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Jill Mortensen
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The pharmaceutical industry never has a dull moment. It has dealt
with ethical issues in HIV/Aids for decades, continues to receive
low marks for credibility across the world and now must take a stance
on a potential avian flu outbreak. Roche, no stranger to the HIV/Aids
debate, is on the frontline of the current issue. Experts have confirmed
that Tamiflu, its antiviral brand commonly used to treat flu symptoms,
is the top candidate among possible treatments to fight avian flu.
As soon as this news was out, intense scrutiny held a tight grip
on Roche. In the face of a potentially fatal global health pandemic,
the company faced considerable pressure from a range of quarters,
before finally agreeing to sub-license production of the drug to
other manufacturers to help facilitate widespread supply. Was Roche
taking advantage of - or, even worse, fuelling, the public scare
- to profit from public hysteria?
Roche has been working with governments from France, Finland, Iceland,
Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland
and the UK to boost stocks of Tamiflu. Clearly, these nations can
afford to stockpile Western medicine. Among densely populated developing
nations, cooperation isn't running so smoothly. India declared it
may invoke a new law to allow its home-grown drug manufacturers
- which include the world's leading generic drug companies - to
make Tamiflu copies if Roche had continued to resist cooperating.
Other developing nations which have aggressively pushed generic
drug substitutions, such as Brazil, could follow. Now is clearly
the time for Roche to broaden the scope of its government relations
approach to show the world it cares.
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This is where the dilemma lies for the industry. The research and
development-driven multinational pharmaceutical companies invest
millions in developing new, patented drugs and vaccines to help
prevent and treat diseases. If they do not recover their costs,
they will not be able to continue conducting medical research at
the standard required by most governments to get new drugs approved.
Governments cannot afford to do this research alone. At the same
time, the media continues to attack the high prices of drugs without
considering skyrocketing costs.
From a PR perspective, this dilemma usually presents a great opportunity
for the industry to tell the real story, but many companies shy
away from this. The industry - and Roche is no exception - contributes
a great deal to humanitarian causes. But as we all know, controversy
makes headlines. It is now, more than ever, that the industry needs
to pull its story together, to educate everyone in its path about
what it takes to develop new medicines, and what it does to give
back to communities. It must partner with those who can extend the
reach of its medicines to those in need - regardless of social or
economic status. It is no longer appropriate for the industry to
resist and protect. To improve and preserve its reputation for the
long term, now is the time for dialogue and cooperation.
Jill Mortensen is managing director for Weber Shandwick in Hong
Kong and regional healthcare.
This article was featured in Media: 4 November, 2005.
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| Weber Shandwick in Hong Kong: 2005 Consultancy
of the Year |
The Hong Kong office of Weber Shandwick recently won the highly
coveted "Consultancy of the Year" award at the recent
Asia Pacific PR Awards. Hot on their tail, Orient caught
up with Hong Kong’s managing director, Jill Mortensen to find
out the secrets of their success.
What were the highlights of your award entry?
The focus on our people (performance-based incentives, professional
development opportunities, stress reduction offers) was definitely
something that we thought would stand us apart. It was somewhat
of a risk to focus on this and not more on the financials when considering
the entry criteria, but it was a true reflection of our approach
this year that was a key strategy to achieve our business goals
- and a good way to get around Sarbanes-Oxley restrictions in the
entry! That said, I think our revenue growth across all practice
areas and the diversity of our new business wins were also quite
strong.
Anything else you would like to add about your win?
We would not have won this award without such a resilient, talented,
dedicated team. They are just awesome.
Who is "minding" your award at the moment?
It's under close supervision in my office until we move next month!
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| The healthcare team in Malaysia. |
Orient spoke to Sharon Cheah who heads the healthcare practice
in Malaysia. Her team won the healthcare OTC category for their
campaign for Pfizer's nicotine replacement product, Nicorette.
Can you tell us about the campaign you won?
"Kick It, Beat It!" was a positive quit smoking campaign
aimed at educating Malaysian youths on the benefits and methods
of effectively remaining smoke free.
We designed an integrated campaign around four dynamic local entertainment
celebrities who took on a 40-day smoke free challenge, whilst relying
on Pfizer's nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) product, Nicorette.
The campaign—which included exciting public kick-boxing workout
sessions and allowed the public to support the celebrities via the
website/phone hotline/sms—received Government (Ministry of
Health) endorsement and generated extensive visual print and broadcast
publicity. Overall, "Kick It, Beat It!" successfully positioned
quitting smoking as "cool", generating a 22 percent sales
increase of Nicorette.
What do you think was the best thing about the campaign?
The best thing was that the campaign was so publicly talked about
and that young Malaysians were inspired to actively support the
four celebrities `kick and beat' the habit of smoking. Also, it's
heartening to note that two of the celebrities have remained to
date completely smoke free, with the other two having managed to
cut down smoking tremendously.
What is your top tip for creating an award winning campaign?
Link your campaign to measurable results.
Who is "minding" your award at the moment?
It took a day-long tour round the office, we'll have to check where
it finally landed...
Which of the sections in the award entry did you find the most
difficult to write, how did you overcome this difficulty?
Making sure the results reflected a successful campaign as much
as possible. Only writing, re-writing, and (more!) re-writing helped
us overcome this difficulty.
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| Andrew Pirie |
Asia Pacific president Andrew Pirie, and managing director of Shanghai
and Guangzhou Diane Wu, were both recently honoured at the Asia Pacific
PR Awards in the Gold PR Professional of the Year category as runner
up and finalist respectively.
One of the key factors noted in Andrew’s honour was achieving
robust business growth over the past year—including significant
upturn in China and impressive recoveries in Hong Kong and Australia.
Other achievements cited included the launch of public affairs consultancy
Powell Tate | Weber Shandwick in China. It was also recognized that
Andrew remains sought after by clients for his strategic expertise,
particularly in the area of financial communications, and has also
carved out a role as one of the region’s foremost CSR experts.
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| Diane Wu |
A finalist in the Asia Pacific PR Awards, Diane Wu was also recently
named "Outstanding PR Professional of the Year" by the Shanghai
PR Association.
Diane’s award-winning legacy, dedication to developing the PR
industry in China and commitment to her staff were considered the
three key factors in her well-deserved honours.
She was recognised for her focused and precision-oriented leadership,
and for her uniquely creative approach to client campaigns which consequently
inspires team members and clients alike. She is a regular guest lecturer
on public relations at high schools, colleges and professional associations,
notably Fu Dan University in Shanghai and Beijing University. Her
thoughts and views on PR can also be found in the six books she has
written.
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| Winnie with the heathcare team in the Sydney
office. |
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| Winnie in the Sydney Office (you can see the
harbour bridge through the window!) |
Winnie Hui, a senior consultant in the Hong Kong healthcare practice
recently visited Weber Shandwick in Sydney as part of the Asia Pacific
exchange program. Orient caught up with Winnie to chat about
her experience travelling "down under."
How long were you in the Sydney office?
I stayed in Sydney for two weeks.
Had you been to Australia before?
I had been to Brisbane about five years ago. But it was my first time
to Sydney which was very exciting.
What type of work were you involved in during your exchange to
Sydney?
I assisted in research for new business development, wrote a report
for Beiersdorf and conducted national and interstate media monitoring
for the team. The team also invited me to their internal work progress
meeting for individual projects and their weekly team meeting.
Did you find many differences between the healthcare practices
in Australia and back home in Hong Kong?
There is a much larger media pool than there is in Hong Kong. When
doing media relations for national campaigns, their media materials
need to be tailor-made for national, interstate, trade and consumer
media.
The role of pharmacists is also different in Sydney compared to Hong
Kong. Hong Kong is a physician-driven market and pharmacists do not
have a significant role in the decision-making process for disease
management. In Australia, due to the difference in the medical system,
physicians and pharmacists play an equally important role in influencing
patients’ decisions on a particular treatment. PR campaigns in
Australia are not only focused on doctors and patients, but also pharmacists.
In Australia PR goes further than media relations. Many local clients
in Hong Kong think that the capability of PR is limited only to media
relations. The work the Sydney team conducts has more variety. In
addition to media relations, they also help clients develop template
content for CME seminars for doctors. The team also partners with
third parties to develop patient information packs which disseminate
through doctors.
What have you enjoyed most about your experience in Sydney?
I enjoyed working with the healthcare team in Sydney; they are a group
of professional, experienced and nice people. In addition to sharing
the great information and case studies of their client work, they
also gave me a lot of information about "must go" places
and "must eat" foods in Sydney, which made my experience
even more fun.
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