Posted on Wed, Aug 26, 2009 @ 03:47 PM
Ok, I am backlogged on my reading, so what else is new? If you are 
a healthcare public relations professional you are, by definition, behind on your reading! If I can scan my newspapers, multiple news aggregators, and Twitter messages each day I’m ahead of the game.
However, I did take the opportunity to review PharmaceuticalExecutive’s Fifth Annual Press Audit. While this appeared earlier this year, its findings are very relevant today, and will be valid until they field and report the 2010 press audit results. For those involved in healthcare communications and pharmaceutical and biotechnology public relations, these data are profound.
The PharmExec audit reveals that while articles covering pharma’s marketing, sales and other promotional practices have fallen, they have been replaced with articles about drug safety issues. During 2008, Approximately 83% of articles focusing on pharmaceuticals and biotech were about drug safety concerns. Negative articles about drug safety issues are at a five year high. And, while overall media coverage of pharma is down, the majority of this coverage is negative, with only a small percentage considered positive (12%).
Considering these data, along with the ever increasing regulatory and political headwinds facing the pharma industry, we believe strongly that we need to restore confidence in the industry. As leaders in healthcare PR and pharma marketing, we are proud of the work we do each day to raise awareness of new ground-breaking medicines and medical technologies. We are passionate that pharma technology and R&D will contribute to cost savings in this era of healthcare reform and increased rationing.
Many of our clients serve cancer patients and their families. And, as we have witnessed today with the loss of Senator Ted Kennedy to cancer, the victory over this global scourge is still somewhere in the future. Senator Kennedy’s death is a terrible loss. However, we know that his life was extended months longer than it would have been just ten years ago because of the great strides we have made in the fight against brain cancer.
As healthcare communications professionals, I believe it is our responsibility to support a balanced portrayal of the pharmaceutical industry, and communicate with patients, legislators, the business community and the general public about its valuable contributions to extending and enhancing human life.
Posted on Tue, Jun 09, 2009 @ 11:33 AM
Medical conference season is upon us. As a seasoned healthcare public relations pro,
it is one of my favorite times of the year. Time to get out of the office, spend quality time with our clients, and get face time with members of the media who are critical to our clients’ business. However, while I do love most things about this time of year, there is just one thing I want to get off my chest.
I recently returned from Orlando where I attended a large medical meeting. While there, I was distressed to observe legions of healthcare public relations professionals hanging around outside the conference press room.
Whenever a journalist would leave the press room, the PR folks would chase them, press release in hand, pitching them their story. This practice of “tackling” journalists at medical meetings is demeaning to both the PR professional and the journalist. And I also believe that this practice of stalking journalists outside medical meeting press rooms is a clear indication that PR folks are not properly planning their attendance at medical meetings.
Pharma, biotech and medical technology companies spend millions of dollars and countless hours preparing for their attendance at major (and not so major) medical meetings. When these companies retain PR services to help them communicate data being presented at one of these medical meetings, pre-meeting preparation is critical.
When I see young PR folks craning their necks to read journalists’ badges, I don’t blame them as much as their bosses. These junior PR folks have not been trained properly to know that the vast majority of effective PR work around medical meetings is done in advance of the meeting. At
JFK we have a process for supporting clients at medical meetings that is deliberate, effective and metrics-driven. And, based on this process, we determine the need for on-site support, or remote coverage.
That’s right. Like journalists, PR folks do not need to attend every medical meeting. If enough pre-work and strategic PR thinking has been applied to a medical meeting, there are situations where a smart, strategic agency/client team may decide that results can be achieved without wasting the clients’ valuable resources in sending a PR representative to the meeting.
At JFK we have supported our clients effectively both on-site and remotely at most medical meetings in most therapeutic categories. We understand, especially in this current economic environment, that our clients’ trust in us to prepare for and deliver results around medical meetings is critical to their bottom line. So when we do attend medical meetings, we schedule coffee or brief meetings with journalists, many of whom we have known for years, to discuss news that may be of interest to them -- we don’t tackle the journalists.
--John Kouten