A new gig? I must be mad, man...

"What a long, strange trip it's been." -- Jerry Garcia

Since I found social media religion in 2005 and let RSS into my heart to become a born-again communicator, I've watched the business evolve at both the agency and client side and have taken part in the foolish "we're better suited to own it than you" debate.  As an employee at Hill & Knowlton, I've had the opportunity to experience both inter-discipline warfare and collaboration over social media strategy, insights and execution with our cousins in advertising, interactive and media planning.  The reality is the real success for clients comes with collaboration not conflict, but I'll save that for another post...

The trip I'm alluding to is the decision I've made to leave the comfy confines of Hill & Knowlton and the PR community to join the ad/interactive world of Proximity Worldwide's Toronto office as VP, Social Strategy.  Yes, I'll be reunited with my buddy and former colleague Collin Douma, but that's only part of what drew me there.  Bringing a little of my PR mindset to the ad/interactive side of social media is also very inviting.  Ed Lee (Tribal DDB) and Ian Barr (Cosette/RocketXL) broke this ground a while back, so I know who I'm going to for transition tips.

Without slagging the PR industry that's been my home for 18 years, I'm looking forward to the scale and scope afforded to the integrated ad/interactive agency.  (Proximity is part of the BBDO advertising agency and they work closely together for some of Canada's and the world's top brands.)  And "social" is the word on every client's lips these days, so the opportunity is huge for Proximity since as I've noted above:  inter-disciplinary collaboration is the engine that drives social media success at the agency level. I'm honoured and grateful to become a part of such a prestigious agency at such an important time in their history.

But to pursue this direction, I have to say farewell to another great firm.  Hill & Knowlton is a top-flight agency and I've enjoyed my time here immensely.  The opportunity I was given to create the role, build the digital communications expertise in Toronto and work with a raft of blue-chip clients was the highlight of my PR career.  CEO Mike Coates and GM Jeff Smith gave me a lot of rope with which to hang myself...and I used most of it over the years.  They have been generous of spirit and more patient and supportive than necessary as I have been transitioning over the last several weeks.

The chance to collaborate with great colleagues like Lynn Crymble and Boyd Neil in Toronto, Brendan Hodgson and Cassandra Richards in Ottawa and Michelle Sullivan in Montreal has been truly wonderful.  We've laughed, yelled, cried, cajoled and coerced in the interest of creating some of the finest thoughtfully strategic and creative work you can imagine for clients in all sectors.  That's what happens when you get to work with people who you consider as both friends and colleagues you hold in the highest regard.

I've also been lucky enough to work with some great colleagues internationally, particularly the folks in our London office who look after the UK and EMEA, including the evervescent Gaylene Ravenscroft, the inventive Candace Kuss and the visionary Niall Cook.  They are doing great things for this company, so I'll be keeping on eye on them from this side of the Atlantic.

It's been three years of great clients, great work, great friends and great times.  I start a new chapter to the story on November 15.  More to come...

Patients lose with lack of clarity around social media and pharma rules

Pharmaceutical companies are getting caught in a regulatory quagmire when it comes to social media in Canada.

Outdated Health Canada regulations that only concern themselves with determining if an activity is considered "advertising" or "informational" leave a lot of blurred ilnes that don't seem to be coming into focus any time soon.

Blogger and social media consultant Nat Bourre attended the inaugural eMarketing Canada conference in Toronto on November 1-2 and offered up a post that shows where PAAB's (Pharmaceutical Advertising Advisory Board) thinking is around the incorporation of social media within the regulatory framework as laid out by Health Canada:

Patrick Massad (Chief Review Officer at the PAAB, Pharmaceutical Advertising Advisory Board) presented an algorithm to facilitate the regulatory thought process when planning a social media promotional activity.  Here is the suggested algorithm:

1) Is this advertising?

2) Who is the intended audience?

3) What restrictions should I consider for this audience with respect to disease and product schedules?

4) What mechanism will I use to limit access to that audience?

5) What is the sponsor’s tolerance for uncertainty & risk?

6) How will I align the site with this tolerance level?

7) What are the regulatory consequences of adding and/or linking other tools/content to my site?

There's a problem with the starting point of this algorithm.  By its very nature social media will always be advertising according to the Health Canada definition. (It's inexcusable that the current regulations were written in 1996, with an administrative update in 2005.)

Health Canada needs to look hard at social media as a new communications experience for consumers that can’t simply be defined as purely promotional or purely informational. Consumers don’t care about that. They care that they can find the right information at the right time in the right way. If they are informing themselves about their treatment options they want to look at manufacturers' information, patient groups, news, journals in order to form an opinion.  Look at the stats:

• 70 per cent of Canadian internet users look for health/medical information (Canadian Internet Project)
• 70 per cent of global internet users trust branded websites and consumer opinions (Nielsen) 

It's time Canadian regulators look at rules for social media so that it can serve the best interests of the consumer.  We've always had different rules from the US, so I sure hope they aren't waiting for the US FDA to take the lead on this...though they are much further ahead in their deliberations.

(Disclosure:  H&K works with pharmaceutical companies on a daily basis.  I've had two social media sites pulled down by Health Canada due to lack of clarity on regulations.  These news sites only included compliant news releases and videos that are still available on the web in other places.)