Explaining creativity in earned media
Terms like “thinking outside the box”, “pushing the envelope”, “developing stretch ideas” and the general concept of “creativity” mean different things to different people. The client appetite for creativity is insatiable, even if not all of them can explain exactly what it means or looks like to them in the context of every individual brief. Having worked on the client side of major government campaigns in partnership with high profile advertising agencies, I can cer
Why orientation is everything in health PR
In the startup phase of Palin Communications we had a new consultant that lasted just one day. I hadn’t yet been down to JB Hi-Fi to buy his laptop and there was nowhere for him to hang his coat. Every time he rolled his chair backwards, he ran over the tail of his jacket because it was draped across his back rest. I took him to a client meeting on the first afternoon (I know, I know) and he pulled out a four-page strategy document from his briefcase (that I’d never seen) and offered to pr
Celebrity influence in pharma marketing. Would you hire a convicted murderer as an influencer?
[Gypsy Rose Blanchard. Pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.]I love non-fiction books. Military narratives, famous biographies and human history – love them all. There’s something compelling about knowing a story truly reflects some fascinating, unlikely lived experience. It’s the most engaging and informative way to tell a yarn – through the eyes of someone who has done it. This is the kind of thinking that typically informs decisions about celebrities and ambassadors for health campaigns. Ca
Palin Communications wins PRIME Awards Awareness Campaign
Palin Communications has won the 2023 PRIME Award for Best PR Campaign – Awareness and Advocacy in partnership with CSL Seqirus for helping to educate Australians about the seriousness of influenza. Image (L-R): Kerry Jung, Ellen Hahn, Sarah Rumsey and Roberta Sowden accepting the award at the 2023 PRIME Awards.Martin Palin, Managing Director of Palin Communications, said he was proud of the Palin Communications team led by its CEO Karina Durham and the Palin Communications flu squad comprising
Communicating the complex: Striking a balance in regulated environments
Communications in the healthcare sector is highly regulated. So what are the risks when people operate outside the rules and what kind of communicators thrive in a complex environment? Martin Palin explains.
Record Number of Children with Hearing Loss Graduate from World-Leading Early Intervention Program
A record number of children with hearing loss graduated from The Shepherd Centre’s world-leading early intervention program in 2020. Many of these 62 bright kids have now started Kindergarten across NSW, ACT and Tasmania.The Shepherd Centre’s Auditory-Verbal Therapy program gives children the skills, confidence and support to help them enter mainstream schools. These little graduates have hit the ground running at ‘big school’, with speech and listening abilities on par with – and sometimes abov
Shining a light on Australian community organisations working to improve quality of life
Championing quality of life is relevant to all aspects of healthcare across a range of specialities, especially for people living with HIV.Palin Communications had the privilege of supporting ViiV Healthcare Australia in announcing the recipients of the 2021 Positive Action Community Grants, a program which looks to fund community-based projects that reach those most affected by, or at risk of HIV.With a focus on raising awareness of the recipient programs and their purpose, we executed a proact
Improving the Quality of Life for People Living with HIV
Championing quality of life is relevant to all aspects of healthcare across a range of specialities, especially for people living with HIV.
Australians to ‘get dead set’ on end-of-life, death and dying
Palin Communications is proud to be partnering with leading not-for-profit, The Groundswell Project Australia, on its annual Dying to Know campaign.The COVID-19 pandemic has changed how we live, die and grieve. The Dying to Know campaign (which culminates on Dying to Know Day on 8 August) aims to improve death literacy and positivity in individuals, communities, healthcare workers and other professionals through local and community events.This year’s campaign asks Australians to ‘get dead set’ a
Health communication in the face of COVID – top lessons learned
Who would have thought that close to two years down the track that we would still be talking about the COVID pandemic on a daily basis. We have daily government media conferences, rolling updates on vaccine and treatment availability and everyone’s musings about the pandemic all over social media. To be honest, there’s been very little room for much else in news.Due to our continuous work in a highly regulated industry, plus the ability of dissect complex medical information, health communicator