Consumer agency Cheil London has tied up with wethepeople London for a joint venture that sees the partners launch a healthcare division.
Cheil Health will be fully integrated into Cheil’s main operations and will focus on global and local healthcare and pharmaceutical work, offering clients bespoke teams of varying disciplines from Cheil and wethepeople London.
The division will be headed up by Cat Davis, Cheil’s chief growth officer for the UK and Europe, and wethepeople London’s managing partner John Perkins, who will run it alongside their current roles at their respective agencies.
Paul Hammersley, Cheil’s UK group chief executive, said: “Cheil Health will provide transformational experiences by combining technology and creativity in this exciting and growing sector.”
The venture launches with its first client in the shape of start up Map My Gut, which provides a tool that allows health professionals to understand the microbial population of a person’s gut.
Cheil Health will be tasked with creating the marketing strategy to launch Map My Gut to market, when it will target healthcare professionals as well as consumers.
The division will also provide services to pharmaceutical company Abbott, an existing Cheil Worldwide client.
Set up late last year, wethepeople London’s management team at launch was comprised of partners Michel Dubery and Patrick Norrie, alongside John Perkins, with Joe Hoyle quickly added as a partner.
The agency said it would continue to operate as a standalone independent business, working for its own clients alongside those from Cheil Health.
Meanwhile, Seoul-headquartered Cheil was established in 1973 – initially as Samsung’s in-house marketing agency – and it has since also worked with the likes of Absolut, Coca-Cola, Samsung and Jaguar Land Rover.
The agencies’ joint venture brings significant healthcare experience from wethepeople London’s Dubery, Norrie, Perkins, marrying that with Cheil’s massive digital scale.