TVF Communications attends eyeforpharma

We recently attended the 4th annual eyeforpharma eMarketing Summit held in Munich. This international congress is a fantastic opportunity to hear key innovators in the pharmaceutical industry sharing their experiences in e-marketing and how they see the industry moving forward in the digital arena.

The hot topic this year was the place of the pharmaceutical industry in social media. Some trailblazing companies such as Boehringer Ingelheim and MSD have already embraced the social media of Twitter and Facebook, and are utilising these platforms to initiate dialogue with both patients and physicians. In fact, Twitter was such a hit that during some of the sessions delegates were actively encouraged to tweet comments and questions on their smart phones.

We have been providing digital strategy and implementation for some of our clients for over 3 years now and it is fantastic to see that e-marketing is being embraced by more and more marketeers as not just 'a website' but a new portal to communicate with their customers. The fact that pharma is still lagging behind other industries in this area has a lot to do with the regulations governing communications (e.g. ABPI Code of Practice); however, this conference shows that a lot more is possible and that the results can pay dividends.

Salmaan

RCN Accreditation

We recently completed an accredited elearning resource for nurses. Although there is no formal points system for nurses, as there is with CPD for physicians, nurses none-the-less need to undergo professional development throughout the year. This offers a fantastic opportunity for Pharma to reach an influential customer group.

The resource we developed combined our expertise in producing bespoke elearning programs with our in-depth medical writing and training experience. The program provided all of the essential elements that are required to develop an engaging and highly effective training program and included a combination of writing styles, quizzes, pop-ups, animations and interactive video case studies.

The content was thoroughly reviewed at the RCN by an educational reviewer (who checked the content for educational clarity) and a content reviewer (an expert in the field who checked the content for accuracy).

Getting a resource accredited, by any professional body, is not always easy and can be time-consuming, but the rewards pay dividends. Once approved, we were able to add the RCN accreditation logo to the program and packaging, thus lifting it from ‘just another pharma-sponsored resource’, to an independently endorsed professional development tool.

The great thing about this solution is that it can be tailored to suit any product, therapy area and budget.

Susie

Broadcast & Video Expo

A couple of weeks ago I attended the annual Broadcast & Video Expo, the UK’s only event dedicated to technology within the broadcast, video and new media worlds. It was an opportunity to check out the latest video technologies and make contact with the industry’s key players and innovators.

Highlights included demonstrations of RED, a new digital camera system with incredibly high resolutions, and the latest incarnation of Adobe Creative Suite, CS4.

The RED camera system is capable of recording at resolutions of up to 4096 horizontal by 2304 vertical pixels (to put this into perspective, standard High-Definition has a resolution of 1920 by 1080). The exciting thing about RED is the relatively low cost and weight, considering its high resolution and image quality. The camera was introduced by the producers of the TV series “Wallander”, who made extensive use of the system throughout the production process.

As exciting a prospect is Adobe CS4, which includes essential video software like Premier Pro (for editing footage), After Effects (for creating stylish animated sequences) and Encore (for authoring DVDs). The new offering is very streamlined, allowing for dynamic, on-the-fly swapping of video sequences between the programs without the need for any rendering. It also offers a ‘media encoder’ applet independent of the programs, in which anything that needs rendering or encoding can be dumped and left to tick over in the background. For one that has spent many an hour staring at render bars this is a huge benefit.

There were many other demonstrations and seminars in addition to these – in fact, too many to see all of them. Next year I’ll have to get there even earlier!

Tom

NHS Healthcare Innovations Day - Review

The NHS Healthcare Innovations Day (see original post “NHS Healthcare Innovations Day” Tuesday 10 February 2009) proved to be an interesting experience on a number of levels. While the content of the presentations were both interesting and thought provoking, the pioneering aspect of this meeting was that it could be attended online through Second Life.

The Second Life event drew a respectable audience with over 35 delegates attending the meeting online, set in a bespoke open-air auditorium. Within the Second Life auditorium, meeting delegates could view video screens showing live video feed from the real-life venue as well as other supporting materials they needed to follow the meeting.

There were a few issues with the audio feed during the first session, but the Second Life audience still remained strong, with over 20 delegates present by the time the meeting broke for lunch.

Given that approximately 80 people attended this meeting in person, it is of significance that the online event attracted an additional 25% more delegates, with attendees from the UK, USA and Sweden amongst others.

The Second Life audience wasn’t passive either; like the real-life setting, the Second Life auditorium was equipped for audience voting with some 10 snap polls taken with both audiences able to vote interactively. Delegates attending the meeting through Second Life could also contribute questions for panel discussion.

All this was achieved with relatively low cost, low carbon footprint and a global reach that wouldn't have otherwise been possible.

Much of this could have been achieved with one of a number of web-based conferencing solutions, but there was one significant aspect that was truly unique to the virtual world experience and was the personal highlight of my day: a guided tour of the NHS Second Life training hospital.

Based on a faithful replica of a London hospital, the Second Life training hospital has been constructed to teach familiarity in terms of the layout, equipment and processes the hospital follows. For example, a trainee must follow the correct sequence of operations and be wearing the correct clothing in order to enter an operating theatre. Failure to do so triggers an alarm and instructional training on the correct procedures, right down to video segments showing how to safely open and handle sterile packaging.

Therefore the Second Life training hospital is able to accurately simulate hospital procedures and provide contextual training on how they should be followed, without compromising real-life patient care. However this doesn't just stop at the operating room, but extends to a simulated ward with accompanying equipment and patients. The virtual hospital is even being used to help nurses gain familiarity with a new type of bedside infusion device ahead of its implementation in everyday practice.

What the NHS Healthcare Innovations Day has shown us is that the NHS is already delivering innovative solutions, and has made a success of integrating real life and the virtual world for effective communications, collaboration and training.

Alan

NHS Healthcare Innovations Day

The NHS (with the help of the National Physics Laboratory and Imperial College) has been active in Second Life since late 2007. It therefore comes as no surprise that they will be broadcasting live debates from their Healthcare Innovations day in their Second Life auditorium. The real-world presentations and debates will be held at the BMA House in London on the 11^th February from 10am GMT. The second life auditorium will be operating from 9:30am onwards. You can register as a Second Life attendee (free) and get more information at their booking website http://healthcare-innovation.eventbrite.com/. Of particular interest will be the ability to pose questions in real-life panel discussions and a special Second Life break-out group.

Both myself (Second Life name: AlanTVF Proto) and Chris Degg (Second Life name: ChrisTVF Nightfire) will be attending the Innovations day and I will be blogging the event live.

Alan

Advent of the Online Video

Judson Laipply’s ‘Evolution of Dance’ video has been viewed online over 112 million times – and that’s just on Youtube. ‘Charlie bit my finger’, an innocuous video in which baby Charlie bites his brother’s finger and giggles afterwards, has been viewed 77 million times. And a 5-second clip of a chipmunk with a seemingly startled expression has close to 13 million views.

The list of internet video phenomena is a long and strange one. They all come from the same place: no marketing, no production budget – usually, no planning at all! Beyond the whimsical charm of these videos, and their incredible viewing figures, they speak volumes about what online delivery has done to video in general.

Bandwidth constraints on uploading and downloading mean that a lot of online videos are seen at low quality. Youtube converts all uploaded video files to Flash (.flv) format, which leads to inevitable declines in quality. Yet even with the option to download high quality files, most users wouldn’t have the patience to do this. Quality is not the major concern for the online viewer – it’s all about the idea. A video will rise and fall on the strength of its idea, how funny or bizarre it is and, accordingly, whether it has mass appeal.

Popular video virals also spawn ‘remixes’ and ‘mash ups’ with other topical icons. A little searching reveals an ‘Evolution of Dance’ starring Optimus Prime, of the Transformers franchise, a video entitled ‘Charlie bit Sarah Palin’ and a mash up of the dramatic chipmunk and Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’. While these videos haven’t been viewed as many times as the originals, they still reach incredible numbers (the Thriller chipmunk currently has 700,000 views). What this shows is that we are no longer passive viewers, but actively recycle and recreate what we see and enjoy. Video is no longer controlled by a small group of people with extensive training and high-tech equipment.

The media and advertising sectors have recognized the potential gains of online video, particularly the viral. If successful, a video viral will cost very little to make yet have wide exposure. There isn’t even a need to market the video. If they’re working well, virals – true to their name – will spread throughout the Internet all by themselves.

However, before businesses jump on the bandwagon they should consider two important points. First, virals and the potential responses to them are not especially open to being commercialised. Many have a subversive tone, inappropriate for broadcasting corporate messages. Indeed, reactions to an ‘Evolution of Dance’ sponsored by Pepsi would probably be negative. Furthermore, if a corporate-sponsored viral is unleashed, the creators should have every expectation that it will be warped by viewers – perhaps even turned against them.

Second, it is very difficult to predict which ideas will take off. The successful virals have the fascinating effect of snowballing – eventually their attraction becomes the fact they’ve been viewed so many times. It’s an online version of our natural instinct to be drawn to the crowd surrounding a street performer – we reason that if something is of that much interest, it must be important to us too. In theory, any video could begin to snowball – there is no sure-fire hit.

Considering Youtube has only been around since 2005, it is hard to imagine what video and its delivery will look like in five, ten… twenty years’ time. I can’t wait to see the ‘Evolution of Video’ viral on the Youtube of the future.

Tom

Sleigh-Hem fever!

This year we decided to inject some shameless fun, and a little healthy competition, into the build-up to Christmas with a highly addictive seasonal game called Sleigh-Hem. The idea was that you had to aid Santa’s safe passage above the rooftops, avoiding the chimney pots and storm clouds while collecting as many Christmas puds as possible. The person with the highest score would win a bottle of champers. Sounds simple enough but it required masterful mouse control and a lot of practice!

After a slow start, the leader board soon became full as the competition to win a bottle of champagne hotted up. Despite one early high scorer being top for a week ('SW'), the eventual winner came out of nowhere with an unbeatable score in the dying minutes of the 24th. Congratulations to ‘KG’ who was our winner with a staggering score of 26,548.

We have already had requests from our clients for more seasonal games so watch this space…

Susie

A Thought on Modern Cancer Therapies

As a medical writer aiming to keep abreast of new developments, I recently read a report on the genetic analysis of lung tumours with interest, especially having worked in cancer genetics as a research scientist. In this Nature article, the authors analysed a sample of lung adenocarcinomas and identified 26 genes that were highly mutated, including some not previously associated with lung cancer and some known to be mutated in other cancers.¹ These genes will no doubt be the subject of further study, paving the way for possible new targets of therapy in the future.
This work is one example of an increasing view in the modern post-genomic era of cancer not simply as an anatomically-defined disease, but as a collection of diseases owing to particular dysfunctional genes. ^{2, 3} So to a clinician, a patient does not merely present with lung cancer or breast cancer, but a cancer of mutated genes x, y and z. Hand-in-hand with this view is the increasing trend for developing targeted therapies, where a drug no longer strikes tumours by virtue of their rapid growth, taking a host of other, healthy tissues with them, but hones in on the abnormality specifically expressed in the cancerous cells. Herceptin, which targets the HER2 receptor that is over-expressed in 20-30% of breast cancers,⁴ and Glivec, inhibitor of the aberrant kinase expressed by the BCR-ABL gene that causes chronic myeloid leukaemia,⁵ are only two examples that have made a great impact on our quest for effective therapies.

We know that some breast cancers show HER2 over-expression but others do not, and that genes can be mutated in some lung tumours but not in others, illustrating the fact that different faulty genes contribute to tumour development in different individuals. ¹ Furthermore, evidence suggests that the mutational status of certain genes can affect a tumour’s sensitivity to chemotherapy or radiotherapy.⁶ Our understanding of the roles played by different genes is ever-expanding thanks to basic bench research, be it with in vitro systems, in vivo models, using single-celled organisms or more evolved animals. Together with the rapidly developing technologies for genetic profiling, it may one day become possible to determine the genetic basis for every patient’s cancer and tailor a cocktail of therapies just for them.⁷ We may never find that elusive “cure” for cancer, but using our best efforts to understand its causes and progression, we may be able to tame it into something we can control and live with.⁸

References
1. Ding L et al. Somatic mutations affect key pathways in lung adenocarcinoma. Nature 2008; 455: 1069-1075.
2. Geddes L. Cancer special: living with the enemy. New Scientist; 22 October 2008. Available online at: www.newscientist.com [accessed January 2009].
3. Dong LM et al. Genetic susceptibility to cancer: the role of polymorphisms in candidate genes. JAMA 2008; 299: 2423-2436.
4. Roche Products Ltd. Herceptin Summary of Product Characteristics (Date of revision: September 2008). Available online at: www.emc.medicines.org.uk [accessed January 2009].
5. Novartis Pharmaceuticals UK Ltd. Glivec Summary of Product Characteristics (Date of revision: November 2007). Available online at: www.emc.medicines.org.uk [accessed January 2009].
6. Weichselbaum RR et al. An interferon-related gene signature for DNA damage resistance is a predictive marker for chemotherapy and radiation for breast cancer. PNAS 2008; 105: 18490-18495.
7. Ley TJ et al. Molecular sequencing of cytogenetically normal acute myeloid leukaemia genome. Nature 2008; 456: 66-72.
8. Aldhous P. Cancer special: old killer, new hope. New Scientist; 22 October 2008. Available online at: www.newscientist.com [accessed January 2009].

Ellen

Job Application Tips for Designers

Reviewing the CVs of people I'm looking to employ is a weekly task for me. It is especially important at the moment as I am trying to recruit a junior designer/interactive developer for TVF Group.

The thing that I regularly find is that designers might be good at putting together a portfolio to showcase their work, but are not as skilled when it comes to writing a CV.

I want to take this opportunity to share my experience of the way that companies look for new employees and give a few pointers on what I look for when I read through CVs and portfolios.

When you respond to an advert, there should be three things that you send in with your application: (1) a covering letter, (2) your CV and (3) your portfolio.

(1) Your covering letter is an opportunity to make your application relevant to the job in question. Your CV will probably be quite generic, but your covering letter can take the facts from your CV and show how these relate to the role you are applying for. This is one of the ways that you can differentiate yourself from everyone else applying for the role.

(2) Your CV tells the company about your experience, skills, education and interests. This is an important document - as much so as your portfolio - because it tells the company about how you work, what you've worked on, what you know, how you learn and what you want to be. Remember to include everything here. If your CV is too brief, it can appear as though you have nothing to put into it. Your CV demonstrates your commercial and academic performance. HR people will be looking at this to check that you have enough relevant experience, qualifications and skills to make you a viable candidate.

Your covering letter and CV together serve to show the person you are and your goals, drive, personality and approach to creativity.

(3) Your portfolio shows that you can actually do what your CV says you can do. But there is something significant that commonly gets missed: your portfolio needs to be relevant and needs to show some commercialy viable work. I regularly see people applying for a job as a designer by sending a portfolio that contains artwork. Whilst it's good to see that you are so creative (and on the strength of some of the work I've seen recently, take time to only pick your best work), I need to see that you can use your creativity to communicate information in a commercial context. Make sure you include at least a few examples of brochures /adverts / posters / branded items / stationary. This stuff is essential to show your ability to work within the constraints given by the requirements of the project, brand and format. It doesn't really matter how you send your portfolio - real print, PDF or website. As a personal preference, I like PDF because I can print it if I want to and I know that I'm seeing the work as intended, rather than how my web browser has chosen to implement it.

These three elements work together to show how you as an individual fit the role as a designer and how you fill the requirements of the advert, but there is one other thing that you can do: phone. Taking the time to make a call for feedback will always count in your favour and can help you fine-tune your CV and portfolio.

Good luck with your job hunting, and please do send me your CV - I keep them on file in case I need either permanent or freelance staff.


Alan