Atomic Matter Is Bringing Indie Creativity to Health and Pharma

The health and pharma category is no longer niche in the advertising landscape and currently stands as one of the most exciting and innovative spaces for creatives and strategists to flex their skills. Atomic Matter is an agency that has recognised the opportunity – business and creative – since its founding in 2024 by managing director Natalie Enniks, head of strategy Frankie Everson, and executive creative director Paul Foster, both ex-BBH, as a dedicated healthcare entity, part of Atomic London. The proof is in Atomic Matter’s growth. The agency has doubled in size in just under a year, picked up eight new pharma accounts in the first eight months of 2025 (including four consecutive pitch wins), and is now a partner to ten clients across health and pharma. It was also named Agency of the Year at the 2025 PM Society Awards, all but proving to Paul and Natalie that they’re on the right track.

Natalie and Paul were previously at big network agencies and were privy to an ongoing trend. “A lot of those agencies were getting consolidated and absorbed into larger networks, and over time that consolidation led to a bit of a homogenisation of culture and creativity,” says Natalie, leading to the spark of what’s possible to achieve within the category to diminish. “What attracted us to join forces with Atomic was the chance to create a health entity that was really able to have an independent agency model and something which we felt that we could bring back the creativity and the culture back into what we had felt was otherwise lost.” One of the agency’s promises, to itself and its clients, is working to remain a team of senior leaders “that can partner really strongly with our clients so they feel like they're getting the best kind of partnership,” Natalie adds. The agency is sticking to that promise too and has recently bolstered its senior leadership with the addition of Aisha Heasman, client partnerships director; Simon Warlow, head of design; and Elizabeth Sharpe, head of medical.

The consumer side of the industry has been struggling over the last couple of years, notes Natalie yet “health is an area that’s growing at about twice the speed that consumer is.” This hasn’t gone unnoticed by people and Atomic Matter is seeing a lot of interest from talent to join which works well for Paul and Natalie who want to blend more of a consumer mindset with healthcare for a fresh perspective.

Moving from a network to an indie model has only been a positive for the work and relationships, reports Paul. “We genuinely do feel a lot closer to the client, the strategy and the process overall. I think it really does benefit the work. It’s that basic thing of getting under the skin of the brief and not having too many layers between seeing the brief and then delivering the work. We're generally quite close to all of the briefs we work on, which is lovely.”

Creativity Beyond Stereotypes

There’s a stereotype around the kind of work the pharma category calls for: dry and functional. “That stereotype was definitely there when I started in health,” Paul says, citing the perceived restrictions and the very real regulations as the underlying cause. The reality now looks very different. “There’s been so much genuinely brilliant work across the industry over the last ten years or so, and things are already starting to shift. What’s interesting is that a lot of the work that performs best at Cannes Lions, for example, is purpose-driven. It’s often health or health-adjacent. Work that sits on the edge of what you’d traditionally classify as healthcare, or is outright healthcare work.”

The reticence creative teams previously had to take on health briefs is simply not there anymore. Paul explains: “I don’t see that at all anymore. What we’re seeing now is a gradual realisation that if you really want to make work that stands the test of time, it’s probably going to be that purpose-led work – which is something you encounter frequently in health. And we want to be part of that. We want to be doing work that genuinely matters. It’s one of the reasons we called ourselves Atomic Matter: it’s about doing work that truly matters.”

Global, Relevant Work

Natalie notes that Atomic Matter works mostly on global campaigns “which is an area that sets us apart from the consumer side.” Making work resonate across multiple continents is no easy feat. “That can be a huge challenge,” she adds. “You’re constantly trying to make the work resonate everywhere, and that can sometimes lead to it being diluted down to the lowest common denominator.” Plus, there are different regulations to consider. “We’re usually keeping the strictest guidelines in mind because if it works within the strictest rules, it will generally work everywhere else. At the same time, you’re trying to develop one big overarching idea while also considering the different ‘archetypes’ for various markets. This allows for some variation, so local teams can adapt the campaign more easily to their own market.”

Paul and Natalie have talked about ‘lowest common denominator’ openly with clients highlighting how “sometimes, if you try to make a campaign acceptable for everyone, it ends up not being impactful for anyone; it can just become wallpaper,” says Paul. Having that conversation right at the start is a way to ringfence and protect ideas because “the most dangerous thing is creating something that doesn’t get noticed. It’s a massive challenge, probably one of the biggest we face as an agency doing global work, keeping campaigns interesting, fresh, and effective while still making sure they work for everyone,” Paul explains.

The other challenge for pharma agencies is existential, based on past experiences and relationships. “One of the first things we wanted to understand was: what are clients' frustrations with agencies, and how can we be a better partner? A lot of the feedback we heard was about transparency: things like understanding costs and knowing what they’re actually paying for,” says Natalie. “We don’t want to replicate those bloated teams you sometimes see in bigger agencies. Instead, we focus on ensuring the team is senior-led, streamlined, and genuinely adds value.”

The agency put their philosophy into action for multiple clients though one piece of work has proven more successful than anyone could have even hoped for, picking up 15 awards over the last year. It was a disease-awareness campaign specifically targeting healthcare professionals for a global pharma client. “What we’re proudest of is that we set out for our first project to define the standards for ourselves: what we aim for, how we work with clients, and how we maintain that close, consultative relationship where we’re genuinely part of the work. And that project is still live today,” Paul says. “What's been particularly satisfying is that this area of medical education has historically been quite cautious, more technical and mechanical. We were really keen to show that you can bring creative flair and emotion into that kind of work, and that it isn’t at odds with being educational. It doesn’t always have to be serious if the creativity still supports understanding.” The campaign has been adopted in the US and used globally including in congresses across Asia and Europe, proving it’s possible to create something distinct and attention-grabbing which also works for everyone.

For Natalie, the project was “an amazing first client because it meant we had a really strong case study right out of the gate. It’s honestly not what we expected. Winning something as big as a global launch, and working on the pre-launch campaign, was an incredible opportunity, and we’re really grateful for it. Having a full, end-to-end case like that to enter into awards has been brilliant, and the work has performed so well.”

The AI Opportunity

The unavoidable AI conversation has a different tone in pharma where the technology really is aiding in research and innovation. As Paul notes, “At the manufacturing and drug development level, it’s genuinely game-changing. One of our clients is using AI to analyse clinical trial data, which is reshaping our understanding of certain diseases and speeding up drug development. It’s incredible and will truly change everything.”

Internally for the agency, it’s “an enabler, not a replacement,” Paul states. “For example, we’ve developed a couple of tools: one is a resourcing project, and another is an AI-powered onboarding tool called Launchpad, which helps creatives and strategists quickly get up to speed on a topic so they can focus their time on the work that really matters.”

One thing Paul and Natalie learnt from the multi-award winning campaign is that tangibility matters, especially in our tech-drenched world. “One of the most effective pieces was extremely physical and tactile, almost the antithesis of digital innovation or tech-driven storytelling. It involved pulling threads across the board at a Congress, and it generated huge traction and engagement,” they both reflect. “It made us wonder whether, in a world oversaturated with technology, especially AI, physical, tangible experiences might actually have even greater appeal. Of course, we’re exploring all kinds of channels and doing innovative work with clients, but it’s a good reminder that sometimes simple, physical, tactile ideas can be incredibly effective. The key for us is making sure we’re not innovating just for the sake of it.”

Interestingly, it’s the innovations that AI will enable and unlock for pharma companies that will generate more creative opportunities for agencies like Atomic Matter. “There will be huge numbers of new developments – new drugs, new treatments, new ideas, and fresh ways to tackle global healthcare challenges. From a healthcare perspective, that translates into really exciting projects and breakthrough treatments to work on,” Paul and Natalie predict.

And while everyone else is playing catch-up to the opportunities on the horizon, Atomic Matter is forging ahead with the skills and experience to face them with steady confidence.