My company, Cambridge Biomarketing, is a finalist for a 2010 Webby Award in the pharmaceuticals category. We developed an awesome site for Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company.

The site, 1000CranesOfHope.com, is a cancer awareness tool that allows users to post wishes online. The site takes the Japanese tradition of senbazuru (which promises that a person who folds 1000 origami cranes will be granted a wish) and applies to the site — users can design, post, and share wishes. We’ve generated nearly 1500 wishes to date.

Congrats to the team at Cambridge Biomarketing and the talented group at Millennium that we partnered with.

Voting is now open for the People’s Choice awards, and we’d very much appreciate your vote!

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• Going Digital for Medical Publications
• Some Updates
• The team at the 2009 Healthcare Clio Awards

Re-blogging a new post I made at the Cambridge Biomarketing company blog:

A couple of key points:

• More focus on preventative care: Healthcare companies are going to need to understand their customers much better. Profiling and CRM programs will become more important; understanding how customers “tick” will be more critical than ever.
• Patient Retention: Along those lines, customer retention will also become increasingly important. Drug manufacturers will need to take an even more pressing role in treatment management–more options and choices for patients will increase need for intensive customer and relationship management.

  Read more…

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• Job Hunting Advice for Marketing Majors
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I was quoted on Boston.com today in a q/a piece about job opportunities for recently minted marketing majors.

Finding a job in marketing right out of school is tough, but there are a number of smart strategies recent grads can use to get their foot in the door. Internships are a great idea…but nothing beats networking and referrals.

It’s never too soon to start building your network, whether it’s through friends, family, or professors.

Also, the digital field is booming and it can’t hurt to consider options for specialization–whether by industry or discipline.

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A few personal updates and points of interest:

In the News:

The acquisition of RDVO by Cambridge BioMarketing was covered in a number of media:

• New York Times
• Boston Globe
• Boston Business Journal
• DM news

Recent Blog Posts and Commentaries:

From Cambridge BioMarketing Biorhythms:

Apple iPad – Three Potential Uses for the healthcare marketing
While the announcement of Apple’s iPad didn’t elicit the oohs and ahhs that many anticipated, healthcare marketers were quick to see the promise of a powerful and user-friendly tablet PC…

Illustrating Conditions through Healthmaps
Helping patients and healthcare providers understand the various dimensions of a condition is something those of us in healthcare communications can struggle with. Each aspect of a disease definition—from symptoms to diagnosis to treatment—can have multiple layers of complexity…

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• Going Digital for Medical Publications
• Cambridge BioMarketing a Finalist for a 2010 Webby Award – Pharmaceutical Category
• Healthcare Marketing and Government Reforms

I’m one of the lucky 300 who’ll be attending in person at the FDA’s public hearing on social media. The meeting represents an unprecedented step by the FDA to provide the digital pharma community with an opportunity to offer insights about how medical information and marketing is delivered through online channels.

The agenda and speaker list was released this morning. Many of the likely suspects will be in attendance, and the speaking roster includes representatives from big (and small) pharma (surprised not to see more!), healthcare marketing agencies, consultants, and technology companies. It will be interesting to see how the meeting unfolds.

My wishlist:

• I hope the agency folks keep the pitches and business development to a minimum (and I’m an agency guy). This meeting provides an opportunity to communicate about issues that may have long-term implications on our businesses. Let’s hope it doesn’t turn into an agency pitch/bitch.
• Focus on the future, and don’t try to fix the past (or present). Yes — we need to look at the current state of social media, but most of us believe we’re at the onset of the revolution; let’s talk about what’s coming down the pike and prepare–not focus on current roadblocks.
• Meaningful discussion about search marketing, with feasible outcomes. The FDA’s unexpected crack-down on pharmaceutical search ads last Spring sent a collective shutter down the spines of pharmaceutical companies and agencies alike. Healthcare is one the top online spenders and search marketing has become a critical component in any campaign. When will the FDA offer meaningful and substantial guidelines?
• Let’s talk personalized medicine. How will this emerging area be addressed by the FDA?

More to come…

Note: all the information on the event has been gathered in one place by @Skypen over here.

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