NEW YORK, USA // Born into an advertising family, Tim Hawkey spent the first 22 years of his life trying to avoid a life in advertising. He may have failed at that, but he’s made up for it with a meteoric, award-winning career.

For the past 14 years, he’s made FCB Health his home, the last five of which he has spent leading sister agency Area 23 and establishing it as a creative force in the industry. During his tenure at Area 23, along with his partner Renee Mellas, Tim has quadrupled the agency’s size, and grown it from 65 employees to over 300.

Over the years, Tim has been involved in some of most notable drug launches of our time. Advair, Actonel, Stelara, Jardiance, Grastek, and Stalevo to name a few.

“Do what scares you”, Hawkey espouses to his teams. He believes that a great creative idea should challenge the customer, and he encourages his clients to eschew the traditions of pharma advertising. “If the customer doesn’t stop and notice you, then everything you’re doing is just a waste of time”.

It’s this drive to push the limits that has brought so much attention to the work of Tim and his teams, who have brought in dozens of accolades from the Manny’s, the Global Awards, the Clios, and the MM&M Awards, and that’s just this year. Most notably, his 2009 initiative Live in My Skin took home the Grand Global and the Grand Clio, and this year Area 23 was named Med Ad News Most Creative Agency for the second year in a row..

The agency was also named Agency of the year for the past two years by Medical Marketing and Media, and was named Agency of the year last year by Med Ad News.

Tim has always believed in giving back, and has led the agencies he works for to do so as well. He has developed successful pro bono marketing campaigns for The Alpha-1 Foundation, The National Organization for Rare Diseases, Be The Match National Bone Marrow Registry, and the Mollie Biggane Melanoma Foundation.