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This holiday season, we gather. The lights are low, the fireplace is lit. Regional expertise is shared, and there’s laughter in the air as visions of successful global healthcare communications dance in our heads.

As we close out another great year, we invite you to get cosy with some of GLOBALHealthPR’s favourite holiday movies from around the world!

Argentina, Paradigma – Todo el Año es Navidad

Every year, we watch the classic Argentine holiday movie Todo el Año es Navidad, or Christmas is the Whole Year Round, a black and white film that premiered in 1960. In the movie, Santa Claus disguises himself among the citizens of Buenos Aires to help teach them about the marvels of Christmas. In our opinion, Todo el Año es Navidad is the best example of a traditional Argentine Christmas movie and a must-see during the holiday season!

Australia, VIVA! Communications – How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Many associate the holiday season with cold winters and snow, but here in Australia the holidays bring us warmer temperatures and we often spend time at the beach instead of huddled under blankets inside! To get in the holiday spirit, we like to watch classic cold winter movies while cooling off indoors—our favourite is the widely beloved How the Grinch Stole Christmas, which plays right into our sense of humour.

Brazil, Tino Comunicação – Love Actually

While we may not have traditional Brazilian holiday movies, we still love to start the season by watching one of our favourite films, Love Actually! We especially enjoy how love and the holiday spirit bring people together from different backgrounds.

Canada, energiPR – Elf

For us in Canada, Elf is the winner! There’s nothing funnier—or more Canadian—than Will Ferrell eating spaghetti with a boatload of maple syrup on top! We love how silly and heart-warming this holiday classic is.

Chile, Strategika – Un Cuento de Navidad

In Chile, one of the most popular films to watch during the holiday season is Un Cuento de Navidad, or as it’s more commonly known outside of Spanish-speaking countries, A Christmas Carol! This timeless classic gets us into the holiday spirit while reminding us of the importance of treasuring the lives of those around us and how we impact them.

Germany, fischerAppelt – Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel

While Germany may not have a traditional German holiday film, we have a tradition of watching the Czech film Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel from 1973. Based on the German fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm called Aschenputtel, or Cinderella, the movie has become so popular to watch during the holidays that newspapers and social media sites publish lists about when and where to view the film. We’ve even seen playful competitions between friends and families about who has seen the film the most recently and most often!

Hong Kong, Madison Communications – All’s Well, Ends Well

Here in Hong Kong, when it’s time to celebrate the Chinese New Year, we enjoy watching Stephen Chow’s All’s Well, Ends Well, which we consider one of the few classic movies that involves gambling, Kungfu and family—we love to watch it again and again every year with family and friends!

Nordics (Denmark, Sweden, Norway), Effector Communications – Far til fire i byen

A classic Danish holiday movie we make sure to watch with our loved ones is a film called Far til fire i byen, or Father of Four Going to Town. We especially enjoy singing a song from the movie called “Til julebal i Nisseland,” which is about the wonders and joy of celebrating Christmas!

India, MediaMedic Communications – Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham

In India, while we do not have any specific movies we watch to celebrate the holidays and festivals, we do sing songs from other popular movies that depict and describe various festivities. We particularly enjoy the title song of the film Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, a film that chronicles the lives and reunion of a family and uses song and dance to celebrate local festivals!

Italy, Connexia – Vacanze di Natale 

We celebrate with a popular Italian Christmas movie called Vacanze di Natale, or The Christmas Holidays, in Italy! This movie is special because it marked the first in a series of holiday comedies released around Christmas; it has become a tradition to watch each new film and see the different locations each takes place in!

Mexico, PRP – The Holiday

One of our traditions both in the office and in Mexico is to watch the 2006 romantic comedy The Holiday. While it may be a US-made movie, here in Mexico we love the film’s perfect mix of comedy and holiday spirit!

Poland, Alfa Communications – Listy do M.

In Poland, we enjoy what some have called the Polish Love Actually film, Listy do M., or Letters to Santa. Like the UK blockbuster, Listy do M. is a romantic comedy that follows various inter-connected stories of love and family on Christmas Eve in Warsaw. You can find us watching this fan-favourite holiday movie with our loved ones during every holiday season!

Portugal, Guess What PR – The Sound of Music

It wouldn’t be the holiday season without watching the classic film, The Sound of Music, in Portugal. To us, this movie represents the power of family and love that helps us conquer different challenges in our lives, which is what the holidays are all about!

Romania, MedicalPR – Home Alone

In Romania, most of us would agree that Home Alone is our favourite holiday movie! We love to watch this comedic film with our children, who we look forward to spending the holidays with the most!

Singapore, Spurwing – Home Alone

There may not be many Singapore-produced holiday movies, but that doesn’t stop us from getting in the spirit! Most Singaporean families watch the universally loved movie Home Alone with their children sharing the holiday joy!

Spain, Berbés – La Gran Familia

We enjoy watching La Gran Familia, or The Big Family, during the holiday season in Spain. It’s a very classic and traditional movie originally released in the 1960s that we continue to gather our families in front of the TV to watch—from the youngest to the oldest family members, everyone can enjoy this film’s depiction of a typical Spanish family during Christmastime!

South Africa, F/NE Group – How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Here in South Africa we love to watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas during the holiday season. This well-known film is a family favourite because it is a funny and quirky reminder that the holidays are about more than just gifts and trees—it is about love.

United Kingdom, Aurora – Love Actually

It simply wouldn’t be Christmas in the UK without watching the hit blockbuster Love Actually. What makes this movie so special is that it delves into different aspects of love through ten separate stories involving a wide variety of individuals in the lead up to Christmas. The stories are revealed to be interlinked as the film progresses—it’s truly a viewing necessity to get us in the holiday spirit!

United States, Spectrum Science – Miracle on 34th Street

When it comes to the holiday season, Miracle on 34th Street immediately comes to mind here in the US. This heart-warming redemption story exemplifies the power of spending the holidays with the ones you love and the belief that everything will work out the way it’s meant to. Miracle on 34th Street has been solidified as a traditional American holiday movie since its release in 1947 and continues to air on television multiple times throughout the season, so you can find us in front of the TV surrounded by our loved ones watching this classic!

 

Whether you’re celebrating at the beach or by the fireplace, we hope that you get in the spirit by watching one of our favourite holiday movies with your loved ones! Happy Holidays, from your friends at GLOBALHealthPR!

We are excited to join our partners in Mumbai, India today for our annual GLOBALHealthPR Asia-Pacific (APAC) Regional Planning Workshop.

Over the ensuing two days (November 20 – 21), we will share market-specific insights, explore communication challenges, discuss opportunities for new business development and formulate collaborative strategies to best fulfill our APAC clientele’s communication requirements.

Our India partner, MediaMedic Communications, is playing host to our Regional Planning workshop. Attending workshop partners and co-facilitators include our own GLOBALHealthPR Chair, Jonathon Wilson, and President, Tim Goddard, Emma Thompson from Spurwing Communications, Singapore, and John Wong from Madison Communications, Hong Kong and China.

Principal and co-owner of VIVA! Communications, Kirsten Bruce, will kick off our workshop today with an examination of the APAC region and its emerging trends in the health, wellness and digital arenas.

With an estimated population of 4.3 billion, equating to 60 per cent of the world’s population – and 65 million babies born each year – APAC represents one of the world’s largest and fastest growing regions. Conversely, APAC also boasts the world’s most rapidly aging population. By 2050, more than a quarter of the region’s population will be aged over 60 years.

This aging population, coupled with increasing urbanisation and a more sedentary lifestyle, is fuelling the region’s heavy disease burden. China and India alone share a staggering 42 per cent of the global disease burden of Type 2 diabetes, while the broader region currently carries two-thirds of the global disease burden for major chronic diseases, such as COPD, asthma and lung cancer.

APAC is a region of vast contrasts. Its markets vary substantially in per capita healthcare expenditure, ranging from USD 98 in Laos, to USD 4,357, and provide their respective populations with inconsistent access to basic sanitation services. As an example, less than one in five Papua New Guinean and Solomon Islands residents have access to basic sanitation.

Yet, the region has booming pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors, which are expected to generate almost one-third of the region’s healthcare revenue this year. APAC is also in the grip of extensive digital transformation, with a touted 15 per cent increase in digital technology investments, including digital pathology, electronic health records and clinical trial e-platforms, worth approximately US $13 billion in 2019 alone.

Over the next two days we will be collaborating with our partners to explore this fabulous region, and its similarities, contradictions, trends and plentiful opportunities.

Be sure to follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram for updates.

To learn more about GLOBALHealthPR – the largest independent health and science communications agency partnership worldwide, get in touch with us.

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Authored by Kirsten Bruce, Principal and Co-owner of Asia-Pacific Hub, VIVA! Communications.

NEW YORK and MILAN, Sept. 24, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — GLOBALHealthPR (GHPR), the world’s largest partnership of independent health and science communications agencies, today announced the addition of Milan-based Connexia as its newest member. The partnership with Connexia reinforces GHPR’s strategic presence across Europe, helping to address demand for deep insights and seamless execution across a critical region in the health and life sciences sector.

Founded in 1997 by Paolo D’Ammassa, Connexia is Italy’s top independent and fully integrated data-driven marketing and communications agency with a strong focus on the healthcare sector. Connexia aims to enhance the way companies connect and engage with customers by incorporating a wealth of branding, innovation and technology expertise and, has become the go-to strategic partner for brands across the globe.

“GLOBALHealthPR is incredibly excited to partner with Connexia, a like-minded agency with a legacy of success and innovation in Italy,” said Tim Goddard, President of GLOBALHealthPR. “Paolo and his team have built a forward-looking, strategy-first structure backed by a fully integrated service offering that is perfectly positioned to respond to the ever-changing needs in the communications and healthcare landscapes.”

Specializing in public relations, branding, digital and social media marketing, web and mobile app development, as well as content marketing and management, Connexia is comprised of 130 highly skilled, insightful professionals who can look at the market and its demands, devise positively disruptive solutions, and rethink how they convey and advertise brands.

“The past decade has seen a tremendous amount of evolution in the healthcare and communications industries, not only in Italy, but also across Europe and the world,” said Paolo D’Ammassa, Chief Executive Officer of Connexia. “Our team has been at the forefront of this innovation, by strategizing and leveraging digital tools to build integrated solutions for our clients that inform, compel, educate and impact key stakeholders. We are thrilled to join this dynamic partnership, which will perfectly combine our local soul with the GLOBALHealthPR network’s international power.”

Italy’s diverse geographic, socio-economic and healthcare landscapes are reflected in its 21 distinct regions. Consequently, the country sees a high degree of local variability in terms of medical care, spending, reimbursement decisions and patient access to innovative therapies. In 2018, Italy overtook Germany as the leading pharmaceutical manufacturer in the European Union, aided by a strong increase in exports as a result of investment, public-private partnerships, expansion of clinical-trials infrastructure and technological advances.

Connexia’s expertise and presence in Italy complements GLOBALHealthPR’s already-strong roster of leading health-focused partner agencies in Europe, led by European Hub partner, Aurora Healthcare Communications. Aurora and ten other exclusive European partner agencies work collaboratively to satisfy both regional and local client needs, utilizing shared resources and exchanging best practices to deliver first-in-class client service throughout the region.

“As a ‘Big-5’ European country with unique healthcare nuances and challenges, Italy is consistently top-of-mind for our global and European regional clients,” said Neil Crump, Chief Innovation Officer and Co-Founder of Aurora. “The addition of Connexia, an agency that is cut from the same cloth as GLOBALHealthPR’s other partner agencies, further strengthens our industry-leading healthcare communications offering in the region.”

About Connexia
Communicate, Connect, Engage: Connexia is a fully-integrated, data-driven, marketing and communications agency based in Milan. For more than 20 years Connexia has been considered the leading PR, digital, social and mobile agency in Italy, thanks to a strategy-first approach that allows us to activate across media types. Through a combination of passion, strong expertise and creative strategic thinking, Connexia partners with top companies across the globe to strengthen their positioning and to bolster their visibility. For more information, visit https://www.connexia.com/company/ or follow them on Twitter.

We asked GLOBALHealthPR partners for their take on elevating patient voices at scientific meetings. For their insights on engaging patient communities around these events, download the full perspective piece.

Download the full perspective piece.

NEW YORK (April 2, 2019) – GLOBALHealthPR^® (GHPR), the world’s largest partnership of independent healthcare-focused communications agencies, today announced the promotion of Tim Goddard to President. In this role, Goddard, who has served as an Executive Vice President of the organization for the past two years, will take on expanded responsibilities including overseeing all aspects of strategy, business development, partner relations and growth of the GHPR network. He initially joined GHPR and its chair agency, Spectrum Science Communications, in 2015 following nearly a decade at Chamberlain Healthcare Public Relations, holding roles in both New York and London.

With this appointment, former GHPR President Jonathan Wilson transitions into the Chair role, and will work hand-in-hand with Goddard to set the strategic vision for the network in the coming years. Wilson also maintains his day-to-day position as CEO of Spectrum, a leading U.S.-based healthcare agency.

“Tim’s tireless work ethic, focused leadership and genuine dedication to our mission make him the perfect leader to continue to meet the evolving needs of the companies and organizations we serve globally,” said Wilson. “He has been instrumental in delivering our vision for the network of the future, where independent agencies—all successful experts in their own right—seamlessly deliver impactful global strategies anchored in strong local and regional insights.”

During his tenure, Goddard has been instrumental in expanding the reach of the network in key markets across Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Africa via the addition of seven new partner agencies, as well as further enhancing relationships in emerging markets, to enable the delivery of health communications programming in more than 60 countries under the GHPR brand. He has also overseen significantly expanded investment in the business and agency infrastructure to further foster international collaboration and improve client service.

“I am truly honored to work with our outstanding partner agencies in this expanded capacity as we continue to redefine the traditional agency network model to deliver the best in healthcare communications everywhere in the world,” said Goddard. “Beyond our depth of healthcare expertise, what differentiates this network is the strong collaborative relationships between agencies—relationships that fuel exceptional global communications strategies for clients across the health and life science industries.”

Prior to his career in healthcare public relations, Tim worked as a correspondent for the Times Argus, central Vermont’s leading daily newspaper. He is a graduate of Boston College’s Wallace E. Carroll School of Management, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing.

About GLOBALHealthPR^®

GLOBALHealthPR is a partnership of independently owned and operated health and science communications agencies that choose to work together based on common values. With more than 700 health-specialist communications professionals, researchers and medical advisors on staff serving more than 200 organizations globally, the agencies that make up the partnership share a belief in insights-driven strategies and a commitment to collaboration in order to provide clients the best possible counsel and execution. GLOBALHealthPR’s presence spans more than 60 countries, covering Europe, North America, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific. For more information, visit www.globalhealthpr.com or follow us on Twitter: @GLOBALHealthPR.