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Raising
the profile of the Medical Futures Innovations Awards
Brief
and objective
The
Medical Futures Innovations Awards was developed to help nurture
innovation and entrepreneurship within the medical profession. The
awards scheme forms part of a wider offering being developed by
founder, entrepreneur and medical professional Dr Andy Goldberg.
Medical Futures recognises the fact that there is a tremendous amount
of innovation within the medical profession that will remain untapped
unless mechanisms are developed to encourage the spin out of technology
and the start up of new businesses. Launched in 2001, Medical Futures
is aimed at anyone in the medical profession, whether in a research
function or not, who has a novel idea to improve patient care.
College Hill Life Sciences
was engaged for a second year in 2003 to implement an effective media
relations campaign.
Objectives
In support of the Medical Futures Innovations Awards, College Hill Life Sciences’ specific media relations objectives were
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To
create visibility for the Medical Futures Innovations Awards
scheme in order to attract high quality entrants, support the
sponsorship drive and encourage attendance at the Awards dinner |
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To gain
publicity for Medical Futures, its sponsors and the award winners |
Method
To achieve the objectives, College Hill Life Sciences
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Worked
with sponsors, winners, medical departments and all relevant
PR departments to ensure co-ordination between all parties |
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Established
a comprehensive database of relevant media contacts |
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Implemented
proactive media outreach to attract interest ahead of news announcements,
with a particular focus on broadcast media and feature placements
in printed media |
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The
Times was secured as media partner and Nigel Hawkes, Health
Editor, agreed to sit on the judging panel |
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Issued
a news release following the final judges’ meeting that
provided information on all the finalists and a taster on the
potential winners which secured significant media interest |
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Issued invitations and follow-up to key media to attend the
event which included prior planning with Sky News and ITV London
News |
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News
of overall winner strategically pre-briefed to Sky News and
ITV London News under embargo and well in advance to secure
interest and pre-filming opportunity |
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Prepared
a full media pack containing background briefing materials on
all winners and sponsors and distributed under embargo to over
100 national, business, science, health and medical correspondents,
and regional media local to the winners, to arrive on the day
prior to the award ceremony |
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Followed
up with the announcement and photographs post event |
Results
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Working
closely with the medical trade press resulted in articles prior
to and following the awards. Journals covering the news included
Nature, New Scientist, Hospital Doctor, British Medical Journal,
Manufacturing Chemist, General Practitioner, and Chemist &
Druggist |
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Collaboration
with The Times as media partner provided Medical Futures with
a double page spread in the Body & Soul supplement following
the event, covering the winners and sponsors of the awards |
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Other
coverage in the national press appeared in the Financial Times,
the Guardian, and the Daily Telegraph |
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Prior
briefing of Sky News of the overall winner and filming at the
awards ceremony, resulting in coverage on the night of the awards |
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Working
in advance with ITV News to provide a filming opportunity with
one of the winners and filming at the awards. This led to a
feature on London Tonight news with a repeat during a later
news programme and on the next day’s breakfast news. Other
TV coverage included BBC Look East |
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Internet
coverage of several of the awards on BBC Online, Nature Online,
ISIS News and others |
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Regional
coverage of award winners included Irish Medical Times, Western
Mail, Cambridge Evening News, West Briton, The Cornishman, Edinburgh
Evening News, Connect Yorkshire and the Express & Star (Wolverhampton) |
2003
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