukalski
Managing Director, CB West
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Alisa Shakarian
Head of Experience and Artistry
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Annemarie Crivelli
Head of Experience and Innovation
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Marissa McNally-Costello
Head of Strategy
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Carina Whitridge
Director, Client Services
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Julianne Dunphy, PhD
Director of Medical
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Shauna Horvath
Head of Operations
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Prescott Taylor
Head of Finance
Maureen Franco
Chief Executive Officer
Maureen led major rare disease brands at Genzyme; at CB, she has led the agency and its clients to unprecedented growth through her unique insights, experience, and humor.
Alyse Sukalski
Managing Director, CB West
Alyse leads all West Coast agency operations from our Oakland office; not only can she transform your brand, she’ll beat you up a hill in a footrace (in the nicest way possible).
Alisa Shakarian
Head of Experience and Artistry
Raised resisting authoritarianism, Alisa lives for the freedom to express power and complex ideas simply, freely, and beautifully.
Annemarie Crivelli
Head of Experience and Innovation
Annemarie innovates for your brand in ways you never expected—and never knew were possible; combined with her deep empathy for audiences, she delivers the digital promise.
Marissa McNally-Costello
Head of Strategy
A science geek with a knack for simplifying complexities, Marissa has worked across account management, creative, and planning—as well as on the client side—to bring a 360-degree vision to commercial strategy.
Carina Whitridge
Director, Client Services
With more than 20 years of experience, Carina helps clients develop long-term brand strategies that drive businesses—and success.
Julianne Dunphy, PhD
Director of Medical
With nearly 15 years of medical communications and marketing experience, Julianne thrives on radical science, healthcare trends, and unexpected breakthroughs.
Shauna Horvath
Head of Operations
With more than 20 years of experience across multiple departments, Shauna brings a deep knowledge of operations, troubleshooting and fine-tuning everything from day-to-day workflow to re-envisioning how CB scales to support existing and future clients.
Prescott Taylor
Head of Finance
A numbers guru with experience at a number of successful agencies across various industries; his number 1 job now: managing all facets of CB’s finances.
As part of the global Ashfield network, our reach extends across borders, cultures, and mindsets.
Why we care about rare.
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1 in 10 people has a rare disease
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50% of people with a rare disease are children
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It takes an average of 4.8 years for patients with a rare disease to receive an accurate diagnosis
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70% of physicians want more training in rare diseases