Cicada Marketing
Revolutionizing Life Sciences Advertising with Tailored Strategies

Jeremy Burt, Owner and Founder

From Humble Beginnings to Global Impact

Cicada Marketing was launched over two decades ago with a mission to serve scientific innovators, from biotech start-ups to late-stage CDMOs and global analytical service providers. As Jeremy Burt, Founder and CEO, shared:

“We have worked with everybody from early stage discovery, bioanalytical CROs, CDMOs… even adjacent fields like drug product packaging, AI lab data software, and private equity groups serving the life sciences industry.”

Over time, those early relationships, many of which matured through acquisition and global expansion, became the foundation for Cicada’s current growth trajectory.

What began as a regional consultancy and then a national agency has now evolved organically to become a truly global marketing firm. As clients scaled, so too did Cicada Marketing. Today, the firm maintains a presence across North America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific regions, the primary regions of business most associated with life sciences. Cicada team members are located in Lyon, France; Brisbane, Australia; Hobart, Tasmania; and throughout the United States. Burt proudly notes:

“The sun never sets on Cicada these days.”

The Core Differentiator: Science + Marketing

In many agencies, the drive to begin marketing activity and develop flashy creative comes first, and the technical or scientific content becomes a retrofitted afterthought. Cicada flips that model. Burt explains:

“Honestly, it is easy to find a marketing firm with decent design and general knowledge of the newest engagement techniques. It is somewhat less easy (though not difficult) to find an organization that claims to have an understanding of how to communicate life science principles. But it is extremely rare to find an agency that excels at both, with a proven track record across two decades. That is exactly what we represent at Cicada Marketing.”

To bring that vision to life, Burt intentionally built the team around scientifically trained experts.

“We now have over a half dozen writers on the team, all with their PhD within the field of life science, and all of our regional representatives also hold a life science-based PhD.”

These individuals serve not merely as translators of the complex but also as strategic storytellers who can conceptualize content rooted in data, mechanism, and scientific logic.

“We have sought out PhD-level graduates and scientists to work as content contributors at every level of the organization.”

As Burt jokingly puts it:

“Frankly, we found it was easier to teach scientists with PhDs the specific marketing techniques that work within this industry than it was to ask marketing specialists to go out and get their PhDs.”

This marriage of domain fluency and influential marketing skills gives Cicada clients a rare assurance: when they communicate phase-appropriate mechanistics, complex assays, or translational strategies, their voice is accurate, credible, and engaging.

A central pillar of Cicada’s methodology is its proprietary Marketing Matrix Evaluation, a framework refined over nearly two decades. The process begins with basic discovery. Cicada convenes sessions with all major stakeholders within the client organization and introduces two deceptively simple questions:

1. What do we do?
2. For whom do we do it?

From those answers, the team begins building a thorough and valuable matrix of all potential marketable opportunities, ranked by a combination of elements such as value, opportunity, and accessibility. While Burt was reluctant to reveal every nuance of the methodology, he explained that the final output of their Marketing Matrix Evaluation is ultimately a complete roadmap driven by targeted market segments, specific messaging, editorial timing, media placement, geography, and guided tactical execution over a six-, nine-, twelve-, or even eighteen-month window.

What proves the impact of this process, Burt says, is that stakeholders almost always leave the session having learned something new about their own organization, even longtime executives.

“I have never had a Marketing Matrix Evaluation end without at least one person, occasionally even a CEO, pulling me aside to say, ‘I learned things today about this company, and I have worked here for years.’”

By onboarding every new client with their Marketing Matrix Evaluation, Cicada’s customers say they immediately feel aligned with the Cicada team, and the discovery from the process immediately feeds into all future content planning (website architecture, SEO, online articles, emails, social media, webinars, podcasts, white papers, etc.).

By implementing their suggestions and employing specific measurement techniques and tools, Cicada is then able to monitor the performance of these efforts, often in real time, and allow their customers’ business development teams to pivot their efforts toward engagement from their highest-performing content. From there, Cicada customers can even synchronize their paid placements, thought leadership efforts, and media outreach to capitalize on momentum, all with clear indicators and KPIs guiding the way.

Delivering Measurable Results

Several clients come to Cicada somewhat in the dark, unsure whether their current marketing is working. As Burt describes:

“Most clients are uncertain about how effective even half their marketing is… and absolutely certain that the other half has not worked at all.”

Cicada’s value lies in turning that uncertainty into clarity and confidence. While marketing is often seen as a necessary expense rather than an investment, it is not uncommon for even the most skeptical CEO to call Burt after the launch of their first few campaigns with excitement:

“I will get a call or a text from a new client, almost shocked, telling me they had a recent inquiry referencing the marketing piece they received recently, which generated conversations that ultimately lead to thousands of dollars in business.”

That kind of market traction, materially attributable to Cicada’s content and business development follow-up, echoes across the firm’s roster.

As a result, much of Cicada’s business growth is organic and referral-driven. Clients who see returns become evangelists, introducing Cicada to their peer networks. Burt emphasizes:

“We are a contractor, so many clients demand privacy. But those who are pleased call us and say, ‘You did very well for me. I would like to introduce you to others so you can do the same for them.’”

The Team: Its Strength, Its Legacy

When asked what drives the success behind Cicada, Burt is emphatic:

“My team is everything.”

Having recently celebrated his forty-fifth birthday, he reflects:

“If someone had told me at twenty-five that I would be awarded firm of the year in twenty years’ time, I was young and arrogant enough that I might have asked, ‘What took so long?’ At thirty-five, I would have seriously doubted it, knowing how much good competition was out there in the market among my peers. Now, at forty-five, I believe it, and it is because of the people I have been fortunate enough to have join my crew.”

“Pound for pound, I would put our team up against any marketing firm anywhere, not just in life sciences.”

Their continued growth into APAC, Europe, and beyond underscores that confidence.

A Full Schedule of Activity within the Life Sciences Trade Show and Conference Circuit

Even as Cicada basks in the recognition of being Life Sciences Review’s 2025 Marketing & Advertising Firm of the Year, the agency has no intention of resting on accolades.

Burt described a 2025 calendar as full as any. During the weeks between mid-October and midNovember alone, Cicada was represented at AusBiotech in Melbourne, CPHI Worldwide in Frankfurt, AAPS PharmSci 360 in San Antonio, and ACT in Phoenix.

“If the life sciences industry is in attendance, we have probably been there, arranging an onsite client happy hour, or planning a VIP invite-only dinner, or even setting up an exhibit booth for customers after designing it for them,” Burt says proudly.

Future Trajectory: On the Move

Expansion remains a core objective for Cicada Marketing. Although the firm already spans three continents, Burt believes there is still room to deepen its presence in underpenetrated markets, serve new life science verticals, and evolve the suite of digital, brand, and creative services offered.

For clients and prospects alike, the message is clear: Cicada Marketing is not just a marketing services provider. It is a strategic partner that understands the rigor of science, the nuances of innovation, and the demands of audience engagement. From storytelling rooted in mechanism to campaigns anchored in metrics, Cicada is proving that in life sciences, marketing is not art or science; it is the harmonizing of both.