Woot! Intouch Wins Best Web Site at MM&M Awards

I usually try not to use this blog as a platform to talk too much about Intouch Solutions' work. So if you're not interested in hearing about an award we just won for a really unique Web site we created, that's cool. Feel free to stop reading now.

But if you're still reading, know that I am so excited for our client, and beaming with pride for the team that created the unbranded Web site GoInsulin.com for client sanofi-aventis. Because Thursday night, all that hard work really paid off.

GoInsulin.com beat out a number of other sites to receive the Gold Award for Best Web Site.

The praise from the judges, as quoted from the MM&M Web site, made us blush:

Judges unanimously praised Sanofi-Aventis' unbranded diabetes website for its design and ease of use. “It was one of the only sites in the category that had nothing to criticize,” noted one judge. “It's beautifully designed with a nice mix and balance of content and interactivity.”

Judges, by the way, included senior executives at Merck, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, AstraZeneca and others.

“It's extremely creative and engaging with real patient videos/stories,” said one judge. “It's visually appealing and easy to find information. I loved the ‘Myth or Reality' quiz.” Another judge described the design as “intuitive” and the content as “personal” and “emotive.”

GoInsulin.com was developed to support a national campaign that aims to empower people with Type 2 diabetes. The site's objective is to help people make well-informed decisions by providing relevant information about diabetes and insulin, including the risks and benefits, and helping them overcome fears.

One of the unique things about this site is its focus on the patient. It seems there is a renewed focus on patient-centric marketing in the pharma industry (hooray for that), and GoInsulin.com is a strong example. GoInsulin.com represents the culmination of a clear strategic focus, an extremely talented team, and lots of hard work, all led by a truly visionary client.

The site also was named a finalist in the 2009 International Health and Medical Media Awards and recently won a Web Marketing Association Web Award for Pharmaceuticals Standard of Excellence.

The GoInsulin YouTube companion site has also received accolades and was recently featured at the DTC Perspectives Conference as a case study in pharma engaging in social media "the right way."

For more information, see:

• Our social media press release on the intouchsol.com Web site
• The award announcement on MM&M's Web site
• The award winning site itself: GoInsulin.com

Congratulations to all the great campaigns, companies, and agencies behind all of the honors that were awarded Thursday night (here's the full list). And as the GoInsulin team would say, Gooooooooooooooooooo Insulin!

Celebrating Pharma Women on Twitter

I’d like to give a shout-out and a salute to the top (in my humble opinion) pharma-related women tweeters, in no particular order. I’ve included their ‘real’ name and Twitter handle, and a little about why they made the list. If you want to learn more about their bios, check out their Twitter profile. Many of them have blogs as well.

Or better yet, just start following them on Twitter. You’ll be glad you did.

1. Ellen Hoenig Carlson: I always find @ellenhoenig to be personable, relevant, and smart. If you’re not following her, you should be.

2. Christiane Truelove: An industry authority, @ChristianeTrue is the editor-in-chief of MedAdNews. I enjoy Chris for her snarky sense of humor and the fact that she keeps it real.

3. Eileen O'brien: @eileenobrien is friendly, social, and always willing to share. And? She’s got a super-cute avatar.

4. Sally Church: You can always count on @MaverickNY for frequent Twitter interaction. Plus, I’ve learned some great new British slang from her like “kerfuffle.”

5. Silja Chouquet: Silja tweets under the @whydotpharma handle. She provides a different pharma social media perspective from the other side of the pond. I look forward to meeting her next week at eyeforpharma in Philly. We’ll be speaking on a social media panel together.

6. Nat Bourre: Canadian @natbourre was one of the first out there, and continues to be one of the most prolific people in pharma social media. A very well connected woman!

7. Sarah Morgan: Sassy, smart, and PR-savvy, @sarahmorgan has some great curls, and she makes me laugh. ‘Nuff said.

8. Heather R. Powell: She’s a pharma regulatory/compliance director = tough job. Of everyone on the list, I probably “know” @heldincontempt the least, but based on what I’ve seen, I’d like to get to know her more. Maybe at the Tweetup next week in Philly …

* NEW * Easily follow them all with one click on the new Lady Pharma Tweeters list.

I Know There Are More of You ...
I know there are many more that I missed or that I haven’t been able to get to know yet. There are also several "rising stars" that recently joined and I look forward to hearing more from. Please post your Twitter handle here in the comments section, and we’ll all get a better chance to know one another.

I also know a lot of great women on industry side – whether on Twitter or not – and I’m privileged to work with many of them. Understandably, folks on industry side have to be shy about tweeting and blogging, and are limited in how much they can engage on behalf of the company. So we know you’re out there … and we salute you too … you’re here in spirit. ;-)

For the Gents
I don’t mean to be exclusionary but I gotta give the pharma ladies some love, because we seem to be in the minority. No worries – you guys are all great too! So to be fair, here are a few more links to some overall great top pharma Twitter lists. This time, the lists are gender-neutral.

· TweetList of Pharma and Biotech Tweeps (easy to just select all & follow all at once)
· Phil Baumann’s "1001 Remarkable Pharma People to Follow on Twitter"
· Steve Woodruff’s Impacitivi "Social Rx" list
· Ignite’s top 24 Pharma Tweeps

FDA Hearing Speakers & Attendees: Start Your Engines

I've been impressed with FDA communication around the upcoming "Promotion of FDA-Regulated Medical Products Using the Internet and Social Media Tools" hearing. Heck, as I've stated before, I'm really impressed they're holding the hearing at all. Their communications are transparent and even a little apologetic that things are taking so long to get organized. It's a good reminder that FDA people are human too.

As the date nears, the buzz and excitement levels seem to be rising. All of the pharma-related conferences that are happening right now seem to be feeding that even more, which I think is good.

I received a little more news about the hearing this morning, and I've posted the email from the coordinator, Jean-Ah Kang, PharmD, below. So now all of you are just as informed as I am about where things stand.

I also wanted to make a few quick but important points about the upcoming hearing:

1. Talk and share. I appreciated the opportunity at Digital Pharma to talk about the hearing with peers and chat with others that will be speaking/attending. What a smart bunch of people! I expect more of the same when I attend eyeforpharma's eComm next week. (Let me know if you'll be there; I'd love to meet you.) Also see Fabio Gratton's online meeting place of sorts for tweets, documents, people, and organizations involved in the hearing. It's actually pretty nice to see industry and agencies coming together on this topic.
   
   
2. I'll be speaking. I'll be speaking at the hearing on behalf of Intouch Solutions, and am excited and privileged to do so. I'm curious about the various tweets that have said "such and such was invited to speak at FDA hearing ..." Did FDA indeed specifically invite people to speak, or did they, like me, request to speak and have their request granted? I don't know the day or time I'll speak; they haven't announced those yet. But I can't wait to see the agenda!
   
   
3. Think bigger than social media. Although the focus of the buzz is around social media, remember the name of the hearing itself mentions use of "the Internet and Social Media Tools" and a review of the document reinforces that it goes beyond social media. We've certainly all been craving some social media guidelines and direction from FDA, but let's not forget they've barely given us guidelines on Internet promotion as a whole. I'd appreciate - and plan to discuss - the use of search engine advertising, banner advertising, and even Web sites within the broader "Internet" marketing context.
   
   
4. Submit written comments too! Arnie Friede (principle with a law firm specializing in FDA-related legal/regulatory matters and speaker at Digital Pharma) and Paul Loeback (DDMAC) both made this point at conferences recently, and it's worth repeating: Even if you or your organization is not speaking at the hearing, be sure to submit comments! The deadline is Feb. 28, 2010. It seems a long way away, but these written comments are really where pharma marketers and other stakeholders will have the most space and time to make a logical case for what we need/want, and how that balances with what's best for consumers. See the official notice from FDA for details on how to submit. I plan to both speak AND submit comments.
   
   (And see Arnie Friede's paper titled "Yes We Can" here on the topic - it's well-referenced, well-thought-out, and a great read.)
   
   
5. Not in DC? Watch the Webcast. FDA will be providing a free, live webcast of this public hearing; however, details are not yet available. According to FDA, you can use the below link to check back for information on the webcast and updates about the public hearing, which will be posted as soon as possible:
   http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/CentersOffices/CDER/ucm184250.htm
   
   
6. When to expect guidance. Paul Loebach, Project Manager, DDMAC was quoted at the e-Patient Connections conference that industry can expect guidance by the end of 2010 as a good estimate. Note: I was not there and did not hear it firsthand, but several reliable 'sources' quoted him via Twitter using hashtag #epatcon. Also see John Mack's blog post on the topic here; he WAS there, and is apparently the one that asked the question "when?" That timeline surprised me, but also makes me wonder if they already have a draft in the works.
   
   
7. Stay informed. For the final word on D.C. Tweetups, realtime updates, comments, and news about the hearing, follow the hashtag #fdasm on Twitter and again, see http://www.fdasm.com/.
   

See you in D.C.!

____________________________________________________

Dear Speakers,
First of all, thank you for your interest and support of our upcoming public hearing on November 12-13, 2009. We are excited about collaborating with each of you to further our mission of protecting the public health with regard to the promotion of FDA-regulated medical products using the Internet and social media tools.

Secondly, we know that many of you are anxious to receive your scheduled time slots and other logistics, and we apologize for not being able to follow-up sooner. We have had some last-minute requests and changes from speakers and continue to be flooded with registration inquiries, but overall we've had a very positive response from the public. As you may have heard, we received over 800 registration requests for the 350 available seats, which were allocated on a first-come, first-served basis as reflected in the Federal Register notice. We sincerely thank you in advance for your commitment and your patience as we move forward in the next couple weeks.
While you are not receiving your scheduled time slots or the final agenda in this e-mail, here is some preliminary information:

We accommodated all speakers who submitted registration requests before the deadline on October 9, 2009; as a result, we are planning for a total of 62 different individuals/organizations to speak during the two-day hearing.

As noted in your previous speaker confirmation e-mails, the morning session of Friday, November 13, will be devoted to the discussion of Internet adverse event reporting (i.e., Question 5 in the Federal Register notice).

If you specified a preference for a particular day or time to present, we tried to accommodate you as best we could; however, as you can imagine, it was impossible to do this for everyone. For example, if you were scheduled for two separate slots (i.e., one for Question 5 and one for Questions 1, 2, 3, or 4), we were not able to schedule both slots on Friday, November 13, for every individual/organization in this situation.

In the interest of achieving a public hearing that is informative and well-represented by our stakeholders, each individual/organization will likely be allotted ten or less minutes per presentation or oral testimony. We will strictly adhere to the final agenda, and you will not be permitted to exceed your allotted time to speak. If you have not done so already, please begin preparing your presentation or oral testimony accordingly.

While this anticipated length of time is significantly shorter than many of your requests, please understand that this opportunity allows you to provide a high-level executive summary or focus on the most important aspects of your data, research, and views. You have until February 28, 2010, to provide additional detailed information by submitting comments to this docket.
You will need to submit your final presentation (e.g., PowerPoint) or oral testimony (e.g., Word document, PDF file) to us so that we may provide copies to the 13 FDA panel members for reference during the two-day proceedings. Slides and other visuals will be loaded onto FDA's laptop prior to Thursday, November 12, and the deadline for submitting all final materials will be towards the middle to end of next week (we will specify the due date when you receive your scheduled time slots).

We hope that the above details give you a little more information on what to expect, and we will be following up with your scheduled time slots and the final agenda in the very near future.
On behalf of DDMAC and FDA, thanks again for your participation and support! Jean-Ah

Jean-Ah Kang, PharmD
Special Assistant to the Director Division of Drug Marketing, Advertising, and Communications Food and Drug Administration

14 Signs You've Found the Right Social Media Partner

Outside of internal resources, who does Pharma partner with to plan and execute social media projects?

Everyone is talking about social media, but how many agencies and individuals have actual pharma social media experience? And do we need separate “social media agencies” or can existing agencies take the lead?

These days there are definitely pharma co’s participating in social media, so there are many examples to learn from. A cursory glance at Dose of Digital’s Pharma/Healthcare Social Media Wiki (though not all pharma-sponsored) proves the list of examples is only growing.

Pharma marketers should be particularly interested in who is strategizing and executing these programs, because you can benefit from their learnings. For example, when Intouch (my agency) was building the YouTube GoInsulin page last year, we learned a lot about the process, and we were even teaching YouTube about the pharmaceutical space at the same time.

Everyone and no one is a social media expert. I’m not sure how to quantify “social media expert,” but I do have some learnings and tips on how pharma marketers can make sure the agency doing their social media marketing is the best partner for the job.

1. They have social media experience. They have experience with social media, and they have several case studies where they have successfully planned and executed social media programs. They have proven success and results, and they share those case studies with you. There are plenty of people talking about social media – you need to hire someone that’s actually done it.
2. They have pharma experience. Not only do they need social media experience, they need pharma social media experience. They know the pharma world well, with all its wonderful regulations, restrictions, and limitations. This is paramount. Otherwise you risk spending all your time educating your shiny new social media agency, and they end up frustrated with the limitations. You’re both wasting each others’ time.
3. They have the right roots. They have roots in digital marketing (they understand technology) and public relations (they understand dialogue). I’ve blogged in the past about how social media marketing seems to be the convergence of a number of different marketing disciplines (marketing, public relations, customer support). The agency and its individuals should have holistic experience across a number of fields, because social media is across them too. Does the agency have a history of expertise in print and TV, yet now they want to teach you how to use Twitter? I’m not sure that’s smart. For other perspectives on why traditional ad agencies may not be set up to be good at social media, see this article from Adweek and this blog post.
4. They have experience across several platforms. Just as they should have experience across different disciplines, they should have experience across several social and emerging media marketing platforms as well. Especially if you are hiring the agency to do all of your social media work, make sure they have experience that cuts across several platforms – YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, mobile, tagging, online communities, etc. Take it one step further and consider how social and search affect each other, and seek an agency with experience in search marketing, too, for the best of both worlds.
5. They enable integration. They know how to integrate social media into broader marketing strategies. programs, and campaigns. This means they need to understand marketing as a whole, and they need to have in-house expertise beyond social media including deep digital experience, search marketing, online media, PR, CRM, usability, design, analytics, programming, copywriting, etc.
6. They can do strategy through execution, including long-term management, because social media can be a long-term commitment.
7. They walk the walk. This should go without saying, but as an agency, they are engaged in social media and using it effectively. And they’ve been there awhile (i.e., they didn’t create their agency Facebook page a week before they pitched a Facebook idea to you). Make sure the people working on your social media projects day-to-day understand it too. (And yet understand that still, them engaging in social media for themselves and planning social media programs for you/pharma are two very different things.)
8. They are recognized leaders. They are sought as experts and thought leaders. They attend and speak at conferences, and they are quoted in articles. And in the social media space, (see #7) they blog and comment on others’ posts.
9. They are committed to educating you and your team. They share their experiences and “secrets.” They send you briefs and POVs on emerging issues and technologies in the social media space. They work hard to make sure you understand SM as much as they do, and they do the same for your legal, medical, and regulatory teams.
10. They have a social media team – not a social media dude. Their social media bench is deeper than the one “expert” with the trendy glasses they keep propping up at client meetings.
11. Social media is ingrained in their culture. Organically, social media is part of who they are. It’s not the one expert who was recently hired, or a boutique sister agency that was acquired, or some other add-on.
12. They’re not fly-by-night. They weren’t born yesterday. They’re not an agency that was just formed because of the opportunities social media marketing presents. You don’t want or need a bunch of 19-year-olds testing their theories on your brand under the guise of a hip new startup. Warning letter, anyone?
13. They listen to you. They take the time to understand your overall goals, and they don't want to do social media for social media's sake. They are able to show how the programs they propose will benefit your brand, your company, your needs.
14. They know how to measure social media. Because if they can’t answer the question, “what’s the best way to measure it?” you should be asking the question “why are we doing it?”

Pharmas are looking for strong, capable partners to navigate this difficult space. No doubt pharma’s use of social media will continue to evolve –and hopefully increase. Make sure you have the right partner in place to help ensure your company and your brands are evolving online as well.