From Allen Mercier, Senior Editor, Palio

Have you ever considered a world without copy editors? I guarantee that most people give little thought to who’s responsible for crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s in whatever they happen to be reading. So what do you get when no thought is given to spelling, grammar, punctuation, and accuracy? Well, on the Web you get comments on articles or videos. And as we all know, “comments” are often unfiltered attacks.

Flaming, the official name for these online attacks, is everywhere. No one seems to agree on anything or to be shy about starting a flame war over nothing. The flame that always gets my attention is the spell-check attack. Whenever a comment has a misspelling, it’s sure to draw moths to the flame. So, the flame goes, your argument has no merit (and you’re an #%$%*@#) because you didn’t use “your” correctly.

So, we have simple spelling mistakes that ostensibly lead to vitriolic attacks. But we all know better than that. Editing is about clarity, not flame wars that just cloud the discussion.

Would the Internet be a more civil place if there were a copy editor in every computer? Probably not, but there would definitely be fewer typos.

Palio is a full-spectrum global pharmaceutical and consumer advertising, marketing, and communications agency that excels in brand creation and specializes in brand strategy, product launches, global marketing, and digital and integrated media.

My daughter, Gia

From Heather Stone, Senior Project Manager, Palio

I remember when I first found out I was pregnant, I was excited and, of course, a little nervous. Those feelings were only amplified when I started getting my first pieces of “advice.” You know the kind: “Enjoy your sleep now, because you won’t ever be rested again,” “You can forget about ever eating a hot meal again,”  “Get ready to do everything you do one-handed,”  “If you think pregnancy is bad, just wait!” and on and on… and on.

There was one piece of advice, however, that everyone neglected to share with me – specifically, how hard it would be to be a mom and have a career. When I think about it, maybe my friends and family were trying to spare me because they knew what I would be up against. Like childbirth itself, there’s nothing you can do to really prepare yourself for this set of circumstances. You just have to move through it, do it, and hopefully learn a thing or two along the way.

So what are the things I’ve learned so far?

1. Organization is the key to sanity. As a project manager, I’m an ultra-organized freak by nature. I’m convinced that this one skill has made my life exponentially easier since my daughter Gia was born. I always have extra bottles prepared and ready to go. Running out of diapers is simply not an option; we plan and buy ahead. Her bags are packed for daycare every night, so that each morning is relatively stress-free and I don’t have to take out my anxiety on my co-workers. (You’re welcome.)
2. Sleep is a nice activity, but I can live without it. Some people love to say, “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.” I never understood that until now. Used to be that when I dragged myself home after a long day of planning schedules and routing projects, I’d hit the couch for a little pre-dinner nap. I obviously can’t do that now, but I wouldn’t even if I could – the prospect of spending time with my child far outweighs the allure of catching up on some z’s. (Yes, even at 3 in the morning.)
3. In the grand scheme of things, there is nothing as important as my family. Recently it hit me: No matter how many kids I have, my time with them is going to fly – I can’t believe how fast Gia’s grown already. I work for a company that has a strong belief in work/life balance, and now I understand how important it really is to have that kind of support from my bosses.

It’s true what people say: Your children teach you as much as you teach them. But, I promise that when I see a pregnant friend or co-worker, I’m going to keep what I’ve learned (all that friendly “advice”) to myself. There are just some things you have to discover on your own.

Palio is a full-spectrum global pharmaceutical and consumer advertising, marketing, and communications agency that excels in brand creation and specializes in brand strategy, product launches, global marketing, and digital and integrated media.

From Mark McCoy, SVP, Brand Planning Director, Palio

Drug shortages are becoming much more common recently. Almost half of the drug shortages involve generic injectable drugs.

A recent NEJM article explains how shortages of generic injectable drugs come about in Economics 101 terms.

1.    The patent expires on an expensive injectable drug.

2.    Lots of companies introduce generic versions of the drug.

3.    The price of the injectable drug is driven down.

4.    Due to the low price, some generic makers exit the market.

5.    Remaining manufacturers maximize their efficiency and practice “just in time” inventory management.

6.    Any glitch in the system, such as a rejected batch, raw material shortage or drug recall can lead to shortages.

7.    The small number of manufacturers are not able to meet the demand for the drug.

In a free market, when the drug shortage occurs, the price of the drug that is in short supply will go up. Customers will have to pay more for a short while. Then other manufacturers will recognize the opportuntity and enter the market and meet the demand. In a short time, prices will begin to go down again due to increased competition. The invisible hand corrects the shortage and prices are normalized just as  Adam Smith predicted.

Sadly, the injectable drug market is not  a free market. Prices are not allowed to fluctuate with demand.  Medicaid sets prices at Maximum Allowable Cost (MAC) or Least Cost Alternative (LCA). Health care providers can’t pay more than the MAC or LCA price for a drug, because if they do pay more, providers know that they will lose money on that drug. The result is that prices do not go up. New manufacturers do not enter the market. Customer demand for the the drug that is in short supply is not met and the shortage persists.

A solution to the drug shortage is to have Medicaid do away with tying reimbursement to MAC and LCA prices and reimburse health care providers according to a drug’s market price. This change would put the invisble hand back into the game and drug shortages would be rapidly resolved.

Palio is a full-spectrum global pharmaceutical and consumer advertising, marketing, and communications agency that excels in brand creation and specializes in brand strategy, product launches, global marketing, and digital and integrated media.

Left to right: Frank Lama, Mamma Lama, Donna, Julian Lama

From Donna Lama, Manager of Studio Services, Palio

We often hear that the advertising industry is cut-throat, that we are lucky just to have jobs, that people in our line of work are expendable. I’m lucky enough to work for a company that not only espouses work/life balance, but also shows that it cares deeply about its employees. The following is a sad holiday story, but it’s heart warming at the same time because I work for a company that sees each of us not just as cogs in the machine or numbers on a spread sheet, but as real people.

In October 2008, my mom got the heart-wrenching news that her cancer had spread to her liver and there was nothing more that modern medicine could do for her. She bravely accepted that fate, but had a wish to stay at home in her final days. My brothers and I wanted to respect that choice, but we just didn’t know how we could make it happen. Mom lived 2 hours south of me, and my brothers both had wives who worked full time and had young kids, which made being with mom 24/7 a difficult, if not impossible, mission for them.

My wife, Laura, was able to take some vacation time and care for my mother, but when her condition deteriorated, my heart told me I needed to be there. I talked with Guy Mastrion, Chief Global Creative Officer here at Palio, about my dilemma. I wanted to be set up to work from my mom’s apartment since she would be sleeping most of the time anyway. He gave me the go ahead to do what I needed to do. I was all set to fulfill both my work and family commitments. This, in and of itself, was a relief. But there was more to come.

Two weeks before Christmas, the time came. My mom was in need and my wife had to go back to work. I informed my superiors and co-workers of the situation, and to my surprise, I was instructed NOT to log into work. In fact, I was told, “Go home and care for your mom. This will all be here when you come back, so don’t worry about it.”  I tried to sneak my iMac that was all set up for VPN out with me, but was stopped by Peter O’Toole, VP, Associate Director of Operations, who asked, “What do you think you are doing?!” When I told him I was going to dial into work, he replied, “Oh no you’re not. Put that back and go home to your mom.”

On December 26, my mom passed away peacefully with almost all of the family at her side – her last wish. I am so grateful that my company made provisions for me during one of the most difficult times of my life. I can’t imagine what it would be like to go through something like this without the support of my bosses. This is one reason that Palio is like a big family, and certainly a place that could Never be forgotten.

Palio is a full-spectrum global pharmaceutical and consumer advertising, marketing, and communications agency that excels in brand creation and specializes in brand strategy, product launches, global marketing, and digital and integrated media.

From Greg Alderisio, Senior Copywriter, Palio

For years, Cannon cameras told us image is everything. Even paid Andre Agassi millions to convince us it was true. But to me image isn’t everything, perception is. Our perceptions color everything we do.

There are lots of reasons why I believe this, but I’ll only give you the latest one. Recently I was in Berlin, Germany for an intensive, one-day-only series of focus groups. No time for idle sightseeing here which was too bad because the focus group interpreter listed all the local highlights. Right outside our window, she told us, stood architecturally-important buildings, a holiday market and, most important, the site where the Berlin Wall split the city.

Wait, the wall stood right outside our window?! This I wanted to see. But the focus groups were scheduled back-to-back with no breaks. Then came a gift from the god of tourism. A respondent cancelled. Suddenly I had 45 minutes to fill so I headed for the monument to the Berlin Wall.

I call it a monument but it was something much more subtle: just a grass-covered hill about 4 feet tall that trailed off into the distance. On top of the grass was a cobblestone pathway that mimicked the route of the wall. There wasn’t a plaque to mark it, no sign, nothing to draw attention to it. It wasn’t even well lit; a few feeble street lamps and the fickle light from surrounding buildings were the only illumination. So it’s no wonder I was alone as I stared at the monument.

I gazed at the buildings on both sides of me and imagined an entire city separated; families divided by spirals of razor wire and impenetrable concrete. I thought of how bleak and repressive life must have been in the East, how hopeless. I imagined the constant struggle for freedom, the sacrifices, the desperation of the people who risked their lives to cross over the wall, cross to freedom. I pictured Bono singing at the wall, Reagan railing against it. I felt the power of hope, of reconciliation. And now here I was at the epicenter of all that history.

As I took in that sobering notion I noticed I was no longer alone. Some guy appeared about 10 yards away from me. I couldn’t see his face but I guessed he was having his own historical epiphany. Then I noticed he didn’t stare at the monument like I did. In fact, he wasn’t looking at it at all. Nope, he did something much more disturbing. He was relieving himself on it. That’s right, the monument I saw as such an awe-inspiring, pivotal point in history he saw as one giant toilet.

Different perceptions in other words.

So sure I’m scarred for life by that image but frankly it’s not a unique event. Who hasn’t had an idea or experience you think is so transforming and brilliant you share it with someone (boss, partner, client) and they just piss all over it. It’s inherent in what we do, what any agency does. We share ideas and experiences we think are transforming enough to change how people think. Not everyone will agree with us.

We all see things differently and that’s good, until it’s not. There’s always a point where everyone sees things so differently there’s no common ground left. And when you start losing all your common ground well, after a while it’s hard to get anywhere worth going.

What’s key is to work with at least a few people who are headed the way you want to go. If you can’t find people who share your perceptions you have to keep looking until you do. Otherwise someday you’ll find yourself side by side with people who when you see a treasure, they see a toilet. And who wants to do that?

Palio is a full-spectrum global pharmaceutical and consumer advertising, marketing, and communications agency that excels in brand creation and specializes in brand strategy, product launches, global marketing, and digital and integrated media.

Andre looking up at his favorite ceiling light

From Tim Roberts, Director of Project Management, Palio

I’m a nature lover, a walk-in-the-woods kind of guy. I also love animals. When I have a free moment at work, I like to step out for a walk (or preferably a run, if time allows) and just breathe the fresh air. Now, I know a lot of people like to think through their work issues or other problems while they’re moving outside, but I like to just watch and appreciate the world around me. It refreshes me and gives me my second wind to tackle the afternoon (or evening) ahead of me at Palio.

I’ve found a way to bring that zen feeling home. And I mean into my home. What’s the secret? It’s a budgie.

“A what?!” you’re asking. A budgie – or, if you insist on using the formal name, a “Budgerigar” —  is a type of parakeet found in the wild in Australia and commonly kept as a pet all over the world. Naturally they exist as green and yellow with black markings on their head and wings, but thanks to some creative breeding habits, you can go into almost any pet store and purchase a budgie in shades of blues, yellows, and whites.

My wife and I have 2 budgies, a male and female, Andre and Isabella. After Isabella lived with us for a month, along came Andre, and they became best friends. Sometimes they fight, but they generally get along very well (remind you of anybody here at 260 Broadway?) and it’s really cute to see Andre serenade Isabella daily.

Andre after a warm bath

These birds are remarkably easy to care for – they need some seed, water and a warm dark place to sleep. Of course, they also need some eye contact and good old fashioned interaction a few times a day. The more attention you pay to your budgie(s), the more tame and friendly they will be. If you make them a part of your family, you will be rewarded with budgie love every day. With this comes (at times) a noisy, happy bird who will provide beautiful sounds that will emanate throughout your home. And I can’t tell you how soothing those sounds are after a long day in the office, or even when I’m working on my laptop.

Budgies generally live between 5 and 10 years, but if you take proper care of them and spoil them with love, they can live closer to 15 years. Our budgies love to fly, so we leave their cage open frequently and allow them their freedom. Luckily we have an open floor plan in our home so they have plenty of room to stretch their little wings. Watching them soar around the house reminds me of myself, off on a walk or run.

Isabella where she loves to be… on her swing

So if you’re looking for a way to relax after a long, hard day in the advertising world, I recommend bringing a budgie into your home. You may be too tired to do anything but crash on the couch, but your budgie won’t mind. And when they soar high above you, you’ll be reminded that tomorrow is a new day, and anything is possible.

Palio is a full-spectrum global pharmaceutical and consumer advertising, marketing, and communications agency that excels in brand creation and specializes in brand strategy, product launches, global marketing, and digital and integrated media.

From Jon Fisher, Technology Manager, Palio

CES is a show that geeks and nerds from around the world look forward to every year and I was fortunate to be one of the geeks that attended this year. My badge holder cleverly disguised me as an  “Industry Affiliate.”  An estimated 200,000 people from across the globe migrated to Las Vegas, NV, for a few days to check out what the world’s largest consumer technology tradeshow had to say about what the electronics industry had to offer for 2011, here’s my take…

3D TV

By far, the biggest surprise for me was how much 3D TV has evolved in so little time. Different manufacturers have adopted different technologies; Samsung, Sony, and Panasonic have used, and are continuing to use, the active-shutter technology. However, the end-user is required to have multiple $100+ glasses that use rechargeable batteries in order to view the 3D effect. From my perspective, this isn’t ideal – between having to worry about charging batteries, the inevitability of the dog using the $100 pair of glasses as a chew toy, and the social awkwardness of inviting your 10 best friends to watch the latest and greatest 3D movie when you only have one pair of glasses (same ones the dog chewed on!)?

Enter LG. They didn’t only make a splash with the size of their booth and their non-3D TV lineup, but they showcased their disposable, polarized glasses. To me, this technological innovation makes buying a 3D TV much more appealing, and from what I saw at the show, the quality is definitely comparable to the active-shutter technology.

Fast forward to a couple years from now, I think it’s reasonable for one to expect to be looking at x-ray or MRI results in 3D with a doctor. How soon before all surgeons are using 3D technologies in the operating room?

If you’re wondering about glasses-free 3D, it still has a long way to go. And, although most vendors had some sort of glasses-free 3D, the technology needs further development.

Tablets

When it comes to tablets, Android and Blackberry were the players at CES. Blackberry was there with their proprietary hardware sporting their new OS developed by QNX. I sat through a demo and was quite impressed; they took multi-tasking to the next level. I’m not sure what level of consumer buy-in it will get due to Android and Apple owning that market, but I can see corporate buy-in being pretty high if it takes off. I’ve read numerous reviews focused on concerns of getting developers to readily make apps for it. We’ll soon see as this is slated for a Q1 launch.

As far as Android goes, pick any manufacturer. From Samsung to Creative Labs, it seemed everyone had an Android tablet to display, some with a specific purpose. For the most part, they showcase as bigger versions of an Android phone. But with future releases of the OS, they are slated to have more tablet specific functions. Due to the reach of all these manufacturers and price points, I expect a heavy adoption of the Android-based tablets.

Connected TV

Next to 3D TV, Internet connected TV is the next must-have in a family room near you. At this point, it’s just a matter of what it’s going to look like. And, even though Google TV has run into challenges of its own, that didn’t stop Sony or Logitech from having their Google TV appliances/hardware on display. Samsung on the other hand displayed their partnership with Yahoo and its version of an Internet connected TV. Their version seems to be more about getting as much information as possible on your TV, e.g., watching your favorite movie while having an ESPN ticker across the bottom of your screen. Your universal remote you ask? There’s an app for that: download an app to your Android-based phone and you can control your connected devices.

Better yet, satellite TV and cable TV providers are getting in on this game. Time Warner is the most ambitious. By replacing their cable box with just an Internet connection to the TV, they will be able to stream all the channels to your TV and allow for similar functionality that we’ve seen in Google TV already, difference being they’ll have network buy-in.

Summary

The next year or two will be telling. A phone just being a phone is no longer. With the right apps, you’ll be able to start your car, change the channel on your TV, send a Tweet, update your Facebook, and check-in to the local coffee shop. The same trend now seems to be happening to your TV – it just isn’t a TV anymore. As the capabilities of our phones, tablets, and TVs becomes more robust, what does the future hold for PCs at home? Quite some time ago there was MSN TV, but due to dial-up connections and it being such an earth shattering idea, it didn’t take off. Is 2011 the year that these devices cause the PC in the family room to become an icon of old technology?

Palio is a full-spectrum global pharmaceutical and consumer advertising, marketing, and communications agency that excels in brand creation and specializes in brand strategy, product launches, global marketing, and digital and integrated media.

Michael John Osterhout, Senior Art Director, Palio

Whether in advertising, in film or, in the case of this blog post, in music, there is one common realization amongst all creatives –– art is work. But each individual work of art that someone creates is just one expression of many that constitute a continuum of creation throughout that artist’s career. Art can inspire us, alter our mood, or maybe bring us back to a particular time in our life, but almost always we experience the final product on its own — never fully understanding or appreciating what the artist went through when creating the work and how it relates to his greater opus.

These days, most of the time, it’s just one or two tracks that we download from iTunes (or wherever), but an artist’s intent is often to have the work appreciated within the context of an entire album or supporting tracks. For this reason, I want to present a three-part series of reviews of albums that I consider to be masterpieces of modern music. Masterpieces that, to be fully appreciated, need to be experienced in their entirety and appreciated in the context of the complete volume of the artist’s work. I will be drawing on video references that help to offer a peak into the creative process and the thinking of each artist/band. Track 1 in this series will focus on the alternative rock band from Oxfordshire, Radiohead.

In 1997, Radiohead released their album, OK Computer, an album that some, myself included, speak of in the same breath as Sgt Pepper for its groundbreaking sound and composition. Off of the success of this highly influential masterpiece, Radiohead decided to document their 1998 world tour with Meeting People is Easy, a film produced by Grant Gee. The film gained critical acclaim and was nominated for a Grammy.

Without any narration supporting the movie, it focused mainly on how the band coped with their difficult experiences while touring; the fame, accolades, criticisms, endless promotion, etc. that come along with such a revolutionary album; and how they dealt with and, eventually, learned from their experiences. However, mixed into that beautiful collage of concert footage, music, personal conversations, and interviews, was an exhausted and burnt out band, that, while on tour, let off some creative steam by working on a few songs.

One of those songs would become Nude, a song that appeared 10 years later on their In Rainbows album. The process was broken down from how they started to how they eventually finished in this excerpt from Meeting People is Easy.

In this second excerpt, we see Thom Yorke (lead singer, writer of Radiohead) finishing off the mixing for a track that wasn’t a part of OK Computer, but instead became a B-Side called Palo Alto.

By watching these video clips, you’ll get a little more insight into what drove the creation and meaning of these two important Radiohead songs. And you will begin to see what the greater “brand,” called Radiohead, stands for. Kind of like the way an advertisement or piece of marketing communications that I create on any given day here at Palio, is just one element to a greater whole of brand development and positoning.

Palio is a full-spectrum global pharmaceutical and consumer advertising, marketing, and communications agency that excels in brand creation and specializes in brand strategy, product launches, global marketing, and digital and integrated media.

From Dawn Rzeszot, Project Administrator, Palio

Happy 2011!! As we move into a new year, all anyone wants to talk about are their resolutions. Really? How many of us have actually succeeded with this resolution business?

So instead of making those crazy “I will (insert whatever lofty out-of-reach goal here),” I have taken a new spin on the entire “Let’s make a resolution for the New Year” process. Try this: instead of setting a goal that is almost impossible to reach, take an inventory of your three “L’s.”

Learn

What did you LEARN over the past year? Did you learn that you are a great cook? Did you learn how to handle that “challenging” client? Or maybe you found a bit of balance between work and home life.  Whatever it was, make note of that accomplishment and look forward to 2011 as a continuation of learning more of whatever it may be.

Love

No I’m not going to go into a rant-post about finding your one true love. BLEH!! We’ll leave that to romance writers. The LOVE I am touching upon is this – think about what you love to do. Is it writing or painting, running/exercising, or spending time with family or friends? Did you actually do anything that you loved last year? Sometimes we get caught up in the hustle and bustle of life that we forget what we truly love to do. We also forget that doing (or not doing) what we love can ultimately affect our overall happiness and well-being. Now once you have identified those “loves” determine a plan for incorporating more of what you love in 2011.

Live

We can review what we have learned and recognize things that we love. But we cannot forget to live! I thought about this when a friend asked “Where did 2010 go?” on New Year’s Eve as we visited shops in a local Vermont hamlet. To many people this phrase can be negative as if we just lost an entire year and did nothing. Instead, I thought–hmmm… I was too busy living my life to realize that the year was ending! So live your lives, take on those opportunities to learn and make time for the things you love most.

No lofty resolutions here! Best wishes for the New Year!

Palio is a full-spectrum global pharmaceutical and consumer advertising, marketing, and communications agency that excels in brand creation and specializes in brand strategy, product launches, global marketing, and digital and integrated media.

From Nora Kiernan, Associate Director, Editorial Services, Palio

It’s a no-brainer that clients expect us to provide them with nothing less than great work, and part of producing that great work means accurately communicating their messages. But what about your day-to-day communications/messages to clients? Are you as careful when you’re communicating with your clients via e-mail? While you hope that your clients’ primary focus is on the content of your e-mail, the truth is, some may become distracted by “silly” grammatical errors, which could, unfortunately, chip away at your credibility.

The next time you have to quickly fire off an e-mail to a client, check for some of the more egregious offenders before you click send. Here are some basic breakdowns of 4 common homonyms to watch for in your writing.

1. You’re vs Your

You’re is the contraction of you are.

• You’re an attractive person.
• You’re better at cards than I am.

Your is a possessive pronoun. This form is used for something belonging to “you.”

• Your daughter is smart for her age.
• Your performance was outstanding.

2. They’re vs Their vs There

They’re is the contraction of they are. You should be able to replace they’re with they are.

• They’re an attractive couple.
• They said they’re presenting at noon today.

Their is a possessive pronoun.

• Are you going to ride in their car?
• I want to be on their team.

There denotes a place and means in, at, or to that place.

• We could go over there for a better view of the show.
• Could you please place the paperwork over there?
• There is a good reason for her persistence.

3. Affect vs Effect

Affect (verb): to have influence on.

• Good writing may affect the quality of an advertisement.

Affect (noun): immediate expressions of emotion.

• The employee’s lack of affect was due to 3 days without sleep.

Effect (verb): to bring about or cause.

• High-quality work can effect praise from a client.

Effect (noun): result.

• The effect of using proper grammar is clear communication.

4. It’s vs Its

It’s is the contraction of it is or it has.

• It’s time for a grammar lesson.
• Wow! It’s been a long time since I saw you last.

Its is the possessive form of the word it (belonging to it).

• Palio is known for its award-winning work.

Palio is a full-spectrum global pharmaceutical and consumer advertising, marketing, and communications agency that excels in brand creation and specializes in brand strategy, product launches, global marketing, and digital and integrated media.