This is Part 2 of a two part interview with Alan Gross and Jane Townsend. Alan and Jane are two of the four founding partners at GrossTownsendFrankHoffman. GTFH was an agency I was lucky enough to work at for over five years during the mid to late eighties. Today it is Grey Healthcare. Its history and position in healthcare, medical, and pharmaceutical marketing, advertising, PR, and education cannot be over stated. This agency, the partners, and everyone who worked there were pioneers who explored and pushed the envelop for ourselves and an industry.

Besides being dear friends to this day they were the ones who taught me the most about strategies, marketing, advertising, and medical education. They also taught me and anyone who worked with them (never for) how to achieve integrity and honesty in business. They taught us how to go beyond your self imposed limits. They are smart, generous, hardworking, and visionary. We talk about what it was like 40 years ago and how it changed. What you see today in pharmaceutical marketing is not what it was.

I forgot to include a link to some history on Merck and Mevacor to better understand the genesis of direct to consumer advertising.