March 30th, 2012
Strictly embargoed until 12:01 a.m. ET on April Fool’s Day, 2012
CanaleComm Hired to Keep Life Sciences’ Best Kept Secret
SAN DIEGO — April 1, 2012 – Canale Communications Inc said today that an undisclosed group of venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and institutional investors (“The Consortium”) has hired the life sciences public relations and investor relations agency to keep the industry’s best kept secret a secret. Despite the negative PR the industry has faced about investors not making money in life sciences, the Nasdaq Biotech Index has returned 18% YTD compared to 12% for the S&P 500 (35% vs 19% respectively over the past 2 years) and 2011 saw the 4th largest influx of venture capital into the industry in history. The Consortium , which has successfully secured hundreds of millions of dollars for new venture capital funds and pocketed hundreds more from investments in Illumina, Amylin and Idenix to name a few, prefers this dirty little secret be kept a secret, and that new would-be investors do not flock to the industry. The Consortium has no connection to the group that purchased the Los Angeles Dodgers.
To ensure that investors and members of the media don’t see this release, CanaleComm made the announcement over the internet including its website, Primary Endpoint Blog and Twitter rather than issuing the announcement over the newswire.
“We don’t want new investors jumping back into life sciences based on the multiples we’ve been able to pull in over the past few years,” said the president of The Consortium. “They don’t need to know about our success. We like having our pick of the best and brightest entrepreneurs and science in the industry.”
However, The Consortium wants rock star entrepreneurs and business executives to know about the secret.
“There is a shortage of investable management teams in biotech right now, partly because the brightest are going to the fast money in the tech and gaming industries,” added the Consortium leader. “Tell them to leave the dark side, come to the life sciences side, and the best of the best will make money and solve the healthcare crisis for their children’s generation at the same time.”
Under the terms of the agreement, CanaleComm will receive an upfront payment of $4 million, success milestones up to $45 million, and single digit royalties on future successful exits. The Consortium will receive non-competitive access to investments in the top prospects in the industry.
The agreement will terminate when the secret is leaked, which is presumably after someone on the Consortium reads this notice.
Contact:
Jason Spark
Senior Vice President
Canale Communication Inc
jason@canalecomm.com
@SPARKbury
Tags: biotech, canale communications, complete response; canale communications; PDUFA; public relations, investor relations, life sciences, public relations
Posted in investor relations, public relations, venture capital | No Comments »
February 8th, 2012
Newt Gingrich’s communications director, Joe DeSantis, is taking heat for editing and requesting edits to Newt’s Wikipedia page. Wiki editors cry foul when an organization (or its representative) with a conflict of interest attempts to manage Wikipedia content. This run-in with Wikipedia culture and its editorial etiquette reminds me of some key challenges for public relations, not the least of which is the manner in which relationships with Wiki editors are handled and the willingness of Wiki editors to listen.
One thing public relations professionals have to respect is that as representatives of a business, organization, or group, we have an inherent conflict of interest whether we have the best and most ethical intentions or not. According to Wikipedia policy, we should not make edits to Wiki pages where that conflict exists. I, for one, am comfortable with this. The value of Wikipedia is lost if pages for corporations are edited by communications departments and pages in turn end up reading like corporate websites.
Wikipedia has created built in Talk pages where discussions between editors and readers can discuss factual inaccuracies, biases, and weakly supported or unverified content. With knowledge of the organization and access to information, a PR professional can add considerable value to Wikipedia pages through the Talk pages. Wiki editors can then listen and decide for themselves the importance and credibility of information provided by corporations and PR pros. This is what it’s all about if corporations are to become more social: Engage in meaningful discussion online.
The trick is that Wiki editors have to be willing to listen to organizations and their communications reps. From my experience, most editors seem willing to listen and they appreciate being directed to valuable information. They respect transparency and openness in communication. However, I have run into editors that have conflicts of their own – one was a founder of a non-profit that had a beef with a certain class of prescription drugs. So even third party editors have biases and conflicts, and I trust that balance will come from the majority of Wiki editors that are truly outsiders.
Wikipedia has become a powerful source of information (with insanely remarkable search engine rankings) and with its own set of rules. For it to remain relevant, it must evaluate and value information from all sources, including from corporations. There is a role for public relations on Wikipedia. We just have to play by Wikipedia rules.
Have you run into a Wiki editor that seemed to have their own agenda?
Jason Spark is a senior vice president at Canale Communications and can be reached at jason@canalecomm.com.
Tags: corporate communications, public relations, wikipedia
Posted in corporate communications, public relations, social media | No Comments »
October 24th, 2011
Much of what we do in PR is positioning our clients as thought leaders in their area of specialty. But becoming a member of the “who’s who” club is more than just leadership positioning activities, such as speaking engagements, panel participation and writing op/eds. Being a thought leader is a way of life, and if you want to be seen as one, you need to act like a thought leader all the time. Here are a few things that we have recommended to clients who want to become thought leaders in their space:
- Identify other thought leaders. Hopefully you already know who these people are, but if you don’t, do some homework. Find people who have their finger on the pulse of the industry, are speaking at conferences, are being quoted in articles and (if they are participating in social media) have a Twitter following. Once you know who they are, follow what they are saying. What trends are they discussing and what are their opinions?
- Rub elbows with other thought leaders if you want to be one. Take advantage of social media platforms like Linked In to introduce yourself, or begin following and interacting with thought leaders on Twitter. Go to conferences that the “in crowd” is attending. There is significant value in attendance, particularly at high-impact, specialty conferences that focus on the future of the industry, such as Health 2.0, even if you aren’t presenting.
- Develop a platform such as a “fireside chat” conference session where you lead a discussion about a relevant and juicy topic with additional thought leaders on stage. The combined reputation equity of several thought leaders can be a big draw, bringing people to listen to you share your ideas.
- Have an intelligent, well-formed opinion, and be provocative. Don’t jump on the bandwagon and opine about only trendy topics or simply agree with others. Say something different or controversial. Pull out your crystal ball and predict what trends are coming and the impact those trends may have on the space.
- True thought leaders—those who are the drivers of change—have a large sphere of influence that is only gained through good networking. That doesn’t mean just knowing a lot of people. That means having meaningful relationships with a lot of people through ongoing interactions. You will find that as you continue to interact in intelligent and thoughtful ways, people will take notice of what you are saying and will begin seeing you as a thought leader too.
- Most importantly, BE GENUINE! People can spot a phony from a mile away, and if you are just going through the motions, you won’t be seen as a thought leader because people won’t trust what you have to say.
Heidi Chokeir is an account director at Canale Communications and can be reached at heidi@canalecomm.com.
Tags: canale communications, life sciences, reputation, thought leadership
Posted in corporate communications, public relations, reputation | No Comments »
