Fingerpaint Acquires Emcay

Knox Lane–Backed Fingerpaint Acquires Emcay, Expanding Company’s Multicultural Capabilities

The specialty offering will leverage Pharmacultural®, a proprietary approach to multicultural marketing in the pharmaceutical space.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.––Fingerpaint Marketing, Inc. (“Fingerpaint Marketing”) announced the acquisition of Emcay, LLC (“Emcay”), a full-service agency uniquely designed to provide a perfect balance of pharmaceutical knowledge and multicultural insight, and the creation of Fingerpaint Multicultural, a specialty offering that will focus solely on Pharmacultural® marketing. In December 2020, Fingerpaint partnered with San Francisco–based private equity firm Knox Lane to accelerate its trajectory through organic growth and strategic partnerships.Details of the transaction were not disclosed.

Fingerpaint Multicultural will fall under the Fingerpaint Marketing brand and tap into both companies’ multicultural expertise. Steve Millerman, who served as president of Emcay, will lead Fingerpaint Multicultural, reporting to Mark Willmann, head of Fingerpaint Marketing.

“Fingerpaint has always been committed to refining, and expanding, our capabilities to meet the needs of our clients,” said Bill McEllen, global president of Fingerpaint. “We are very fortunate to be able to welcome this group of highly specialized marketers into our Fingerpaint family and look forward to seeing the impact their highly targeted campaigns will have on humanity.”

Pharmacultural® marketing is the basis for a proprietary approach to rethinking and distilling unique cultural insights into actionable and authentic content and campaigns, no matter the therapeutic area, channel, or customer type.

“This is a consolidated group of experts who will be laser-focused on peeling back the layers of multicultural marketing to reveal truly impactful insights that will allow us to ensure our messaging is not just landing appropriately, but making a measurable difference in people’s lives,” said Willmann.

“Being a part of Fingerpaint will allow the tremendously important work our people do to make a bigger impact on outcomes for individuals who are often misrepresented and underreached in the healthcare space, as well as help marketers materialize plans that will drive tangible and measurable results, leading to better outcomes for everyone,” said Millerman, who has more than 20 years of experience in pharmaceutical brand marketing, much of it focused on multicultural marketing.

About Fingerpaint

Our creative solutions are fueled by the deep human and scientific insights that drive change. Informed by data and driven by innate curiosity and creativity, we solve the business and human challenges that hinder health experiences. We believe everything we do can help paint a healthy future.

Fingerpaint comprises Fingerpaint Marketing (parent company) and its wholly owned subsidiaries 1798, Leaderboard Branding, MedThink Communications, MedThink SciCom, and Engage. Collectively, its companies have been named Agency of the Year five times; honored by the Lisbon Health International Advertising Festival, Webby Awards, Telly Awards, Global Awards, DTC National, D&AD, and Clio Awards; acknowledged as a DE&I Champion; named Best Places to Work by Ad Age; and included on Inc. Magazine’s list of the 5,000 Fastest-Growing Companies for nine consecutive years. Visit Fingerpaint at www.fingerpaint.com.

About Knox Lane Based in San Francisco, Knox Lane is a growth-oriented investment firm composed of a team of accomplished investors and operators with a shared work history and a strong track record of partnering with leading companies to accelerate transformational growth. Knox Lane employs an investor-operator mind-set and seeks to provide support across a number of business components, including human capital, brand management, end-to-end digital transformation, sourcing, supply chain and logistics, strategic acquisitions, and business development. For more information, please visit www.knoxlane.com.