#GHPRConnects

By Kaitlin Bowen and Mark Henderson

Recently, partners from around the world gathered to learn, share and connect during the 2017 GLOBALHealthPR^® (GHPR) Annual General Meeting, held in Mexico City. One of the unique aspects we discussed in Mexico is the annual GHPR employee exchange program. We recently interviewed the participants of this year’s program to reflect on the highlights:

 As a part of the GLOBALHealthPR (GHPR) exchange program, Mark Henderson from VIVA! Communications in Australia and Kaitlin Bowen from Spectrum in the United States flew halfway around the world to “swap desks” and experience healthcare communications in each other’s home countries.

The exchange program, designed to enhance the connectivity of GHPR agencies, helps foster collaboration among the independent health and science communications network and enables agency employees the opportunity to gain insight into the drivers that affect health and science communications in other markets.

Kaitlin and Mark reflected recently on the major differences between the two countries and what they gained from their GLOBALHealthPR exchange experience.

What is the major difference you saw between the health industries in Australia and the United States?

Mark Henderson – VIVA! Communications, Australia: While in the States, I learned about medicines when I wasn’t even expecting to, as direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertisements often appeared on television and in magazines – this came as quite a surprise to me. I was enthralled by the advertising, but further to this, the amount of political discussion and conversation in the community around healthcare and medicines. That was intriguing, and I think it’s a good thing.

Living in Australia, we tend to become complacent about our access to free medicines and hospital care (well, free for the most part), and that shrinks the public conversation on healthcare in Australia somewhat. That is, unless one is championing a certain medicinal cause, working in the health industry or battling with a disease that requires difficult to access therapies.

On a slightly different note, I was shocked to see promotion of cigarettes in the U.S. I picked up a magazine at the airport, and was confronted with a discount offer for a new brand of cigarettes. Not just an advertisement, but a discount offer for cigarettes – how can this be allowed?

In Australia, we have so many regulations regarding cigarette advertising in attempts to decrease cancer rates –our laws include plain packaging, locked cabinets and no advertisements for cigarettes. So to see cigarettes advertised in the U.S. was confronting.

Kaitlin Bowen – Spectrum, United States: Due to the restrictions around direct-to-consumer advertising in Australia via the Medicines Australia Code of Conduct, healthcare companies and the PR and marketing agencies that support them must be creative to connect with stakeholders in meaningful ways. Empowering advocacy partners and patients is critical.

Due to this tightly regulated health communications environment, VIVA!’s work tends to be highly patient-centric, which is great. Most campaigns include regional or state-specific patient spokespeople who can provide first-hand commentary on what it’s like to live with a certain disease or condition. This, combined with dynamic content and a the knack for media relations creates  comprehensive patient case studies, videos and infographics (both still and animated) that are really easy for the media to reference and extract for use in their stories.

How does the working culture differ between VIVA! & Spectrum?

KB, USA:  Overall, the team is very collaborative and it’s often all hands on deck to do great work for our clients. Even the agency’s Principal is not afraid to jump in and help, lending her expertise and experience to all aspects of client service, including making pitch calls and proofing content.

Additionally, I found Australians to be quite direct with each other – no sugar coating feedback or direction – which helps keep projects moving along efficiently. I think it also helps boost camaraderie within the agency, which can go a long way for maintaining morale among employees and ultimately helps drive a better quality product for clients.

The VIVA! office had a similar vibe to our Spectrum offices with lots of open, collaborative space and cool, scientific imagery around the office.

I view my Spectrum team as family, so I think the VIVA! gang is pretty much our cousins Down Under – the people, culture and energy in the office space were surprisingly similar to our Spectrum team here in the U.S. That’s the great part about the GLOBALHealthPR network – the agencies are so like-minded not only in our office environments, but also in our values and what motivates us to do great work for our clients.   I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to live, work and play in Sydney for a few weeks and form long-lasting friendships with our GLOBALHealthPR partners in Australia.

 MH, AUS: Overall, both Spectrum and VIVA! work in the highly specialised healthcare PR arena, part of which allows us to craft and share the fascinating stories that create buzz and hype around healthcare therapies, medicines, medical research and science.

I was really privileged to meet so many American healthcare PR peers, and was impressed by the different stories and reasons for pursuing healthcare communications. Some of the Spectrum staff have Ph.D.’s and are trained scientists. The knowledge and experience that these experts can lend to the science of health is invaluable, and they are lovely people too!

How will you continue to build relationships across the GLOBALHealthPR network now that you’re back home?

 MH, AUS: I think the amazing thing about the exchange program is that we are visiting and partnering with not just friends, but colleagues. I’m thrilled to be able to have the opportunity to continue to grow and build relationships with all of my healthcare PR peers. It’s something truly unique to GLOBALHealthPR.

I am eager to remain in touch, and to continue working alongside and collaborating with my American counterparts, and friends in the U.S.

KB, USA: In the words of Uncle Ben from Spiderman, “with great power comes great responsibility.” Because I’ve been given the amazing privilege to participate in the GHPR exchange program, I believe it’s important as partners that we continue to support and build the GLOBALHealthPR network on behalf of each of our agencies.

The beauty of GHPR is that each of us are experts in our local healthcare marketplaces, but we have that global reach and connectivity across the world through each partner agency. What’s really special is that we’re not just professional acquaintances, but friends. I remain connected to my VIVA! colleagues on Facebook and always look forward to hearing the latest client updates and the GHPR Annual General Meeting. In the spirit of the GHPR exchange program, I will continue to work to foster collaboration and best practice sharing across the network.

Kaitlin Bowen is an Account Director at GHPR U.S. partner Spectrum. Mark Henderson is the Queensland Branch Manager at GHPR Australian partner VIVA! Communications. To check out Kaitlin’s and Mark’s experiences from the GLOBALHealthPR Professional Exchange Program and other GHPR programming, use #GHPRConnects to connect and join the conversation.

 

Every year GLOBALHealthPR agencies come together for our Annual General Meeting, AGM for short, and it’s a celebrated event! Months in advance partners start circling the dates on calendars, eagerly anticipating the opportunity to learn, share and connect.

This past January we welcomed James Yi as the Executive Director for GHPR’s APAC regional office. Not only has James brought a wealth of experience in regional healthcare communications, but he’s also provided invaluable perspective on the network itself – and what he sees as our value to clients. James took a turn at the mic during the AGM, sharing his reflections from his first 100 days, and one of the first things he talked about was the strength of the network, commenting:

“A network is only as strong as its weakest agency.”

It’s an intuitive statement, but the context surrounding it is important – especially in the healthcare space. Most global holding companies lack true health expertise in many, if not the majority, of markets they operate in. This means you have non-specialist communicators implementing in a highly specialised and regulated area, leading to huge variance in the levels of success achieved locally.

At GLOBALHealthPR, health communications is all we do. Every agency that is part of our network is a true expert in both health and communications in their respective markets. Supported by a strong client-first infrastructure, our agencies work together seamlessly to deliver around the globe.

We are often approached by agencies from all over world that are interested in joining the network. Within each market we only have one partner agency, and their focus must be on healthcare. For these reasons we are highly selective about those choices – our partner relationships are built to last, and becoming a partner isn’t easy.

Every year when I come back from the AGM I think about how lucky I am to be working with a network of partners—and friends—who share my passion for healthcare and communications.  We’re bound by a common vision of building the best healthcare communications network in the world. Rome wasn’t built in a day (fun fact, Ancient Rome took somewhere in the range of 760 years to reach its peak population, or over 200,000 days); we’re only 16 years into our mission and continuing to add strength each year.

Our network is built such that it doesn’t have a weakest agency. And that’s a big piece of how we are able to deliver exceptional communications globally, regionally and locally for our clients.

I’ve been in Sydney, Australia for just over a week now as a part of the GLOBALHealthPR® Professional Exchange Program. While I’ve done “heaps” of touristy things like check out sweeping views of the city from the Sydney Tower Eye, watched surfers catch some waves at Manly Beach and hung out with koalas at the Wild Life Sydney Zoo, I’ve also gotten a taste of what it’s like to live as a local Aussie. Here are a few things about working with colleagues at our partner agency Team VIVA!  that I wanted to share:

PATIENT FOCUS

I’ve found my work at VIVA! to be highly patient-centric, and find it surprising that a recent Pharma In Focus white paper reports that one in three Australian pharma marketers felt they failed to focus on the patient. Most campaigns include regional or State-specific patient spokespeople who can provide first-hand commentary on what it’s like to live with a certain disease or condition. VIVA! has a real knack for media relations, and develops comprehensive patient case studies, videos and infographics (both still and animated) that are really easy for the media to reference and extract for use in their stories

NO PRODUCT MENTIONS

Under the Medicines Australia Code of Conduct, you cannot mention the names of specific pharmaceutical products or anything that might imply a specific type of treatment in communication to consumers beyond a new product launch, or when the product secures a second indication. So PR and marketing firms need to get creative and find ways to connect with consumers in meaningful ways on behalf of their pharma clients. Programs are often implemented through unrestricted grants to advocacy groups and tend to focus on disease state awareness.

COLLABORATIVE TEAM

VIVA! starts each week with an all-agency meeting. The team works well together, and sometimes it’s all hands on deck. Even the agency’s Principal is not afraid to jump in and help, lending her expertise and experience to all aspects of client service. I’ve also found Australians to be quite direct with each other – no sugar coating feedback or direction – which helps keep projects moving along efficiently and boosts camaraderie within the agency, resulting in the best work for clients.

LIFE IN SYDNEY

The public transport in Sydney is very user-friendly. After only a few days, I was navigating the system like a local. The Opal card, like DC’s SmarTrip or New York’s MetroCard, is really simple to “top up” and each station has easy-to-read digital screens with a clear look at what stops are up next. Plus, the card works seamlessly for the train, bus and ferry systems.

From what I’ve seen, my colleagues and their fellow Sydney residents are a pretty active bunch. Most folks on Team VIVA!  take a walk midday, go for a run after work, or hit the gym a few times a week. Overall, Aussies thrive on the outdoors (who can blame them with the country’s natural beauty and proximity to the beach?), which fuels a healthy outlook on life.

Kaitlin Bowen is participating in the GLOBALHealthPR Professional Exchange Program representing exclusive U.S. partner Spectrum. The Program aims to enhance the connectivity of GLOBALHealthPR agencies through collaboration, best practice sharing, and insights into the drivers that affect health and science communications in different markets worldwide, and to build professional relationships with other GLOBALHealthPR personnel around the globe.

Kaitlin is an account director at GHPR U.S. partner Spectrum. To follow her experiences on the GLOBALHealthPR Professional Exchange Program online, use #GHPRConnects to join the conversation and see all of the 2016 exchange programming.

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things,” said American writer Henry Miller. And starting this week, I’ll be privy to an entirely new way of seeing things from the opposite side of the world in Sydney, Australia as a part of the 2016 GLOBALHealthPR® Professional Exchange Program with our partner, VIVA! Communications.

The exchange program is designed to enhanc
e the connectivity of GHPR agencies by fostering collaboration, sharing best practices and enabling employees to gain insight into the drivers that affect health and science communications in other markets. To me, the program is the perfect combination of global travel and true cultural immersion – really getting the opportunity to see public relations, healthcare and the world through someone else’s eyes.

Airbnb has a clever marketing slogan that says “Don’t Go There. Live There.” The opportunity to live, work and play in Australia for a few weeks with our VIVA! colleagues is a chance to do just that. I’m particularly interested in learning about our similarities and differences in the public relations and healthcare worlds. I’m eager to dive into their account work and find out what it’s like working with Aussie colleagues and Aussie clients. I hope to learn more about challenges and opportunities facing clients in Australia, and how VIVA approaches them. We all work in the world of healthcare, and I’m eager to gain a more global perspective on the issues.

My trip Down Under is actually “part 2” of this year’s exchange – Mark Henderson, the Queensland Branch Manager at VIVA! Communications spent a few weeks in Washington, DC and New York in September. I’m thrilled to reconnect with Mark as well as with Paul Jans, VIVA!’s Managing Director, who I met in São Paulo, Brazil during the 2012 GLOBALHealthPR Annual General Meeting. From what I’ve seen and heard, VIVA! is a really cool agency, doing interesting work and not unlike Spectrum in many ways. I often view our Spectrum team as a family, so I think the VIVA! gang is pretty much our cousins Down Under – and I’m so excited to pay them a visit and compare notes over a few middies of beer!

Kaitlin Bowen is participating in the GLOBALHealthPR Professional Exchange Program representing exclusive U.S. partner Spectrum. The Program aims to enhance the connectivity of GLOBALHealthPR agencies through collaboration, best practice sharing, and insights into the drivers that affect health and science communications in different markets worldwide, and to build professional relationships with other GLOBALHealthPR personnel around the globe.

Kaitlin is an account director at GHPR U.S. partner Spectrum. To follow her experiences on the GLOBALHealthPR Professional Exchange Program online, use #GHPRConnects to join the conversation and see all of the 2016 exchange programming.

As the week and my GLOBALHealthPR Employee Exchange draw to a close in New York City, I can only describe the experience as amazing.

Every day has brought me brand new, exciting opportunities in which I have been able to uncover “The Spectrum Way” of working, meet with new friends and team members, and continue to build a relationship with my U.S.-based colleagues.

Over the past fortnight, my eyes have been opened up to an entirely new world of healthcare communications. I’ve been privileged to immerse myself in the offices, while also being provided opportunities to share my knowledge of the Australian marketplace as well.

This week, I was able to present to the New York office about the work VIVA! does in Australia, share case studies, and discuss an upcoming collaborative Asia-Pacific regional disease-awareness campaign, all while taking questions from the audience.

I’ve also been able to take in some of New York City, and was very privileged to meet with Peggy Peck, Vice President and Editor-in-Chief of MedPage Today, who provided me a very detailed overview of how the US healthcare system works, and how this differs from the Australian healthcare model.

I’ve spent time with many team members, discussing the different practice-areas (Biopharma, Consumer Science, Biotech/Specialty) and cross-functional teams (including digital/creative and finance) that Spectrum team members represent, as well as the GHPR model of communicating globally. And, despite the business of the week, some of the team even took me out to a ballgame at the famed Yankee Stadium.

I’m excited to share all of my experiences with the team when I return home to Australia.

Tomorrow, I am booked for a tour of the NBC Studios, where I hope to learn a little more about the American television and radio media.

More than anything else, I want to express my personal gratitude to everyone in the Washington DC and New York Spectrum offices. You have all made me feel so welcome, and helped to create a one-in-a-lifetime experience, and I am beyond appreciative.

Mark participated in the GLOBALHealthPR Professional Exchange Program as a representative of the exclusive Australian partner, VIVA! Communications. The program aims to enhance the connectivity of GLOBALHealthPR agencies through collaboration, best practice sharing, and insights into the drivers that affect health and science communications in different markets worldwide, and to build professional relationships with other GLOBALHealthPR personnel around the globe.

About Mark: Mark Henderson is Queensland Branch Manager at GHPR Australia partner, VIVA! Communications. Follow his experiences on the GLOBALHealthPR Professional Exchange Program online, using the #GHPRConnects hashtag.

As my first week representing VIVA! Communications, Australia as part of the GLOBALHealthPR Professional Exchange Program at Spectrum in Washington D.C. drew to a close, my head was spinning with all of the health PR-related information I’ve recently gleaned.

This week I’ve participated in several interesting brainstorming sessions focusing on campaign concepts and new business development. Observing the communications process involving Spectrum team members across the U.S., from Washington D.C., and New York to Atlanta, and those working from ‘virtual’ offices at home, has proven a truly fascinating exercise.

I was also granted the opportunity to meet with some of the business leads at Spectrum D.C., including Public Affairs lead, Al Jackson, who explained the pivotal role that communication plays in U.S. health and medicines-related politics. Citing several case studies, Al broke this somewhat complex subject matter down with ease, affording me unique insights into the invaluable role that both he, and the Public Affairs division plays at Spectrum, to ensure fairness of communication for U.S. healthcare providers, pharmaceutical companies and patients.

The highlight of my week was obtaining a glimpse into U.S. healthcare policy and public affairs. On Tuesday, I visited Capitol Hill to observe a U.S. Senate hearing into health policy, focusing on the potential ramifications of introducing Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for laboratory-developed tests (LDT’s) of a certain type of in-vitro diagnostic. Currently, no such approval is required.

The hearing armed me with fascinating insights into the American approach toward deliberating the role of administration, and government in diagnosing illnesses and delivering precision medicines to the public. Those in favour of FDA regulation (primarily the Democrats) argued LDTs had not been sufficiently validated, and were therefore at risk of inaccuracy, and that patients are not informed that their tests fail to undergo rigorous FDA approval. Those Senators opposed to drug regulation claimed that such approval would slow the process of diagnosing illnesses and introducing life-saving medications to market. Furthermore, those against (mainly the Republicans) stated the labs (including branches of leading care centres and research hospitals) would go bankrupt if they had to pay for such regulation.

Further to this, I was able to meet many members of the Spectrum team, including Kaitlin Bowen, who, like me, is participating in the 2016 GHPR exchange program. This allowed us a great opportunity to chat about the program, and I was able to provide some insight as to what I had uncovered about Spectrum, while allowing Kaitlin to ask questions about VIVA!, and how we work in Australia.

As a former journalist, I also really enjoyed my visit to D.C.’s Newseum, which offered me a great insight into how journalism has been involved in capturing and shaping American history. Each of the exhibits in the Newseum offered fascinating insight into the history of US news reporting, and allowed me an idea of some of the most iconic news stories ever published in the US.

For me, it was amazing to learn about the role that the first amendment has played in the history of news reporting in the USA, while also being allowed to recognise the sacrifice made by many journalists in telling the story, with a wall of remembrance to those who had lost their lives in the service of news reporting.

On Thursday, I was given the opportunity to present about my work, and the way we work at VIVA! Communications in Australia to a “full house” at the D.C. office brunch and learn.

The response from the team who tuned in, and listed to me talk was really great. It was really humbling to listen as the team responded to the presentation, with lots of questions being asked, and great feedback from everyone.

And, on Friday, my final day in Washington D.C., I was granted a fantastic opportunity to visit the advocacy office of the American Cancer Society (ACS), and to spend some time with Bob Chapman, Managing Director of Global Relay for Life, who provided me with some phenomenal insight around the history and aims of ACS and how it works to achieve its goals, both in the U.S. and globally.

After meeting with Bob, he invited me along to listen to a talk being given by Uruguayan cardiologist, and one of the survivors of the 1972 plane crash in the Andes mountains, dubbed the “Miracle of the Andes”, Dr Roberto Canessa.

Listening to Dr Canessa talk was captivating, as he shared the story of his survival, and the impact it had on his life moving forward. It was definitely a highlight of my time in D.C.

Every day I gleaned new and invaluable insights into the U.S. health communication marketplace. I can’t wait to see what unfolds this week in New York City.

To Jonathan, Andrew and all of the team in D.C. I want to extend my wholehearted thanks. You were wonderful hosts, and provided me an opportunity, friendships and an experience I will remember for the rest of my life. Thank you all for that.

Be sure to follow my exchange with GLOBALHealthPR at #GHPRConnects.