* News & Events *

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No doubt that the Spectrum team is having an amazing, enriching time in Brazil. We’ve been indulging in the local cuisine, exploring the diverse city and playfully dodging the obstacles that rainy weather brings to São Paulo. It is day two of official AGM business, and we’ve been having some really productive conversations about the Network and our vision for the future. [Read more…] about 2012 GLOBALHealthPR AGM: It’s Our Move

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Next week, GLOBALHealthPR partners from around the world will gather in São Paulo, Brazil for our 2012 Annual General Meeting (AGM). The AGM serves as an opportunity for partners from the network to gather in person to discuss business and marketing plans for the coming year. We’ve been hard at work preparing and coordinating with our GLOBALHealthPR team members at Tino – Projetos em Comunicação in Brazil – it’s hard to believe the meeting is just a week away! [Read more…] about 2012 GLOBALHealthPR AGM: Top 8 Things I’m Excited About

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If you work for a health-oriented company that offers products or services internationally, you might be interested to know that our GLOBALHealthPR partnership expanded significantly in the past year, with exciting new access and capabilities in four countries among Latin America, Europe and Asia. Herewith our new names and faces, transmitting the best savvy in important health care markets around the world.

blog1PR Partners (PRP) is a Mexico City-based, independent, full-service public relations agency founded in 2000 by Brenda Morales (left) and Paola de la Barreda. Mexico claims the 13th largest nominal gross domestic product, ranks 11th largest by purchasing power parity (PPP), and also boasts the largest GDP per capita in Latin America, according to the International Monetary Fund. Latest official estimates report a population of 111 million, making Mexico the most populous Spanish-speaking country in the world.

With a sharp focus on healthcare, corporate and consumer communications, PRP provides clients with strategic communications, media relations, media training, crisis communications and below-the-line/direct-to-consumer strategy services in Mexico.

blog2Further south in Brazil, Regiane Monteiro and Priscila Sérvulo direct Tino – Projetos em Comunicação. Founded in 2006, Tino has become a leader in health communications in Brazil. This country is the largest national economy in Latin America, the world’s tenth largest economy at market exchange rates and the ninth largest in PPP, according to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The population of Brazil stood at approximately 190 million in 2008.

At Sao Paolo-based Tino, Regiane and Priscila offer more than 20 years of experience in healthcare communications as health editors and reporters in top tier national publications in Brazil.

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Seyhan Ayel Girit is co-founder and general manager of OptimumBrand, launched in 1996, and now a leading Istanbul, Turkey-based agency with a special unit (OptimumHealth) dedicated to healthcare communications.

Turkey has the world’s 15th largest GDP (PPP) and 17th largest nominal GDP. The population of Turkey amounts to 72.5 million, based on 2009 data.

OptimumBrand shapes its services around three disciplines: strategy, communication and interaction. The firm serves an important market as well as “bridge” for GLOBALHealthPR from the Middle East to Europe.

blog4As with Turkey, GLOBALHealthPR welcomed India to our partnership in January 2010. Priti Mohile (above) and Mr. Dinesh Chindarkar co-founded Mediamedic Communications in Mumbai in 2000. With an estimated 1.2 billion people, India ranks second among countries in population, and first among democracies. India is the world’s 12th largest economy, and now ranks fourth in purchasing power.

Mediamedic is dedicated to healthcare communications across the pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, and health foods sector.

I extend a healthy welcome to Priti, Dinesh, Seyhan, Regiane, Priscila, Brenda and Paola; our new partners from India, Turkey, Brazil and Mexico; respectively.

Now in 12 countries and 21 cities throughout four continents, GLOBALHealthPR continues to expand geographically as our partners set higher standards to offer you the best in health communications worldwide. I encourage you to call any of us to help you address your audiences, wherever they live.

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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.ghpr

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.

I co-founded the organization in 2001, incorporated in the UK, and have served as chair for three years. A native of Mexico, Rosalba works closely and expertly with our team in Washington to coordinate all network services and marketing aspects.

In Venice, we were particularly excited to welcome two new partners, – PR Partners of Mexico and Tino – Projetos em Comunicação of Brazil. These two agencies join what I truly believe are best-in-class firms specializing in health care from Argentina, Spain, France, UK, Germany, Japan, and of course, Italy and the U.S.

Inspired by the winding canals of Venice, we adopted “Navigating the Challenges, Delivering the Opportunities” as our theme, which in reality spoke more to how the GLOBALHealthPR partners plan to compete successfully on behalf of clients and our own businesses in the face of the full-blow worldwide recession. Happily, each firm gave realistic yet positive overviews of the challenges in each market, and nevertheless, cautiously optimistic forecasts for pharmaceutical marketing communications needs.

A common trend across all international markets was the need for continued education about major disease states, and the opportunity to help global scale health industry and patient advocacy organizations develop overarching strategies as well as offer practical, in-market media knowhow that our competitors claim but really don’t deliver. (We know because many of our agency principals, including yours truly, have worked for the big-name PR firms.) This communications savvy applies increasingly in the digital media zone.

We also reviewed the new GLOBALHealthPR web site, as well as the all-new, second edition of The Global Guide to Pharma Marketing Codes, an easy-to-use reference to help international product management teams avoid costly and embarrassing Rx marketing communications faux pas.

We closed with a commitment to work more closely together in networking with clients in common such as Pfizer, Merck, AstraZeneca and Lilly, and reaching out to prospective clients to communicate what we know we can offer in terms of superior value due to our independent nature and commitment to health care. Hence, our tagline “A Better Way.” Watch this space on a regular basis, and I’ll keep you updated.

Finally, again our sympathies, prayers and sentiments go out to our friends in Italy as their fellow countrymen begin rebuild their lives and worlds amid too much sorrow this past week.