Digital

Company news: Digital health edition

May 15, 2012

Physician social network adoption was flat from 2011-2012, a survey says, and Everyday Health gets a nom for a daytime Emmy
 

Consumers getting comfortable with social media as a health resource

April 17, 2012

Around a third of US adults use social media as a health resource, according to a survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers - whether seeking out medical info, sharing symptoms and experiences or rating drugs, devices, doctors, hospitals and health plans.
 

With online doctor quiz, edugaming dons lab coat

April 03, 2012

Could an online quiz be the future of continuing medical education? In a twist on the "edu-gaming" phenomenon, Cleveland Clinic and physician site MDLinx aim to answer that question with The Smartest Doc, a daily one-minute quiz that aims to keep doctors up to date on the medical literature by appealing to their competitive spirit.
 

Sermo looks for new leaders—and profitability

March 20, 2012

Sermo is searching for a CEO and a medical advisory board since the physician online community's founder, Dr. Daniel Palestrant, and chief medical officer, Dr. Adam Sharp, left in November to launch a new startup called Par8o.
 

GSK seeks to span digital divide with social/digital dragnet

March 19, 2012

GlaxoSmithKline is souping up its social media monitoring with a digital strategy it says will create processes that are standard enough to streamline communications, but flexible enough to meet local requirements.
 

Novo Nordisk launches "robust" Hispanic FlexPen play

February 27, 2012

Novo Nordisk has launched a big integrated Spanish-language marketing campaign for its FlexPen insulin delivery device - one that Univision calls "the most robust ever" in Hispanic media for the diabetes sector.
 

Industry group releases digital best practices

February 06, 2012

Weary of FDA foot-dragging on digital and social media guidance for pharmas, a group of 60-some industry digerati have put together guidelines of their own.
 

P&G signals plans to cut ad costs by shifting to digital media

February 01, 2012

Procter & Gamble is looking to lower its promotion costs by leaning more on digital media, Chairman and CEO Bob McDonald told analysts in an earnings call.
 

Victoza effort featuring Southern cuisine queen Deen draws flak

January 17, 2012

Novo Nordisk is courting controversy with a Victoza-branded type 2 diabetes education campaign featuring Southern-fried celebrity chef Paula Deen and her sons.
 

WebMD calls off sales plans, CEO steps down amid ugly forecast for 2012

January 10, 2012

WebMD scrapped plans for a possible sale and announced that president and CEO Wayne Gattinella is stepping down after 11 years in that role.
 

Healthline lands Drugs.com ad sales deal

January 05, 2012

Healthline Networks has secured a deal with Drugs.com giving it exclusive rights to sell consumer ads on the site, which boasts 8.8 million unique visitors per month.
 

Merck takes stake in Physicians Interactive

January 05, 2012

Merck's Global Health Innovation Fund (GHIF) is investing up to $17 million in Physicians Interactive, a company that develops digital products for doctors such as e-sampling and interactive education programs.
 

A targeted mobile effort for a thermometer shadows the flu

January 04, 2012

Mobile campaigns are getting increasingly targeted through layering of identifiers like location, age and gender. An effort for a new thermometer serves ads only to expecting moms and those with children under five within two miles of a store selling the device and only when influenza is running rampant where they live.
 

Behind WebMD's PE courtship, a business model under pressure

December 23, 2011

WebMD's talks with private equity firms come amid an advertising slump, and going private could buy the firm time to retool its business model while insulating it from activist investors like Carl Icahn.
 

Bon Jovi enlists in Advil's battle with Tylenol

December 21, 2011

Jon Bon Jovi is the latest celebrity pitchman for Pfizer Consumer Healthcare's Advil.
 

Consumers may be savvier, less fearful about online privacy and advertising than you think

October 27, 2011

Consumers are as worried about online privacy as they are about terrorism, but marketers tracking their surfing habits or mining their emails for insights is the least of their worries, according to a survey by McCann Truth Central.
 

Boehringer's Pharma-ville could salve industry's bad reputation

October 26, 2011

Boehringer Ingelheim is hoping to create a new Facebook phenomenon with the development of a pharma civilization game that could give industry reputation a shot in the arm.
 

Study of diabetes social networks finds an advertising Wild West

October 13, 2011

More than a quarter of posts on Facebook sites for people with diabetes are promotional in nature, many touting products unapproved by the FDA, according to an analysis of diabetes-focused social networks.
 

Friends and family top health influencers, says survey

October 12, 2011

Underscoring the importance of social media in public health, patients say friends and family are as responsible for their health as are medical professionals, according to Edelman's 2011 Health Barometer study.
 

Advertising as dating game: It's the brand.com where things get serious

October 05, 2011

A survey by Yahoo! and advertising giant BBDO says advertisers need to raise their game in "owned media" like brand.com sites to woo consumers.
 

Merck web widget points to future adherence fix

October 04, 2011

Asking consumers to gauge their risk for non-adherence, Merck is deploying a one-minute survey dubbed the Adherence Estimator that may be the way forward for keeping patients on-treatment.
 

Lipitor.com gets Bad Ad slap for cross-promotion sans risk info

September 06, 2011

Pfizer's Lipitor website touted the efficacy of Caduet, Chantix and Norvasc but failed to balance those claims with risk info for the drugs, according to an "untitled letter" from FDA's Division of Drug Marketing, Advertising and Communication (DDMAC).
 

EMD Serono brings back "Birds & Bees" infertility effort

July 27, 2011

EMD Serono refreshed its "Birds & Bees" fertility issues awareness campaign with a Facebook page and a music video.
 

Ethnically insensitive Summer's Eve ads draw eyeballs and brickbats

July 20, 2011

A feminine hygiene brand known for its boffo advertising is back with an anatomically-explicit ad campaign that's generating tons of publicity but also charges of racism.
 

FDA guidance exempts most pharma apps from scrutiny

July 19, 2011

FDA issued draft guidance on mobile medical apps, focusing narrowly on those programs that augment regulated medical devices or turn mobile devices into medical devices.
 

Pharma digerati push for online guidelines

June 16, 2011

Frustrated by FDA inaction on guidance for digital marketing and social media, a host of industry players are banding together to form a nonprofit that can hammer out consensus on a way forward.
 

Lilly refreshes patient ed portal, launching YouTube channel

June 15, 2011

Eli Lilly & Co. refreshed its Lilly for Better Health program with a multichannel platform and a YouTube channel.
 

Facebook: pharmas must enable comments by August 15

May 24, 2011

Facebook sales reps told pharmas last week that they can no longer disable commenting on their non-brand-specific pages, potentially exposing them to flame warriors, spammers, adverse events reports and discussion of off-label uses that might call down the wrath of DDMAC.
 

Seeking "savoir-faire," Publicis buys Rosetta for $575 million

May 17, 2011

Publicis is padding its digital health agency supergroup with a $575 million-plus acquisition of Rosetta Marketing Group.
 

Social media gurus Gwee and Monseau move on to new jobs

May 12, 2011

Two of the drug industry's brightest minds in social media, Shwen Gwee and Marc Monseau, are changing jobs, with Gwee leaving Vertex for Edelman and Monseau exiting J&J to open his own firm.
 

Video Exclusive

Web Exclusives

Five industry experts advise specialty pharma company on digital strategy

April 20, 2012

Specialty pharma company POZEN assembled a crack team of experts to help shape its digital strategy. Not only did POZEN share with us the text from their contributions, but you can watch exclusive video clips of their valuable perspectives right here.
 

MM&M Awards 2011 HIghlights

The Best MM&M Awards Ever!

MAHF Ceremony 2012

Photos from the Medical Advertising Hall of Fame Awards ceremony
 
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