Photo Credit: Scott Davis
Tis the season to celebrate, and celebrate Spectrum did, at our holiday party last Thursday, December 15. The Spectrum gang has a lot to celebrate this year, including 15 years of outstanding health and life science communications. Founder and CEO, John Seng, what a milestone!
The evolution of Health 2.0 in our data-driven world calls for a shift in the way health organizations locate and communicate with their target audiences. While health challenges abound in local communities and on a global scale, so does the potential within the communication tools and technology that we hold.
Spectrum’s team of health communicators from across the globe will converge in Washington, D.C. on May 18th from 9-10:30 a.m. ET to present data and reveal insight from a global listening program. The listening program was conducted in 11 countries to assess the impact and conversation around malaria. During tomorrow’s event, the International Healthcare Social Media Summit team will discuss the implications for the data found, as well as offer insight into strategies for using digital tools to benefit national and international healthcare organizations today. For more information about the summit and to register, please visit the event page. You can also view live-streaming of the summit or follow the conversation on Twitter: #ihsms.
This week, Lauran Neergaard (AP) reported on a topic near and dear to our hearts: the fight to find – and fund – treatments for rare diseases. Our client, The Progeria Research Foundation, was mentioned as an example of an organization striving to find a treatment for the rare, rapid-aging disease in children, Progeria. While full of personality, children with Progeria die from heart attacks or stroke at an average age of 13, so the clock is ticking to find a way to help these children during their short lives. As Neergaard mentions, clinical trials are currently underway through a partnership with Merck and a treatment for this disease could help more than just the estimated 150 children with Progeria around the world – the protein that causes Progeria may play a role in the heart disease that affects millions of aging Americans.
We are honored to work with this exemplary organization and will continue to do our part by raising awareness of Progeria and PRF’s research journey as the organization works day and night to find a treatment for these children. To support PRF in their mission, please click here.
Megan has Progeria. GLOBALHealthPR is leading the worldwide search for 150 other children with Progeria.
A global quest for “missing children” begins in earnest today.
Only 54 children with Progeria, a rare disease that causes premature aging in children, are known to researchers and patient advocates. However, experts estimate that another 150 unidentified children with Progeria live throughout the world.
Spectrum and our GLOBALHealthPR partners have pooled our resources in an international campaign to promote awareness and dialog to help locate these children. Each child who is brought forth could benefit from the medical services and unique care that The Progeria Research Foundation (PRF), our pro bono client, can provide.
“Our goal is to find these children as quickly as possible so we can educate their families and health-care providers on the latest in Progeria research and treatments. We are excited to launch this campaign with GlobalHealthPR because their global reach will help us spread awareness to a worldwide audience,” said Audrey Gordon, President and Executive Director of PRF. (more…)
Spectrum’s GLOBALHealthPR partner Aurora launched an impotence awareness campaign for Eli Lilly and Co. in recent weeks and recently shared some of the campaign deliverables with us.
“Impotence is common. But most men do not talk about it, and those who do wait more than a year before talking to a doctor,” said Aurora Principal Claire Eldridge. “To make the campaign appeal to more men in the UK, we have capitalised on the Ashes Test Series, which is taking place in July and August, and developed a cricket-themed campaign: Bowl Your Maiden Over.” This is a cricketing term but also works well as a message to British men this summer.”
Aurora developed a Web site called www.bowlyourmaidenover.com, which features a video with an English ex-cricketing hero, Phil Tufnell, and media medic Rob Hicks.
They also developed a multi-media news release, which you can view here.
(“Bowl Your Maiden Over” is sponsored and presented by Lilly UK.)
Some sports history experts believe that American baseball is a cousin to English cricket. I’m still trying to figure out how “Bowl Your Maiden Over” would translate in Yankee Stadium!
More important, “Bowl Your Maiden Over” makes a solid case history for strategic thinking by the Aurora team to link an all-too-common condition with a popular sport and a message of hope and healthy options for men.
April 2nd – 3rd, GLOBALHealth PR agency heads, including Spectrum’s CEO and Chair of GLOBALHealthPR John Seng, met for the annual face-to-face planning meeting. Here is John’s take on the trip.
I visited Italy with my colleague Rosalba Cano for the 8th Annual General Meeting of our GLOBALHealthPR partners, and hardly two days after the meeting ended in Venice, the earthquake struck the town of L’Aquila, which is much closer to Rome. (Martin Slater, the president of our Italy partner firm Noesis, suggested the Italian Red Cross among reliable relief organizations for readers interested in supporting assistance efforts.)
From Japan to the US to Latin America and throughout Europe, our partners connected to discuss our individual company performances for 2008, our prospects for 2009 and beyond, and to take a closer look at the different pharmaceutical approval and marketing regulatory environments for each of the 10 markets covered by GLOBALHealthPR worldwide.
For readers who don’t know, GLOBALHealthPR is the largest health-focused network of independent public relations firms that collaborate on an international basis. Spectrum Washington is the network’s headquarters. (more…)
