SO What Global

Creating Chemistry through Communications

SO What Global is a PR and marketing communications group that focuses on ‘life communications’ – namely health, wellbeing and lifestyle. SO is an umbrella for a team of specialist agencies, offering a full spectrum of solutions, services and channels.

Free-thinking and competitively-driven, SO brings together the best ideas and talent to tackle the ever-changing issues and opportunities facing clients, with both sound and spectacular communications solutions. We believe in the power of communication to inspire and improve lives. In short, we live for communication.

SO What about us?

Our focus is health and wellbeing. Our agencies’ expertise spans everything from promoting healthier lifestyles to consumer healthcare to high science communications.

Wellbeing is no longer just the absence of illness – people want to live stronger and longer. 

From bio to brands, we understand both the mindset and markets that will help clients including high science pharma and consumer-facing brands.    

And our overall goal? Changing behaviour. Using the right channels, the right influencers and the right messages to not only inform but empower and motivate consumers to change their behaviour for the better.

Our agencies

SO What Global is currently two core agencies with a range of service offerings and proprietary solutions for clients around the world.   SO Healthy is a new health and wellness communications agency, combining experience and expertise in public relations and medical education to create multi-channel, inspiring and impactful campaigns.

SO Active, is a consumer lifestyle agency with particular strength in activity and sport and the role that they can play in helping individuals, businesses and society. With growing concerns over challenges such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, mental health and the importance of leading a healthy and active lifestyle, SO Active campaigns create connections between companies and their brands and healthy lifestyles, to change consumer behaviour, with activity being one important element of a holistic approach.

There are no forced synergies between our agencies – what brings us together is natural. It’s a desire to make an impact for our clients in a liberated environment with streamlined decision making.  More importantly, we love to see our campaigns and clients flourish.

SO WHY US?

Bioscience to Brands…and beyond

We understand the biology of brands.  The living, evolving nature of products and companies – from those that have yet to be born to those that are mature.   

Just like a living being, brands start off with a spark of life and then grow – some rapidly and some at a more sedate pace – within their own ecosystems.  Our focus is to help create the optimal environment for brands through thoughtful and powerful communications.  We also craft the right narrative to help tell a product’s life story. We put life into lifecycle management.   

Creating Chemistry

Creating the right chemistry is part of our formula for success.  Personal chemistry builds relationships, with people, brands and companies. 

We are…

SO focused…on client needs
SO different…specialist agencies not generalists
SO experienced…a track record of achievement
SO inspired…by fresh thinking
SO digital…woven into the fabric of our business.  Not a bolt-on
And ultimately we strive to keep our customers and people….SO Happy

SO Global

Beyond our own agencies and people, SO has a tried and tested collective of like-minded agencies from around the world. There are very few places on earth where we or our network partners haven’t executed a brilliant campaign or two.  

Client experience

Having worked with global brands such as GSK, Pfizer, Novartis, Roche, P&G, RB, Nestle, World Rugby, The Economist, European Commission, BBC and Sodexo, our team knows how to navigate its way to success for all types of clients. 

Our client partners tend to be multinational corporations with both consumer facing and specialist stakeholders such as healthcare professionals, advocacy and government . Although we offer ‘big brand’ and corporate communications experience, we are equally comfortable supporting start-ups or market challengers.

SO Healthy

SO Healthy is a new health and wellness communications agency, combining experience and expertise in public relations and medical education to create multi-channel, inspiring and impactful campaigns.

Our edge: Relationships and trust

At SO we recognise that healthcare is emotive, affecting all of us, from those aiming to maintain their health to those needing treatment for a life-threating illness. Healthcare advice, guidance and information are everywhere yet health is personal, therefore trust is a major factor for consumers – trust in the company and trust in the brand.

We use our relationships, insights and scientific know-how to create and execute campaigns across all therapeutic areas whether they be for pharmaceutical and biotechnology products, medical device or diagnostics companies.

SO ACTIVE

SO Active is a consumer lifestyle agency with particular strength in activity and sport and the role that they can play in helping individuals, businesses and society.   With growing concerns over challenges such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease. mental health and the importance of leading a healthy and active lifestyle, SO Active campaigns create connections between companies and their brands and healthy lifestyles, to change consumer behaviour, with activity being one important element of a holistic approach.

Whether you are a dedicated healthcare company, or an organisation for whom health and wellbeing is a priority, SO Active creates campaigns to demonstrate your brand or organisations’ benefits to healthy lifestyles and your commitment to healthier lives overall.

We aim to become the destination agency for campaigns that change consumer lifestyles and behaviour for the better, connecting and influencing consumers, governments, and other stakeholders to promote healthier, happier living. The campaigns we create for clients will help people become ‘fans of better health and lifestyle choices’.

SO Patient is formed from a new strategic partnership with established patient inclusivity expert Kathy Redmond to help healthcare companies transform the way they do business and make the most out of patient-centric opportunities.  SO Patient will draw on its exceptional patient engagement know-how, access to a network of patient opinion leaders and the synergies that exist across the SO What Global Group to create enduring value for its clients.   We offer pharma, biotech and wellness clients a range of services encompassing patient group relations, patient journey insights, patient strategy development, patient services and resources, digital solutions, patient activation campaigns and patient engagement capacity building.   Kathy Redmond will be joined by SO What Global Director Moira Gitsham in overseeing the partnership.

Our credo: Create enduring value for clients by helping them realize the potential of patient engagement to improve patient outcomes

Our values

• Doing the right thing for patients, always
• Seeking out synergies
• Creative connectivity
• Commitment to excellence and quality

Our focus

• Patient journey – from diagnosis to disease management
• Patient experience – harnessing real-world insights from the patients’ perspective
• Patient storytelling – bringing the complex patient journey to life
• Patient empowerment – helping patients take control of their health and life and creating cultures that truly involve patients
• Patient lifestyles – helping patients make lifestyle choices for better health

SO Patient:  Video Insights

TEAM AND CONTACTS

SO came to life in 2015 backed by an experienced team that is known for building leading agencies, including Fast Track 100 high-growth award winners and #1 ranked specialist agencies. SO is poised to perform. The group was co-founded by Scott A. Clark and Oliver Parsons (Scott & Ollie…so that's where “SO” found its name!) who are both actively engaged at the agency and client levels. They are joined by rugby star and businessman Matt Dawson to launch SO Active and to support other business ventures, as well as a senior team of experts to launch SO Healthy. Find out more about the team below.

MATT DAWSON, MBE: FOUNDING PARTNER, SO ACTIVE

Previous to Matt’s corporate life, he was a professional rugby player. He enjoyed success with club and country culminating in 3 British and Irish Lions tours, as well as being a part of England's World Cup Winning team of 2003. Since retiring from the game in 2006, Matt has carved out a business and media career. A regular pundit and presenter on BBC Radio and BT Sport keeps his hand across all sports, whilst a position as a captain on the BBC One flagship entertainment show A Question of Sport creates a vast trusted bank of sporting friends, agents and associations Matt can access. Matt has always had one eye on the business world even when he played rugby and chose outsourcing as an area to develop. Communication, discipline, teamwork and success have enabled him to help raise the engagement levels at Food and Facilities giant Sodexo, and the wide contact base mixed with detailed performance continues to bring clients to The Instant Group, a commercial property company at which he holds a directorship. 

Matt is SO…competitive.  Needless to say there's a determination to succeed wherever he goes. The fact he came second in Strictly Come Dancing hurts every day!!

MOIRA GITSHAM, DIRECTOR, SO WHAT GLOBAL

Moira brings 30 years of health-related product and corporate communications expertise to the SO What table.   With award-winning campaigns in both the UK and internationally coupled with co-founding and growing two leading healthcare public relations agencies, Moira has a proven track record of both client and business success.  Her strong entrepreneurial, management and leadership credentials are backed up with qualifications in pharmacy, health economics and marketing putting Moira is a strong position to provide strategic counsel to the senior management of both blue-chip pharmaceutical companies and biotech start-ups.  Having lived in France for over 20 years, Moira is particularly attuned to the needs of multi-national campaigns and adept at leading programmes involving several market services agencies.  Naturally bubbly (just like her favourite drink…) and creative, Moira takes pride in energising and inspiring her teams and driving them to deliver the highest quality work.  She believes strongly in the power of teamwork and has a formula of team success with both of the SO’s founders that now spans two decades.  She not only likes acing in communication, but also on the tennis court and her serve puts a whole new meaning to ‘spin’.  Her two sons make her laugh and keep her up to speed with what’s new in youth culture and her new-found passion for Pilates ensures her core strengths remain well-balanced.    

Moira puts the Mo in Mojo – even after all these years – she is SO…enthusiastic and always takes delight in challenging new projects.    A big believer in ‘you get out of life what you put in….’Contact Moira

STÉPHANIE BUNTEN, DIRECTOR, SO WHAT GLOBAL

With 17 years’ healthcare communications experience, a science degree and management & marketing masters, Stéphanie brings a high level of scientific understanding, insight and enthusiasm to corporate and brand communications. She designs strategic, integrated programmes for domestic and international ethical and consumer healthcare teams, harnessing data and analytics to deliver evidence-based campaigns with impact.  She is versatile and adaptable; equally accomplished working with media, engaging with key thought leaders and advocacy groups as she is with managing internal client stakeholders.  Stéphanie is a calm organizer and leads teams efficiently, notably running key high-profile multi-million global accounts for a number of years.  As Managing Director of the Tonic London office, her collaborative approach drew the very best from teams to achieve her signature ‘Gold Standard’ results for clients.  Stéphanie’s biggest passions in life are travelling the globe with her family, stretching out with yoga moves and she loves paddle-boarding and relaxing with fine food and a glass of chilled rosé in her native south of France.

 Stéphanie is SO…effective.  She is the Hannibal to this ‘A’ team and loves it when a plan comes together! Contact Stéphanie

CAREERS

Like the look of SO What Global and looking for a new challenge? We would love to hear from you. Contact us