Archive
LIFE'S HEAD OF DIGITAL TAKES PODCAST POLL POSITION
Co-founded by Life's Faisal Ahmed, Digitally Sick has become the most-listened-to pod in healthcare. Digitally Sick is a podcast-driven thought leadership blog, providing an informal environment to discuss the big issues in digital and healthcare.
KAPOW! LIFE'S SUPERHERO APP IS NUMBER 1
Life has won the eyeforpharma Mobile Health Competition 2012 to design an app to help teens living with cancer. As well as providing medical support, 'Superhero Me' creates an immersive superhero world where they can escape. The prize includes full app development, a $5,000 donation to charity and an opportunity to present the idea at an international oncologist symposium.
LIFE PARTY BURNS STYLE WITH SCOTS LUNCHTIME SCRAN
Staff nipped the whiskey, stobbed the haggis and gorbled the cranachan in honour of revered Scot, Rabbie Burns, Wednesday lunchtime. Two of the Life team even showed off their Scottish side, and a little bit more besides!
MATT MOVES TO LIFE
Matt Leeming joins Life as Senior Account Director. With over 15 years' pharma agency experience, Matt brings an extensive understanding of launching and growing blue chip pharmaceutical brands across the UK, EU and beyond. Prior to Life, Matt worked at PAN Advertising, Euro RSCG Life and MSC.
MARTA IS LIFE'S NEW STARTER
Marta Rudyk, an enthusiastic graduate from The Art University, Bournemouth, has been recruited to support Life's production team. Marta gained valuable experience at Lloyd Northover as part of her work placement.
STAY ON TOP WITH SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION
With millions searching online for health information, website awareness hangs on good search engine optimisation (SEO). In his latest PMLiVE article, Faisal discusses how to use SEO correctly to keep your site top of the search results.
VOTE FOR SUPERHERO ME!
We're very pleased to announce that Life's entry into the eyeforpharma Mobile Health Competition - Superhero Me! has made the FINAL 10! To see the entry and cast your vote, click here.
MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM LIFE!
Test your creative talents this festive season with Life's very own Christmas song re-mix. Simply add the musical elements of your choice to create your very own seasonal symphony in sound. Click here to try it yourself..
GET INTO THE SPIRIT BY ENTERING LIFE'S CHRISTMAS KINDLE COMPETITION
Sorry! You've missed the chance to win a Kindle if you received one of our postcards. There were 10 new Kindles to be won, each loaded with 'A Christmas Carol'.
FIRST PHARMA FUN RUN IS A FUNDRAISING SUCCESS
Life, in partnership with Pharma Times, raised over £2,000 for the DEC East Africa appeal in the first industry-wide pharma running event on Sunday 6th November. Thanks to everyone involved! Click here for more details and pictures from the day.
FROM ART DIRECTOR TO ART EXHIBITOR
The Art@ Baker Tilly winter 2011 exhibition showcased a collection of US-inspired illustrative work from Life art director, Ben Dragon in Guildford, Surrey. The three month private exhibition features work from local artists, covering illustration, painting, textiles and mixed media.
ALEX APPOINTED
Alex Greetham joins Life as senior art director. Previously, Alex was an art director for six years at Hanson Zandi. He has a total of over 14 years' healthcare agency experience, working with clients such as Pfizer, Novo Nordisk, CSL Behring, Eisai and Janssen-Cilag.
SARAH SNAPPED UP
Account executive, Sarah Gipps is the latest addition to Life's client support team. Sarah, formerly of Windsor-based Lime Advertising, has worked with a number of clients, including Astellas, Amgen and Genzyme. Prior to Lime, she was part of the medical communications team at Adventis Health.
LIFE TICKLED PINK TO SUPPORT CANCER CAMPAIGN
Staff decked themselves out in pink today to raise money for the Breast Cancer Campaign. A total of £42.50 was collected through donations and penalty fees for those not 'in the pink'.
LIFE PICK VICKI
Life has expanded its client support with account director, Vicki Marsh. Vicki joins us from Adventis Health and brings extensive healthcare account management and PR experience to the role. Previously, Vicki's worked for a number of agencies including Bray Leino, Torre Lazur McCann Erickson and Ogilvy Healthworld.
RIO RECRUITED
Rio Marsala joins Life's ever-growing digital department, taking the reins as digital designer. Rio previously worked for Windsor based B2B comms agency, Positive Image, and has a list of high profile work under his belt for clients such as Volvo, Vodafone and Unilever.
JOIN US AT THE PHARMA RUN
In partnership with PharmaTimes, Life have organised a 5/10k run through Windsor Great Park on Sunday 6th November. Starting at 11am, you can walk, jog or run 5k, or if you're more experienced - the 10k awaits. Entry is £10 per person, with 100% of the money going towards the DEC East Africa Appeal. To find out more and sign up click here
LIFE'S BIGGEST COFFEE MORNING!
Life sipped, slurped and snacked to raise over £50 in support of Macmillan's biggest event of the year to help people living with cancer. Funds weren't the only thing Life raised - as well as charging for every coffee and tea, staff boosted donations with 50p slices of homemade cake.
A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHARMA: PART 5 – Facebook
Following his Twitter guide, Faisal turns his attention to Facebook and warns pharma of the perils of ignoring this essential marketing and PR tool. The article includes a step-by-step guide on how to create a Facebook page to engage with your target audience.
Read the full article at pharmaphorum:
A beginner's guide to digital pharma: part 5 – Facebook
HOW MUCH EFFORT DO YOU PUT INTO DIGITAL?
With over 150 million people in Europe actively searching for healthcare information and with 100 million telling their friends and family what they have found online it's really an integral part of our communication channel. Read more on our article in PM live
A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHARMA: PART 4 – TWITTER
Don't know the difference between a hashtag and an @mention? The beginner's guide to Twitter demystifies this invaluable microblogging service and explains its relevance in a pharma context. It even guides you through setting up an account to get tweeting, so you can find out what people are saying about your brand. Click for here for Faisal's full article on pharmaphorum: A beginner's guide to digital pharma: part 4 – Twitter
HELP SAVE LIVES IN EAST AFRICA
Have you seen our campaign in the pharma press to raise money for the DEC East Africa Crisis Appeal? Life is donating £1 to the appeal for every unique visitor to this site.
Click here for more information: DEC East Africa Appeal
LIFE WIN AN IPA BEST OF HEALTH AWARD
Life Healthcare Advertising Agency struck bronze last week at the 2011 IPA Best Of Health Awards. The award was for our innovative consumer website about gout www.stampoutgout.co.uk. Thanks and congratulations to our client A. Menarini Pharma UK too. We really enjoyed the tennis-themed evening at Quaglinos and have some of the tennis balls as souvenirs!
WHAT IS A QR CODE?
Ever wondered what that square barcode, dot matrix-pattern is that keeps appearing everywhere? Well, with our new quick guide to QR codes, you'll find all you need to know. Click here to download the PDF
WELCOME TO WENDY
Say hello to Wendy Nicholls our new Senior Copywriter. Wendy joins us from Sudler London where she worked on a variety of global pharma brands. Wendy brings a wealth of experience to Life Healthcare Advertising and her arrival has boosted our already substantial copy team. So if your agency doesn't have the copy capacity to support your brand fully, give us a call.
WHERE IS THE NHS HEADING?
In an attempt to get our heads around this enigma, Life recently invited Rod While, Head of Strategic Planning for Luton and Bedfordshire PCT, to talk to the team. As an ex-pharma marketer, Rod was just the person to guide us through GP commissioning, local decision-making,
Health and Wellbeing Boards, changes to NICE and how this will all be funded against a backdrop of cost cuts.
As a result of this collaboration, Life is now working with Rod on several commissioning initiatives. For further insight into how the NHS reforms could affect the Pharma industry, see Rod's article on the
PM Live website or download the PDF here.
A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHARMA – PART 3
Faisal's latest article for pharmaphorum is all about creating websites to both attract and retain the target audience. His advice includes some practical pointers on design and copy, along with guidance on planning websites. Find out more here: A beginner's guide to digital pharma: part 3 – websites.
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO LONG AGENCY LUNCHES?
Our very own "Thought Leader" and MD, Juliet La Marque, has just had an article published in PME. It's all about the abiding need for human interaction in our industry. We can e-mail or have a telecon with our clients, but a chat together over lunch or drinks away from the office will always yield better quality creative ideas. For the full story see the June issue of Pharmaceutical Marketing Europe or download the PDF here
A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHARMA – PART 2
Faisal has been busy again writing for pharmaphorum.com. This next instalment gives you practical advice and tips on how to plan a digital campaign. In some ways it will seem familiar – start with your target audience, consider positioning and value proposition, but then you need to think about which new channels to use e.g. mobile, website, apps, social media etc. Find out more here: A beginner's guide to digital pharma: part 2 – start with a plan.
UNSURE WHERE TO START WITH DIGITAL?
Life's head of digital, Faisal Ahmed, has recently written a series of informative articles in conjunction with pharmaphorum.com.
The beginner's guide to digital pharma series is an interesting read and a great opportunity to learn about the potential of digital pharma.
Hopefully it will give you a few pointers when diving into digital channels or connecting with social media with your brand for the first time.
THE SECRET'S OUT - LIFE REVEALS A BRAND NEW IDENTITY
After 10 years in healthcare advertising, we decided it was time to evolve Life's brand image. Following an in-house competition, we chose the new logo with its distinctive "e" icon, designed by Ben Dragon.
The icon is an organic, living form expressing new life and growth. It could be an unfurling leaf, a developing life form, a curling wave, a Fibonacci sequence or the Maori "koru" symbol. Like working with Life, the possibilities are endless…
LIFE EXTENDS ITS DIGITAL CAPABILITIES
Life is passionate about digital design and marketing, we believe it's integral to the future of healthcare communication. As part of our commitment to this area, we're delighted to welcome Faisal Ahmed to Life, as our new Head of Digital.
Faisal is an expert in digital marketing in the healthcare industry. He started his career as one of the founders of Amazon.co.uk and was involved in designing most premier league football club websites. Faisal lives, breathes and eats digital.
He also loves a challenge, so why not contact Life if you need any new digital ideas for your brand.
STAMP OUT GOUT TV AD HITS THE NORTH EAST
It's not very often that you see a TV ad that mentions gout. However, a new ad written and illustrated by Life to raise consumer awareness of gout has been aired in the Tyne Tees region for the past two months. After some very positive market research results, we hope the campaign will go nationwide soon. Find out more about this ground-breaking ad and the associated website: stampoutgout.co.uk in the Work section.
ADVANCE YOUR PASSION AWARDS, LONDON 2011
On April 18th, to coincide with World Haemophilia Day 2011, Life organised an awards ceremony to present prize grants to young haemophilia sufferers wanting to advance their passion for art, sport or music.
Winners included 7-year-old Tomas who received a grant to advance his passion for tennis. Tomas will use his grant to help progress his skills on the court, with individual coaching and fitness training.
Sadly, the Advance Your Passion programme has now ended, due to the new ABPI Code of Practice regulations. But you can still read more about this novel campaign, created and masterminded by Life, in the Work section.
