Palin helps promote Australian Father of the Year
Palin Communications hosted news crews from Channel 9, Channel 10 and Channel 7 at the recent announcement of the Shepherd Centre Australian Father of the Year at the Australian Securities Exchange on Friday 27th August 2010. Also in attendance were reporters from AAP, The Daily Telegraph, Cumberland Courier Newspapers, 2GB and 2UE.
Former CEO of the Taronga Conservation Society – and father of 5 daughters - Guy Cooper was announced as the winner at the media conference.
AAP newswire stories, widespread regional coverage, a major photo story in the Daily Telegraph and TV stories on all the commercial news networks have helped raise awareness of this prestigious award and also of the key role played by The Shepherd Centre in its promotion.
“News crews cover the announcement at the media conference”
Australian anti-tumour drug creates media frenzy
Palin Communications has been working closely with QBiotics to brief media on its plans to raise capital to fund human trials of its anti-tumour compound EBC-46.
EBC-46 was discovered by QBiotics in 2004 in the seed of a Queensland rainforest plant. The Australian discovery has successfully reduced or eliminated inoperable solid tumours in more than 150 pet dogs (like Oscar pictured here going through his paces for Channel 9 News), cats and horses involved in veterinary trials of EBC-46. With sufficient capital the compound will progress into human clinical trials in 2011.
A media relations plan was implemented over the weekend of 12/13th June which led to extensive national and regional print, broadcast and online.
Channel 7 ran a feature story on EBC-46 on its investigative news program Sunday Night and Channel 9 ran the story on A Current Affair and then followed up with an interview on The Today Show and a story on the Channel 9 national news bulletin.
Additional coverage included Channel 10 News, Sky News, ABC TV newsbulletins, national/regional radio news bulletins (including Radio National, ABC, 4BC and 2GB), major metropolitan newspapers, online news sites, regional newspapers and major newswires like AAP and AFP.
The capital raising has been highly successful and the good news is that the human trials now look set to proceed.
Oscar shows of his perfect health to CH9 News
Guide dogs urge public - “please do not disturb”
People are naturally drawn to pat and praise guide dogs – they’re extremely cute and incredibly intelligent.
New research from Guide Dogs NSW/ACT shows that nine out of ten guide dog clients have experienced distractions in the past 12 months from people patting and feeding their working guide dogs. The same proportion of guide dog clients also reported distractions from off-lead pet dogs.
The Palin team set out to develop a new public education campaign about guide dog etiquette by using the new research as a news hook and International Guide Dog Day (28th April) and Guide Dog Week (26th April – 2nd May) as a relevant backdrop.
Media briefings and opportunities were arranged in Sydney on the 28th April 2010 as well as in regional areas (Orange, Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie, Albury, ACT and Newcastle) on the 27th April. For each media opportunity guide dog clients were briefed to speak about their experiences with guide dog distractions to personalise the campaign.
To extend the level of support for the new campaign, City Councils in each regional area were invited to join in on the media activity during Guide Dog Week. The mayors of each City Council were made available for media interviews and publicly supported Guide Dogs NSW/ACT and their latest initiative.
For Sydney’s media briefing Dr Chris Brown, The Bondi Vet, attended the media briefing and spoke to media about the importance of maintaining the health of our pets and respecting the needs of working guide dogs.
There was a good level of support from regional media with TV news, radio and newspapers arranging stories from the media briefings. In Sydney, Guide Dogs NSW/ACT featured on the TODAY Show, secured coverage on talkback radio, plus had articles appear in major metro and suburban newspapers.
We hope the media activity for this campaign has shown the general public that is it probably best to admire working guide dogs from afar .
Giant guide dog tours Sydney for access rights…and a new name!
When the opportunity came to launch the biggest guide dog model anyone had ever seen, Palin Communications and Guide Dogs NSW/ACT took the challenge by the collar and created a unique story opportunity for Sydney media.
Guide Dogs NSW/ACT's unveiled their latest graduate – a 4.3 metre high model guide dog that is identical to their distinctive collection boxes. It was launched in Sydney on the 3rd March 2010 to emphasise the point that guide dogs can indeed go anywhere. Research still shows that one in four Australian adults are still not aware that guide dogs are allowed into restaurants and other hospitality venues, and there are still reports of guide dog users being refused entry into certain establishments.
Like all newly graduated guide dogs, the giant model dog set off from Guide Dogs NSW/ACT's Training Centre in Glossodia, before touring through Sydney visiting Penrith, Parramatta, the Sydney Opera House, Sydney Harbour Bridge, Chatswood and Bondi Beach.
While the model will serve as a prominent reminder about access, it will now go on to form the centrepiece of a major fundraising drive to help raise much needed funds for Guide Dogs NSW/ACT's free services.
Suburban media took the opportunity to prepare stories and photos of the giant model dog visiting their local areas, while the Sydney Morning Herald prepared an online story about guide dog access rights.
Media is still being generated well after the launch and we look forward to seeing the giant guide dog on the road in the near future.
Global media gagging for record sword swallow
Every now and then an idea comes out of a brainstorm that everyone knows will work.
After a session of trying to dream up ways to promote Buscopan's ability to relieve stomach aches and cramps, the words on the flip chart held everyone transfixed.
“ World Record sword swallowing. Martin Place. Branded media stunt”
Our courageous client approved the idea and we were away
Plans were put in motion to sponsor the internationally renowned street performer and sword swallower “The Space Cowboy” to break the world record for the number of swords swallowed in one go.
Sure, a great event. But how to guarantee the branding?? Surely media would edit out background signage and written references to the sponsor.
The answer? A branded collar.
After a session of trying to dream up ways to promote Buscopan's ability to relieve stomach aches and cramps, the words on the flip chart held everyone transfixed.
“ World Record sword swallowing. Martin Place. Branded media stunt”
Our courageous client approved the idea and we were away
Plans were put in motion to sponsor the internationally renowned street performer and sword swallower “The Space Cowboy” to break the world record for the number of swords swallowed in one go.
Sure, a great event. But how to guarantee the branding?? Surely media would edit out background signage and written references to the sponsor.
The answer? A branded collar.
Following weeks of furious negotiations with TODAY and other media outlets, the stunt was set up for Monday morning 8th February 2010. The Facebook event notifications were primed, the Tweets were tweeting and the mystomachache.com.au web site shouted the promise of a major visual stunt.
And so before the assembled media, with cameras from every TV network in Australia (including a NINE network live cross to the TODAY show) and photojournalists from AAP, news.com.au and the Daily Telegraph, the Space Cowboy turned himself into an instant media phenomena.
Immediately after the event, the Palin team bunkered down with its photographers and video editors to load the footage to youtube, get the Facebook links up and provide images and audio grabs to media all over Australia.
Video of the stunt was featured on the home pages of news.com.au, smh.com.au, ninemsn.com.au and dailytelegraph.com.au. A range of metropolitan newspapers including the West Australian, the Herald Sun, the Courier Mail and MX ran stories and pics of the stunt and it featured in a range of TV news bulletins during the day.
And – we know it's a cliché but – it's gone global with coverage on BBC, NBC, the Sun in the UK and other media via the international news wires.
Just how much Buscopan coverage has been generated is still being tallied up.
Chayne Hultgren aka The Space Cowboy breaks the Guinness World Record for swallowing 18 swords at once
Stomach it for yourself...watch here
Palin chips in to drive awareness at Australian Open Golf
Australian golfer's Adam Scott, Matthew Goggin and Geoff Ogilvy jumped on board to help support PCFA at the event. PCFA's Victorian and Tasmanian State Manager David Rhodes was lucky enough to get snapped with Scott and Goggin who were more than happy to lend their time to support the foundation.
Channel 10, the broadcasters, were also happy to be involved – the presenters all wore PCFA pins and CEO Andrew Giles was interviewed on Saturday afternoon, discussing PCFA's involvement at the golf and the importance of men's health and maintaining regular contact with your GP.
As a money raising incentive, Drummond Golf offered their support and gave PCFA $100 for every birdie made on the 7th hole at the tournament.
All in all PCFA's active involvement in the golf was a success and Palin look forward to building a bigger and better program for next year.
Australian golfer Adam Scott and PCFA Vic/Tas State Manager David Rhodes
at the Men's Australian Open Golf Pro-Am event
Palin projects shine through awards season
Quite a good period for the Palin team as various industry associations handed out their “gongs” for best practice PR. The Public Relations Institute of Australia gave a “Commended” award to the Australian Hearing PR campaign in 2008 which helped raise awareness about the risks to hearing health of over-zealous iPod use. Palin Communications was delighted to be the PR agency that helped Australian Hearing implement the national media relations campaign. The program showed what can be achieved when you tap into an existing hot issue to raise awareness about the work of your own organisation.
Palin's work in the nicotine replacement category (with our good friends at GSK Consumer Healthcare) around smoking cessation innovations for World No Tobacco Day in 2009 has also received its fair share of recent plaudits. It was one of two short listed campaigns in the “PR Program of the Year” category at the Australian Self Medication Industry marketing awards (just pipped at the post for the Gold Gong!). It was also a finalist in the Australian Journal of Pharmacy PR campaign of the Year awards. All of which shows the benefits of linking brands and categories to promotional days and weeks, like World No Tobacco Day.
Palin helps Miradent launch new dental products into pharmacy
Pharmacy media were introduced to Australia's most advanced dental chewing gum and the latest peroxide-free teeth whitener recently as Miradent officially launched two of their leading consumer products into Australian pharmacies and dental practices.
Miradent joined key pharmacy editors and journalists for an intimate lunch on the 3rd December to brief them on their newly launched products. Xylitol chewing gum contains the active ingredient xylitol, a natural sweetener which is clinically proven to actively remove plaque and re-mineralise the enamel for long term protection against tooth decay. Miradent have also launched Mirawhite Oxygen, which is a gentle, peroxide-free tooth whitening system that uses oxidation technology to whiten the teeth at home.
To help communicate the dental health benefits of products like Xylitol and Mirawhite Oxygen, Dr Yvonne Sum, Dentist and Adjunct Lecturer at the University of Sydney, spoke at the lunch about the broader dental health context and agreed that both products offer important new options to help consumers maintain optimal dental health.
So far, Miradent has been featured in Pharmacy Daily, Pharmacy News and The Daily Telegraph's T.Health supplement. Dr Sum has also been interviewed by Dr John D'Arcy for his nationally syndicated radio program Health Matters.
Palin looks forward to offering Miradent support in 2010 as they prepare for more product launches in the new year.
Promoting new technology at Prince of Wales Private Hospital
While interesting, talking about new medical technology can be detailed, technical and heavy going. So how do you make the latest in 3D imaging catchy and easy to understand for media and their audience? The trick is to personalise it and let those that benefit from the technology first hand (eg, surgeons and patients) explain it in their own words – as this interview with a pioneering surgeon on Sky News demonstrates.
Research focus for media interest in prostate cancer
Because many health stories are based on medical research, people often think that research-focused PR is pretty straight forward.
The problem is though, that many stories are based on “breakthroughs” or the research that underpins the launch of new drugs.
What if the brief is to turn technical, long term scientific work-in-progress into consumer-friendly media stories? Then anyone who has seen a journalists eyes glaze over when you start to talk about real “science” will know that this is a much tougher gig.
So the Palin team set out to showcase some research progress for the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia (PCFA) as part of Prostate Cancer Awareness Month in September.
This is an important task because if people are going to continue to support PCFA, then they need to know that the research their money funds is making good progress.
One of the major research projects in Sydney was featured in the Sunday Telegraph and media events with messages about research involving the Federal Treasurer in Parliament House have received widespread media attention.
Just a small drop in the ocean among the plethora of media coverage for Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, but every bit counts.
Genetic Awareness Week brings spotlight on genetic disorders
Palin Communications was commissioned by Association of Genetic Support of Australasia to assist with the media relations for Genetic Disorders Awareness Week in September 2009. It's not like Heart Week or World No Tobacco Day where everyone knows about the issue. These are often rare conditions that are not well understood by the community. But when you add together all the various genetic disorders around 1.5 million people in Australia are directly affected.
The Palin team developed an angle for the campaign about the importance of support services and the extent to which families manage better when support is available. After liaising with AGSA and confirming spokespeople and case studies who could help articulate these themes to media, the Palin team set about briefing all health and disability journalists on story opportunities related to GDAW.
By early September, stories had appeared on Sky morning news and Channel 10 in Perth, while case study stories had run in The Illawarra Mercury, The Canberra Times
The Southern Courier, the Health Matters syndicated regional radio program, 2GB and ABC news radio in Hobart and 2SM talkback radio in Sydney.
A story had also been posted as a feature via the AAP features service.
Most importantly, all media stories generated by the GDAW PR carried key messages about the importance of support services and most gave some mention or plug to AGSA.
Palin Communications keeps special health days top of mind
Palin Communications is building a niche in the promotion of special health days and weeks following recent assignments and new appointments.
While already assigned to PR activities for Prostate Cancer Awareness Month (a job it shares with consumer agency Write Stuff Communications) and Genetic Disorders Awareness Week (both in September) and having recently completed the media relations for Hearing Awareness Week (24th – 29th August) on behalf of Australian Hearing, the agency has now been appointed by Guide Dogs NSW/ACT to handle the PR for International White Cane Day on October 15th.
Palin Communications also handled Loud Shirt Day in April for The Shepherd Centre and International Men's Health Week in June for the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia.
According to Managing Director Martin Palin, not-for-profit organisations are very keen to keep their public profiles high to facilitate ongoing fund raising efforts and promote their services.
Australian hearing had 800 calls to its Telscreen phone line service on the day it launched its Hearing Awareness Week PR on the 19th of August this year.
“Promotional days and weeks provide opportunities for these groups to remind potential supporters of the important work that they do