New PR association takes aim at digital promotion
pharmafile | June 17, 2009 | News story | Medical Communications, Sales and Marketing |Â Â PRÂ
A new PR body has been launched and tasked with shedding some light on how to promote healthcare clients online without falling foul of the ABPI's Code of Practice.
The PRCA Health group brings together a number of healthcare agencies and its first activity was a survey of consultants, which highlighted as a key issue the need to demystify online health promotion.
The group, which is part of leading trade association the Public Relations Consultants Association (PRCA), will produce case studies giving PR agencies pointers on the digital promotion of healthcare.
PRCA Health's co-chair Paul Keirnan says the ABPI's Code of Practice for the UK pharma industry needs firming up.
"The guidelines on using the web are pretty loose, no more than a page really," he explains.
As a result clients are apprehensive about doing anything that might seem to push the boundaries of the Code, he thinks.
"Clients are slightly frightened of the ABPI and rely on the consultant to counsel them," he says.
"PRCA Health is focusing on how best to integrate digital, web and social media."
He will be working closely with the ABPI and its arms length Code enforcement body the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority (PMCPA) to make the issues clearer.
"The PRCA is trying to work with the PMCPA and ABPI to remove the 'grey' from the guidelines," he continues. "We are going to be putting together case studies about how best to use digital."
"Rather than being a 'strategy', digital is a platform in the same way that print or broadcast are platforms," he adds.
"Groups such as PRCA Health have been developed to raise the quality of PR through the industry by sharing ideas and working together on joint initiatives," said PRCA chairman David Gallagher.
Its raison d'etre is to bolster the professional standing of healthcare communications.
"PRCA Health is trying to drive innovation," says Keirnan. "We want to try and push the envelope."
Other issues that PRCA Health is currently looking at include the procurement of agencies by pharma and other healthcare clients.
"Increasingly with big pharma – Novartis and Pfizer as two examples – procurement professionals are at the pitch table," says Keirnan.
"We want to make them the honest brokers: they have a job to do and we need to understand what their needs are."
Over the next 12 months, PRCA Health will focus on a number of areas, including procurement and working closely with the ABPI and PMCPA. It will also create a digital workshop to share best practice and demystify the rules around health and the web.
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