Deerfield Agency has named its first chief creative officer. Sam Cannizzaro has ended a two-year stint at Elevate Healthcare Marketing to take up the position at a fast-growing agency that is carving out a niche serving small to midsize pharmaceutical companies.
Pennsylvania-based Deerfield is a full-service agency specializing in healthcare. Last year, the acquisition of Verge Scientific, a company that supports brand strategy and public relations, helped the agency to grow its sales by 40% and increase its headcount from 88 to 141. Deerfield has navigated its rise without a chief creative officer.
Now, Deerfield is filling that gap by hiring Cannizzaro, a person whose CV features highlights related to the initiation of omnichannel campaigns, work on telehealth solutions and immersive technologies, use of voice-based health assistants and launch of AstraZeneca's first digital detailing solutions.
In a statement, Frank Burrell, managing partner at Deerfield, said Cannizzaro will “lead creative visioning forward for the agency.” Deerfield’s selection of Cannizzaro as the person to take the lead in that work is built on his “proven track record of conceptualizing and orchestrating memorable brand and digital experiences and leading teams to deliver innovative solutions for clients,” Burrell said.
Cannizzaro built up that track record at Elevate and GSW. The new Deerfield’s executive’s résumé is dominated by a 15-year spell at GSW, during which time he rose to the position of executive creative director. That rise helped Cannizzaro to land the executive creative director role at Elevate early last year.
While employed elsewhere, Cannizzaro had the chance to get to know and work with members of the Deerfield leadership team, giving him insights into their activities and culture that informed the decision to join the company.

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