Ad firm moves west to target health care.

Sensing an opportunity to build a business among the region's biotech, health care and pharmaceutical companies. Creative Partners. an 18-year-old Stamford, Conn.-based advertising agency, is salting up shop in Los Angeles.

Peter Schelfhaudt, the firm's chairman and chief executive, said plans call for about five employees to be based in L.A., with the number growing upon the arrival of new business. Tali Kaplan, hired away from her post as vice president of global communications at Baxter BioScience, was named vice president and head of the L.A. office.

In June, Creative Partners acquired public relations firm Emmanuel Kerr Kilsby Inc., also of Stamford, which counts Woodland Hills-based Health Net Inc. among its clients.

The expansion comes as many local advertising agencies are struggling to find new business, although Russel Wohlwerth, a principal at consultancy Select Resources International, said targeting a narrow market was a strong strategy.

"When you look up and down the corridor from San Diego to the Bay Area, you see the bioscience industry is very active here and it is only going to get more active," he said. "The big general service agency that does everything is being eclipsed by the small niche agency that has a distinct focus."

Kaplan, a former registered nurse and 10-year veteran of Baxter, said serving the biotech and life science fields required an understanding of the clinical nature of the business. "We understand the language they speak, and we have the background in communications," she said.

Schelfhaudt said his 23-person company had $17 million in billings last year focusing on a diverse roster of clients including U.S. Trust Corp., Dictaphone Corp, Skip Barber Racing School LLC and Danbury Hospital.

David Olsen, a Health Net spokesman, said the company had not yet dealt with Creative Partners but had been well served by EKK.