The Australian pharmaceutical sector has a reasonably healthy relationship with its communications agencies. A new survey of pharma and biotech professionals shows 85% rate the agencies they work with as Good or better. That’s a solid foundation and when you ask the best relationships to describe what great looks like, the answer is clear: “Real partners, they understand both commercial and strategic challenges.”
The gap between that experience and the average one is the story worth telling.
Service beats strategy in practice, if not on paper
When asked to name the single most important attribute in selecting a communications agency, strategic thinking comes out on top. Nearly a quarter of respondents put it first. That makes sense as pharma is complex, regulated, and high-stakes. Clients want partners who understand the terrain.
But when you aggregate the top three priorities across the full sample, client service leads the field with more mentions than strategic thinking, creativity, value for money, or proven pharma track record combined. Pharma hires agencies for their thinking. It judges them on how the account is actually run.
The best agencies understand both obligations. The ones that don’t are described, repeatedly, as inconsistent, account-lead dependent, and strategically superficial.
What do different pharma functions want from their agency partners?
Not all pharma clients want the same thing.
One of the more useful findings is how priorities shift by function and the differences are meaningful.
Marketing and Brand Management, the largest group, is the most relationship driven. Client service leads, with creativity and strategic thinking following. For brand managers, how the agency shows up day-to-day is the primary lens.
Medical Affairs is the outlier. Scientific and medical expertise leads here as this group is less concerned with service quality or creative execution than with domain authority and accuracy. An agency that leads with creativity when pitching a Medical Affairs team is pitching to the wrong brief.
Commercial Leadership adds a commercial efficiency lens the other functions don’t apply as strongly. Value for money sits higher here, budget accountability is a real consideration, not just a procurement checkbox.
Know which function you’re in front of. Tailor accordingly.
How important is compliance and regulatory knowledge to pharma clients?
In a sector where a regulatory misstep carries serious reputational risk, it’s notable that pharma clients still cite scientific and regulatory understanding as an area where agencies fall short. The ask is direct: all agency team members should understand pharma governance and the commercial context, not just the senior staff who show up to credentials presentations.
The agencies that embed this knowledge across their teams are described as genuine partners. The ones that don’t are described as order takers dressed up as strategists.
The brief problem belongs to both sides
There’s a productive tension in the open responses. One respondent argues an agency is only as good as its brief. Another insists agencies should always write a reverse brief. Both are right and together they describe a market where the strategic starting point is routinely weak, and neither party is taking full ownership of fixing it.
Pharma clients know their briefs aren’t always strong. Agencies, for their part, aren’t pushing back hard enough or bringing enough outside perspective to reframe the problem before the work begins.
What do pharma companies actually want from agencies in 2026?
AI and technology expertise ranked dead last as a selection criterion, a single mention across all priority rankings. In a year when AI capability is the default agency pitch garnish, pharma clients are making clear it doesn’t move the needle.
What moves the needle is still fundamentally human: strategic clarity, reliable service, genuine partnership, and the confidence that comes from knowing a client’s world as well as they do.
The agencies that will win in Australian pharma aren’t necessarily the ones with the best tech stack. They’re the ones that show up with a reverse brief, push back when the strategy is weak, and earn the word partner rather than just use it in a pitch deck.
What pharma companies want most from their agency partners (2026):
- Strategic thinking — nearly a quarter name it the top selection criterion
- Reliable client service — leads all attributes when aggregated across top three priorities
- Compliance and regulatory literacy embedded across agency teams, not just senior staff
- Genuine partnership — the ability to reverse brief, push back, and reframe the problem
Source: AusDoc Survey on Communications Agencies in Pharma, June 2026 (n=26)
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Sources:
Based on the 2026 AusDoc Survey on “Communications Agencies in Pharma”, conducted across Australian pharma and biotech professionals (June 2026) n=26 qualified respondents.