Tag Archives: media relations

Russo Partners Heads to the 31st Annual JPMorgan Healthcare Conference

Posted on January 4, 2013 by | Leave a comment

JPMorganThis week Russo Partners finalized activities surrounding the 31st annual JPMorgan Healthcare Conference and prepared to head to San Francisco for the meeting, which will be held from Jan. 7-10.

Multiple clients will present at the conference, including Arena Pharmaceuticals, which is preparing to launch the first FDA-approved treatment for overweight and obese patients in 13 years, Flexion Therapeutics, which recently secured $60 million in Series D financing to advance its osteoarthritis drugs, and Ziopharm Oncology, which has two ongoing Phase 3 studies involving its novel chemotherapy drug.

In addition, other clients presented at the Biotech Showcase 2013, including Advanced Cell Technology (ACT), CureVac, Resverlogix, Sutro Biopharma and Sernova.

Russo Partners worked to secure multiple media or investor meetings for each client in attendance, reaching out to journalists, investors, analysts and bankers. We also supported client communications activities related to the conference, such as developing speaking points for media meetings and news releases announcing client presentations.

We look forward to seeing everyone in the city next week!

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Back to Basics: 3 Key Tips for Developing an Effective Pitch

Posted on February 6, 2012 by | 1 Comment

Before reaching out to the media to discuss a potential story, there are several key steps that will make your pitch truly effective.

1. Really Do Your Homework

Once you have decided on a target publication, it is important to conduct detailed background research. Beyond reading the publication and researching if your topic has been covered, it is important to dissect the publication critically, noting different sections, columns, types of coverage (Is it news of the day? A feature story?) as well as the angle of the stories in each (Should it have an opinion? Or inform?).

Although this may seem time consuming at first, conducting background research will greatly increase the quality of your pitches, which will increase the likelihood that they will be of interest to the publication. And when you send a well thought out pitch to a journalist, they will be more likely to look for your pitch in the future. Additionally, doing your homework helps demonstrate the value you can bring to the publication.

2.  Learn Individual Beats

While at first glance it may seem as though journalist’s within a publication have the same area of interest, for example science, there can be key nuances between coverage. Some may focus on the business side of science while others focus on scientific research. Getting your story to the right journalist will increase the likelihood it will be of interest and is a more effective use of your time and the journalist’s time.

3.  Think Like a Journalist

Once you have broken down the publication and understand more about the format and who is writing certain stories, it is time to begin to think like a journalist, if you haven’t already. Think about your pitch in terms of a story. Are there trends in the space around which the company can provide insight? Does the company have a novel way to solve a problem in the space? It is important to remember the readership of the publication as well. Would this trend be of interest to the readers? If not, could you tweak the story to make it more of interest to this audience?

Taking this next step and thinking about what the readership would like to hear about from your company makes life much easier for the journalist. Instead of having to work to fit an interesting company into their coverage, sending a prepared story, complete with relevant sources, is much more beneficial.

While these strategies take more time and effort, implementing these tips should both improve the effectiveness of your pitches as well as your relationship with the journalist.

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Russo Partners Kicks Off JPMorgan Preparations

Posted on December 14, 2011 by | Leave a comment

The Westin St. Francis in San Francisco’s Union Square

It’s that time of year again; the chill is in the air, perhaps the first snow has fallen (depending on where you are), the holiday decorations are appearing, and that also means…it’s time to prepare for the annual JPMorgan Healthcare Conference!

One of the largest annual events in life science investing, this year JPMorgan’s 30th Annual Healthcare Conference will be held from Jan. 9-12 at the Westin St. Francis in San Francisco’s Union Square.

Last week Russo Partners kicked off our initial preparations for this year’s conference, including reaching out to the media, investors, analysts and bankers alike to determine attendance. In addition, as part of our initial outreach we were able to take steps to connect clients to relevant contacts in each of these spaces.

Are you attending this year’s JPMorgan Healthcare Conference? Do you have an interest in emerging life science companies with novel technologies, from stem cells and personalized cancer therapeutics to antibody drug conjugates?

Then feel free to contact us, and we can work to connect you with relevant companies. We look forward to speaking with you!

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Introducing OrbusNeich’s Combo (TM) Dual Therapy Stent

Posted on November 15, 2011 by | Leave a comment

Press conference for OrbusNeich's late-breaking data

Last week in a late breaking session at Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) 2011, OrbusNeich presented data for the company’s first-of-its-kind Combo Dual Therapy Stent, which combines a drug elution with the pro-healing healing GenousTM technology.

While the current standard of care for patients with coronary artery disease, drug eluting stents (DES), have reduced the risk of restenosis (narrowing of the artery), even the most advanced DES can cause delayed healing. The Combo Dual Therapy Stent is the first dual therapy stent to offer the best of both worlds, a stent combining pro-healing technology with a drug elution.

Data from the REMEDEE (Randomized Evaluation of an abluMinal sirolimus coatED bioEngineered stEnt) trial demonstrated the safety and efficacy of the dual therapy stent (DTS) compared to a clinically proven DES. The primary end point of the study was in-stent late lumen loss at nine months, which is the difference in diameter of the stented area before and after the procedure.

Russo Partners was on-site in San Francisco to support and maximize awareness of OrbusNeich’s data announcement in the medical community. Our efforts included securing and coordinating in-person media interviews as well as the use of social media, utilizing Twitter to alert followers to OrbusNeich’s news releases and presentations.

We are excited by this promising data and the potential benefits it has for patients, and we are looking forward to additional data announcements from OrbusNeich when we can continue to provide guidance as well as support for their communications activities.

Below are examples of coverage generated from the data announcement:

Medical Device Daily

MedPage Today

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Media Relations: The Importance of Dialogue

Posted on November 7, 2011 by | Leave a comment

A cornerstone of our media relations philosophy is to always engage in a dialogue with a journalist, taking the time to find out their specific interests and preferences and to build a strong relationship.

So when we received an opportunity to attend Business Wire’s 50th anniversary event, Meet the Media, featuring an expert panel of local journalists discussing characteristics of effective pitching and current trends in journalism, we had to make sure we were in the audience.

As we expected, it was well worth our time.

The format led to an excellent discussion that ranged from insight about uses of social media to best practices for pitching a story, with actionable steps surrounding each topic. Key points either reinforced what we already knew or brought up interesting points that were not immediately apparent, such as the importance of easily-accessible photos in the increasingly digital age. Each insight re-emphasized our belief that an ongoing dialogue with the media is crucial to be able to work effectively and efficiently together.

We would like to extend a special thanks to the panelists, Keith Darcé, biotechnology writer for The San Diego Union-Tribune, Bruce Bigelow, editor of Xconomy, and Joe Guerin, editor of the San Diego Daily Transcript, as well as moderator Katie Easkins, vice president of Lewis PR, for their time and participation. We hope you found it as helpful as we did!

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The Three Do’s of Working with the Media

Posted on September 1, 2011 by | Leave a comment

Over the years, Russo Partners has acquired a lot of knowledge about the best practices when conducting media relations. Below are our top three pieces of advice.

Do Your Research

No matter how engaging your pitch is, if your news isn’t relevant to a publication, a journalist will not cover it. Conducting background research for the publication and journalist to find out what type of news they are interested in, what the journalist specifically covers and what they have previously published will dramatically increase the effectiveness of your pitches. And when a journalist receives a pitch with news that is targeted for their specific audience, it is that much more likely they will read your pitches in the future.

Be Respectful

The first question we always ask journalists when they pick up the phone is “Did we catch you at a good time?” Journalists are extremely busy people with increasing responsibilities and decreasing time to complete them in. Trying to pitch a story to a journalist when they are slammed and working on deadline isn’t helpful for either of you. A better idea is to ask when a good time to reach them would be and follow up later.

Listen

One of the best ways to improve your pitching and learn about the publication is to ask certain key questions. Which topics are you interested in right now? What news is catching your eye? Would certain sources of information be helpful to you right now? Gaining insight into what a journalist is looking for is extremely helpful for them and knowing what they are looking for will improve your ability to successfully pitch them.

These tips will ensure that you maintain a respectful relationship with journalists that will lead to them looking out for your pitches specifically, and, if you are really doing a good job, they may even begin to call on you for stories and sources.

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Media Relations Practices at Medical Conferences: Common Sense With Journalists Prevails

Posted on March 31, 2009 by | 1 Comment

As Russo Partners wrapped up its three-day stint at the American College of Cardiology’s (ACC) Annual Scientific Session, our team members reflected on the display of media relations practices both good and bad by PR practitioners.

On one end of the continuum, inexperienced PR staffers from small and large agencies — and even those individuals with lofty titles — hounded reporters as they exited the conference’s media room. We witnessed several instances of “in your face” confrontations in which the PR people cut off reporters who clearly were in a rush to make it to media conferences.  One PR person literally held a news release in front of a journalist, blocked the journalist’s path and launched into a pitch for a big pharma company’s drug trial.  The annoyed journalist refused to touch the document, responded with a loud “I’m not interested,” and fled the area with the PR person following on her heels.

On the other end of the continuum, well-seasoned PR pros took the time to say brief “hellos” to journalists with whom they must have enjoyed working relationships, chatted with reporters about what physicians were talking about at the conference and then moved on to other activities.  These activities involved sit-downs with the reporters and clients only where the on-site meetings were warranted — where new and timely information would calls for such meetings.

The second group is the one in which Russo Partners fits.  Our healthcare PR counselors spent just as much time meeting with cardiologists and company executives at the ACC conference as they did meeting with journalists.  And the meetings with journalists were mostly social in nature. For example, a dinner Saturday evening with Cardiovascular Business’s editor-in-chief, Chris Kaiser, and Molecular Insight’s CEO, John Babich, consisted of good discussion about a wide range of topics, including several timely story ideas related to the detection of ischemia in the emergency room.  In addition, multiple coffee stops with reporters with national newspapers and the wire services produced interesting storylines for further exploration as well as stronger relationships. When we added a couple of media interviews with doctors and client company executives to this mix, including an update meeting with with the FAME study investigators and Bloomberg News’s Alex Nussbaum, we enjoyed a full schedule of productive interaction with journalists who will continue to turn to us for assistance.

Call it the Russo Partners media relations way or simply call it common sense. Regardless, it’s interesting to see how this way doesn’t seem to be the way of others in our industry.

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