2008 Medical Advertising Hall of Fame

Robert Baldini

Richard Cliggott

John Corcoran

James Dougherty

Audrey Girard

ROBERT BALDINI

"We had to convince them not only of the reliability of the product but also of the company"

Bob Baldini started

"It was a whole different industry back then," says Baldini. Pfizer had a little over a dozen people on its marketing team during that time.

In 1961, Baldini moved to Geigy, which had its own internal ad agency (later C&G Advertising).

He spent 20 years there, starting out in marketing research and product management before serving as the agency's director following the 1972 merger that created Ciba-Geigy.

Baldini was able to assemble a stellar cast of creatives-in part because he pushed the company to create a compensation structure that would allow C&G Advertising to compete for talent with external ad agencies. To make his case, he interviewed execs at ad agencies and from the internal shops of Abbott and Smith Kline French and came up with a competitive scale. Management relented. "Then we were able to hire true professionals," says Baldini. His shop helped make mega-brands like Lopressor and Brethine.