Posts Tagged ‘Technology’

Jett
Choquette

A Year for Scientific Innovation: How Biotechnology Fits into America’s Future

Friday, February 3rd, 2012

Photo credit: RACHEL DEVOR / THE EAGLE

Last week I had the opportunity to listen to two U.S. presidents discuss the future of America and the world – President Barak Obama in the 2012 State of the Union (via live-stream) and former President Bill Clinton at American University where he spoke about his latest work with the William J. Clinton Foundation (as a member of the audience).

While the purpose and overall messaging of both speeches were drastically different, one theme tied them together: America’s future depends on scientific innovation and, more importantly, investment in science. If the calls for action in both of these speeches materialize, this may be the year for biotechnology.

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Kaitlin
Doody

Recipe for Dining Social with Chicago Magazine

Tuesday, October 18th, 2011

During this year’s Social Media Week in Chicago, Spectrum had the chance to sit in with some of the city’s most online-savvy chefs, foodies and restaurateurs in a session called Dining Social, hosted by Chicago magazine. We’ve whipped up our “recipe” for dining social with some of Chicago’s best, which includes the top ingredients and directions for making digital work in the restaurant realm.

Also-if you’re looking for some insights from the District’s great digital foodies, head on over to D.C.’s Social Media Club event “I’m Only on Twitter for the Food Truckstomorrow, Wednesday, October 19 at 6:30pm. You’ll get to hear from @LobstertruckDC , @CurbsideCupcake and @BigCheeseTruck on how they’ve made social media work for their businesses.

Now, back to our delicious recipe for dining social:

Ingredients

  • 5 foodie panelists
  • 1 founder of Restaurant Intelligence Agency
  • A bunch of Tweets
  • A sprinkle of Facebook posts
  • A variety of blog content
  • 4 oz. of a good red wine

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Anthony
LaFauce

Digital is More than Social

Friday, October 7th, 2011

ExpertsHere’s the setting: I’m at an impromptu networking event with some of the regulars and we’re all talking shop. Most of us are Digital PR folks, some program managers, some PR professionals, some video guys. In walks a new guy, whose sunglasses I’m sure cost more than my car, who immediately introduces himself and starts talking about what he does.

He’s a Senior Digital Whatever at Whatever Firm, a smaller shop around town I wasn’t too familiar with. All of us begin talking digital media–different tools, things we have seen work before and things that we know will fail. New Guy keeps coming back to social media, which is obviously an important part of digital media. But he fails to add any value to our conversation when we get to things like video editing, writing PHP and using mobile.

The group was fine with New Guy until, maybe after one too many Cosmos, he declared that all of those “old forms of digital” are worthless and the only thing that matters is social media. (more…)

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Lauren
Holbrook Harris

A Race Against Time: Finding a Treatment for Progeria

Thursday, April 28th, 2011

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.

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Anthony
LaFauce

Mobile and Health Work Hand in Hand

Friday, May 21st, 2010

Last night I had the privilege of attending a Washington Health 2.0 event at The Barking Dog in Bethesda, MD. The night was full of both tech and health care folks talking about great projects they have worked on. Great food, drinks, and digital/health conversation were on the menu but my interest was sparked by two particular presentations.health-20

Doug Naegele, CEO of Infield, gave a great presentation focused on using mobile in developing nations as an ad hoc field hospital. The long and short of it is this, in nations where hard lines and hospitals are at a minimum, innovative people can use the MMS and live video feeds from even the most basic cell phone to provide doctors in other regions with important information for diagnosing.

africaDoug also mentioned how creating an innovative text to phone program allowed users to request a free phone call from a friend if the text message was sponsored by a non-profit interested in providing health care information. Viewership on the host site went up 140% in a relatively short period.

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Katherine
Maynard

Mass Migration Online Presents Powerful Opportunities to Influence Consumer Experience

Friday, February 12th, 2010

Manhattan Research released findings from a study that confirmed what many of  us in communications know to be true –  online channels have significantly more influence over consumer health decisions and actions than traditional channels like print, T.V. and radio . Even more interestingly, the study claimed that editorial content still has significantly more influence on consumer health actions than various forms of social media, reinforcing the need for a compelling story if you want your messages to resonate with your most influential audiences.

But the continuing mass migration online (more than half of adults under the age of 65 now search the Internet for health information) presents powerful opportunities to influence the consumer experience, one of the last areas where companies can truly differentiate themselves among increasingly discerning and information savvy audiences.

Increasingly, successful communications programs will keep the customer experience front and center by fostering meaningful engagement whether that means real time feedback, nimble customer service or relevant education and content that help patients navigate the many choices they need to make throughout the continuum of their treatment and disease management process. (more…)

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