The ICR Westwicke Blog is designed to deliver information and insights into the ever-changing world of healthcare communications.
In less than two months, seasoned investors, influential media, game changing startups and established industry giants will convene at the 42nd Annual JP Morgan Healthcare Conference. Continue Reading
Any company, no matter how diligent, can find itself suddenly thrust into a crisis due to internal or external factors. Incidents ranging from a product safety recall to a downturn in industry funding or worldwide health emergency have the potential to disrupt operations or threaten a company’s reputation. Stakeholders, whether customers, shareholders, partners or employees, will want to know immediately what happened and how it affects them. In today’s age of social media and instantaneous digital communication, companies need to be prepared to address a crisis immediately before someone else defines what it means for their stakeholders.
In a search for a healthcare communications partner, one public relations agency’s proposal begins to look just like another’s. Smiling headshots, decades of experience, strong communications skills, great media relations programs, all promising great results for a low fee. With so many similarities, how are you supposed to know which one is the best fit for your company?
Because investor relations and public relations do not have the same audience, the same objectives, and often do not report to the same supervisor within a given company, they frequently work in isolated silos with limited interaction. But there is a need for collaboration between the information “silos” that exist within some organizations, especially in publicly traded companies and private companies preparing for an IPO. For these types of companies, it’s important to establish — and stick to — an internal control process for issuing public information.
In May, the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) that was officially declared more than three years ago will officially end. COVID-19 has killed about 1.1 million Americans and is still responsible for the deaths of between 2,500 and 3,500 Americans every week.
As the MedTech and broader healthcare investment community returns from the annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference and embarks on a new year, our experts provide insight and perspective on the key topics and variables that will influence activity in 2023.
For every healthcare company, public or private, the anticipation of clinical trial data represents an important, high-pressure milestone in its communications planning. For a public company, there is an obligation to disclose data within a reasonable timeframe. For a private company, while there isn’t an obligation to shareholders, there is pressure from private investors, the medical community, advocates, and even patients.
The Walt Disney Company and its CEO Bob Chapek are paying a high price for staying outside of politics, and then jumping into it. Disney’s entanglements with its employees on one side and Florida’s governor and lawmakers have spilled over with very real implications. Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed into law a bill that strips Disney of its special tax status in the state, a move which will effectively change how the company operates.
For CEOs and company leaders, interacting with the media isn’t an option — it’s a necessity. The media plays a significant role in telling your company story and shaping your public image. To ensure they tell an accurate story, however, it’s essential to learn how to work with the media and strive to understand how the industry is shifting.
As public health officials discuss whether to call subsequent COVID-19 vaccinations “boosters,” fearing it gives the impression that previous inoculations weren’t effective—some preferred “third dose” or “final dose”—chalk it up to yet another debate about words and nomenclature related to the worst global pandemic in a century.
