Miss. Not. One.
Role: Concept + Art Direction | Year: 2024-2026 | Location: Boston
By 2024, Foundation medicine was competing in a crowded field. Marketing had already commissioned Miss. Not. One. from an outside agency—the tagline was set, but the creative behind it was closer to standard pharma collateral than a real point of view. It ran, but it didn't land. Our team was asked to rebuild the campaign: keep the tagline, but figure out what it actually meant, and make it bold enough to stand out in a market that no longer had room for generic solutions.
The Solution
The tagline itself had been read narrowly, as a claim about lab precision. I saw it as something bigger: a call to action, and a promise to doctors that we would be a complete partner in patient care.
I brought three directions to the team, each a different way of making that promise visible. One extended the existing visual language, layering gene names with a patient portrait, a refinement rather than a real departure. Another used absence: a line illustration of a patient in a waiting room, amongst others in full color, prompting the viewer to question whether they were missing the full picture.
The direction that was chosen took the opposite approach. Rather than show what could go wrong if testing fell short, it showed what our capability actually looked like. It paired macro shots of lab technicians' gloved hands at work against portraits of patients. Both images were lit with contrasting color so the lab shot and the patient shot shared the same glow.
Making It Stand Out
To bring the winning concept to life, I established a color system that carried across our main disease areas, with a separate palette for brand-level messaging. I also cast alternate models so the work could speak to biopharma and business development audiences without leaving the visual language.
I worked closely with our photographer and production team to set the tone for the shoot. I directed the shot list, casting, wardrobe, and on-set work. We shot in studio and inside our own FDA-approved lab, with real technicians and real samples, which meant navigating strict regulatory limits. I then managed selects and directed retouching.
I owned the trade show booths and the print and digital pieces that went with them. I directed an in-house team on everything else: print, social, digital ads, and animation. I also presented the system back to the original agency so their work stayed consistent with ours.
A real patient sample, shot in the Foundation Medicine lab in Cambridge, MA
Outcomes
Miss. Not. One. ran at ASCO, ESMO, WCLC and other major national and international conferences for two years, alongside digital ads, social, print, and email. After its first year, Roche and its international affiliates adopted the system for most of Foundation Medicine’s marketing outside the U.S.
Select Collaborators:
Creative Direction: Katie Noyes
Photography: Leonard Greco
Event Production: Taylor Group