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.

From Todd LaRoche, EVP, Managing Director of Creative, Palio

If I asked you, “Why do you work in advertising?” what would your response be?

Would it be for the creativity? For the fact that every day brings new and different challenges along with our fast-evolving communications technology? Would it be because you’re passionate about brand building and helping to create a product’s success in the marketplace? Is it because you’re a marketer at heart?

My guess, based on what I see around me, is that not enough of us are in advertising because we are marketers at heart… but more often because it’s a job… “it pays the rent.”

What is it to be a marketer at heart? Think about it. It’s not about wanting to service a client’s needs (although that’s an important business objective). It’s not about doing something as fast as possible for as cheap as possible (another business objective). It’s not about working to ensure the bottom line of your marketing organization is as healthy as it can be (very necessary). It’s not about managing your agency’s resources/talent to work as efficiently as possible, it’s not about meeting project deadlines, etc…. although all of these things are basic business requirements.

Being a marketer at heart is something that comes from within… a genuine commitment to the idea of changing behavior and to the smarts, the skill, the artistry that’s required to do it. So while you’re running around in the name of service and money management and creation, take a minute every so often and ask yourself the question, “Why am I in advertising?” If your answer keeps coming back to something about servicing your client or driving the profitability of your organization, I suggest you dig down a little deeper and look for something more sustainable to fuel your marketing career.

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 Carl Turner, VP, Research and Analytics Director, Palio

It’s the hottest buzz phrase in digital analytics these days. Everyone’s talking about moving beyond the click. Marketers are no longer content with counting clicks. They are now demanding new metrics to understand what a click buys. In advance of a campaign, they want to predict what a click will mean for brand recall and consumer sentiments toward a brand. To predict relationships between clicks and these important marketing metrics, digital analytics teams are beginning to look to complex statistical models. It sounds complicated because it is.

Very few people (other than statisticians or mathematicians) understand the assumptions and limitations underlying the statistical models being developed, yet there is increasing confidence in their value among digital marketers. It’s interesting. As we move further into the digital world, we are becoming more reliant on numbers and sophisticated analytics to understand human behavior. In some ways this makes sense. The digital world is constructed of codes and mathematical relationships. Shouldn’t we measure the digital world using the same codes and mathematical relationships that define the space? This seems logical until you consider who is navigating this space. Although the digital landscape is constructed from codes and math, it’s navigated by human beings. People have complex attitudes, beliefs, and values that underlie their behavior and govern their motivation. Additionally, they don’t typically act in ways that are intuitive or logical.

In our quest to move ahead and predict the impact of digital marketing, have we focused too little on what drives behavior? Do we really understand what motivates people’s behavior online? Yes, there are user experience designers who can help us to understand user goals and conduct usability testing, but often they rely on industry assumptions or flat-out myths about behavior. Although user experience has roots in psychology, it has veered away from them in recent years. Fewer and fewer UX designers are well versed in the psychological and group dynamic principles that have been scientifically proven to guide behavior. As we call for more statisticians and mathematicians to lead the evolution of digital analytics, perhaps we should also be calling for more social psychologists and anthropologists to lead the charge. Perhaps we should be spending more time understanding the “why” behind user behavior. Perhaps we should be spending as much time behind the click as we spend beyond it.

Here are two articles that support this line of thinking:
This article speaks to the lack of understanding when it comes to behavioral drivers.
This article speaks to the current deficiency in user experience design.

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 Rick McGuirk, Senior Graphic Designer, Palio

Everybody (okay, some of us) can recall the title line from the 1970 song “Signs” by Five Man Electrical Band. Well, now if you pass a sign using the Spanish language and you don’t speak Spanish, you can still read the sign, thanks to an iPhone app.

It’s called Word Lens, and is made by Quest Visual. The operation is simple: point a phone’s video camera at a Spanish sign or some other form of exterior text, and the app will almost immediately translate it to English (and also from English to Spanish) by replacing the Spanish words as you view the phone. Quest Visual expects to make more languages available soon.

So if you find yourself in Spain, you will now be able to read the signs, but you may still “got to have a shirt and tie to get a seat.”

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 Rebecca Fretto, Project Director, Palio

I’m sure there are times our clients wonder what a typical day is like at Palio. Sometimes I too, wonder, because as most of us know who work in advertising, there’s no such thing as “a typical day.”  We all walk in in the morning knowing that at some point in the day an end-all, be-all project will land at our desk and need to be done immediately, or the world as we know it will come to an end.

To deal with pressure like this every day, you need a serious sense of humor. As the holidays are approaching, it’s time to reflect on the year that’s coming to a close and the new beginnings for next. So to give you an idea of what a day at Palio is like, from a Project Manager’s point of view, I thought I’d write out a familiar song. Remember that laughter is the best approach to a day in advertising.

So sing along in your head, even out loud, to the tune of “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” Joe Baumann, begin singing – NOW!

On the first day of Christmas, my Palio gave to me, a free bagel on Wednesday.

On the second day of Christmas, my Palio gave to me, 2 job open meetings, and a free bagel on Wednesday.

On the third day of Christmas, my Palio gave to me, 3 mandatory training sessions, 2 job open meetings, and a free bagel on Wednesday.

On the fourth day of Christmas, my Palio gave to me, 4 layouts to route, 3 mandatory training sessions, 2 job open meetings, and a free bagel on Wednesday.

On the fifth day of Christmas, my Palio gave to me, 5 hours of open bar, 4 layouts to route, 3 mandatory training sessions, 2 job open meetings, and a free bagel on Wednesday.

On the sixth day of Christmas, my Palio gave to me, 6 more ASAP deadlines, 5 hours of open bar, 4 layouts to route, 3 mandatory training sessions, 2 job open meetings, and a free bagel on Wednesday.

On the seventh day of Christmas, my Palio gave to me, 7 stressed-out vendors, 6 more ASAP deadlines, 5 hours of open bar, 4 layouts to route, 3 mandatory training sessions, 2 job open meetings, and a free bagel on Wednesday.

On the eight day of Christmas, my Palio gave to me, 8 blog posts to write, 7 stressed-out vendors, 6 more ASAP deadlines, 5 hours of open bar, 4 layouts to route, 3 mandatory training sessions, 2 job open meetings, and a free bagel on Wednesday.

On the ninth day of Christmas, my Palio gave to me, 9 new account peeps, 8 blog posts to write, 7 stressed-out vendors, 6 more ASAP deadlines, 5 hours of open bar, 4 layouts to route, 3 mandatory training sessions, 2 job open meetings, and a free bagel on Wednesday.

On the tenth day of Christmas, my Palio gave to me, 10 e-mails about missing tuna melts, 9 new account peeps, 8 blog posts to write, 7 stressed-out vendors, 6 more ASAP deadlines, 5 hours of open bar, 4 layouts to route, 3 mandatory training sessions, 2 job open meetings, and a free bagel on Wednesday.

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my Palio gave to me, 11 new business pitches, 10 e-mails about missing tuna melts, 9 new account peeps, 8 blog posts to write, 7 stressed-out vendors, 6 more ASAP deadlines, 5 hours of open bar, 4 layouts to route, 3 mandatory training sessions, 2 job open meetings, and a free bagel on Wednesday.

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my Palio gave to me, 12 summer Fridays, 11 new business pitches, 10 e-mails about missing tuna melts, 9 new account peeps, 8 blog posts to write, 7 stressed-out vendors, 6 more ASAP deadlines, 5 hours of open bar, 4 layouts to route, 3 mandatory training sessions, 2 job open meetings, and a free bagel on Wednesday.

I wish all our clients and everyone at Palio, a happy and wonderful holiday and the hope that next year everyone can help refrain from taking food from the downstairs fridge – I am sure that Tim Roberts would truly appreciate it.

Happy Holidays!
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 Alan Steele, VP, Head of Art, Managed Markets, Palio

When you see Web ads for products that interest you, it is no coincidence. Marketers today want to target specific individuals with their messages. Cookies, the small text files that reside on your computer were the first step, but they can be deleted. Tracking companies now use digital fingerprinting to collect our online behavior and sell that information to advertisers. David Norris’s start-up company, BlueCava Inc., has identified 200 million devices. By the end of next year, BlueCava says it expects to have cataloged one billion of the world’s estimated 10 billion devices.

How does this happen? Your computer has a different clock setting, different fonts, different software and many other characteristics that make it unique. These details comprise a computer’s “reputation.” Tracking companies can use this data to uniquely identify computers, cellphones and other devices, and then build profiles of the people who use them. When you visit merriam-webster.com for example, 131 electronic trackers are recording your movements, amazon.com 38, wsj.com 60.

Online tracking is legal, scrapers and data brokers argue that if information is available online it is fair game. In general, the online advertising industry opposes FTC do-not-track initiatives. However there is a movement called the Open Data Partnership which seeks greater transparency. By clicking on an icon attached to a Web ad, consumers could review and edit their profiles as well as choose to be tracked or not.

Sources: Wall Street Journal, “Race is on to ‘Fingerprint’ Phones, PCs”, Wednesday December 1, 2010, Julia Angwin and Jennifer Valentino-Devries. Wall Street Journal, “What They Know,” December 7, 2010. Wall Street Journal, “Some Data-Miners Ready to Reveal What They Know,” December 3, 2010, Emily Steel. Fingerprint diagram: BlueCava Inc., 41st Parameter Inc., Electronic Frontier Foundation. Information icon: Better Advertising Project.

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 Steve Dubansky, MD, SVP, Medical Director, Palio

When they typed their personal statements into the ever-so-limiting boxes provided on the American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS) admission form, oncologists-to-be, like most other aspiring pre-medical students, invariably told stories of caring and compassion for people, along with a healthy dose of curiosity for science.

As a member of a medical school admission committee, I read these biographical essays for 15 years, and rarely, no, make that NEVER, never did I read that financial comfort offered by the practice of medicine was a motivating factor in the choice to practice medicine. It was as if mentioning a financial incentive was by itself a guarantee of rejection. After all, how could you care about reimbursement and still care about patients? Hopeful med students-to-be must have felt that mentioning anything as “self-serving” as salary was a ticket straight to an off-shore medical school or dental school of their choice.

But nowadays, when I listen to private, non-academic oncologists talk, and when I read their blogs in various social media, much of what I hear and see relates to concerns about losing money, about being “under water.” Here’s a small sampling:

1.   The cost of infusion services is greater than what Medicare pays.

2.   Buying medications for the patients and charging the patients when they are given, the so-called “buy and bill” system doesn’t work.

3.   Payers are slow to reimburse and do so with antiquated Medicare reimbursement formulae that help guarantee financial ruin.

4.   Medicare pays for only 56% of the expenses of giving chemotherapy. New legislation means this figure will fall to 45% by 2013.

5.   For small practices, ASP = 6% means losses.

6.   Now CMS plans to reduce Medicare payments by 21% to 25% come 2011.

7.   Practices are closing or leaving the private sector and becoming hospital employees.

First let me say that as an ex-academic oncologist, I have a great deal of sympathy for some of these arguments, because the women and men, at least those who practice hematology-oncology the right way, do incredibly difficult work — work which is intellectually, physically, and emotionally demanding and draining. Giving bad news almost every day, caring deeply, trying hard and yet failing so often, dealing with this frightened, vulnerable, grasping, often despairing patient population can take a terrible toll on any healthcare provider. It’s a job that you have to love in order to do it well. Many burn out and look for another, less exacting way to use their skill set.

But for those who remain in community practice, I have to ask, how much money is enough money? Having reviewed numerous salary surveys, I learned what I already suspected; these women and men are making out pretty well. Of course salaries vary according to geography and experience, but in general, I’d say they are quite reasonable.

A sampling of recent (2004-2010) studies of oncologists’ salaries reveals statistics such as:

1.   Median salary across the country of $262,000.

2.   Low-end salary of $181,000; median of $245,000; and high end of $685,000.

3.   For those with more than 4 years experience, an average of  $150,000 to $300,000. For those with more than 10 years experience, the average is $310,000.

4.   Finally, there was this intriguing bell-shaped curve of oncologists’ salaries:

Oncologists work very hard. But lots of people do. I’m not sure how much money one needs for oneself or one’s family, but, with regards to my colleagues’ perceived pecuniary problems, to paraphrase the Bard in Hamlet: “Methinks the ladies and lads doth protest a bit too much.”

The bible says in Ecclesiastes, “Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income.” I’m not sure that this quote applies to the majority of community oncologists, but all of them and all of us would be well advised to recall what Johnny Carson, a comedian of biblical talent, once said: “The only thing money gives you is the freedom of not worrying about money.”

Finally, decreased Medicare reimbursements may not be all bad. In fact they may be doing some good. How ironic that I just yesterday read this article in the December 15 issue of The Journal of the National Cancer Institute: Decreased Physician Reimbursement for Hormone Therapy May Have Reduced Over-treatment of Low-risk Prostate Cancer.

Now there’s something that, if true, would make any idealistic premedical student smile.

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 Julie Priddle, Account Director, Palio

We are entering a time of the year when we not only have to think ahead in terms of planning for our clients and their business, but also planning on just how we are going to get everything done, visit everyone, prepare for all the coming holiday events, and gauge if we will have enough in the bank to provide gifts for our families and friends during this time of giving.

Yesterday, I saw some great work in an ad campaign encouraging people in my neighborhood to remember those less fortunate, to wonder why we don’t see more homelessness under our noses. It was superb in that it reminded me (and I’m sure everyone else who sees it), that our local area provides for the needy in so many ways, yet is not representative of how many people are facing desperate times right now. But why it was so poignant is the way it showed that though these programs keep the homeless out of sight, we can never keep them out of mind.

The impact of a recession that affects each of us in different ways, has taken an even harder toll on the nation’s charities – big and small.  Forty percent say donations are way down, many say that the number of volunteers has dropped too. Donors are down as well as the size of their contributions. In a May 2009 study, it was shown that the poorest American’s contributed more to charity in terms of their gross income than the richest American’s. Imagine over a year later that those people have been hit hardest by the recession, and it is no wonder that donations are down for so many US charitable organizations. Add to this thought that the shelters, food banks, children’s charities  - any charity that comes to mind is likely to have an even greater need as the numbers of homeless, hungry, poor  increases in size monthly.

So as the malls begin to host the Salvation Army bell ringers, and more and more organizations ask you to give, and we are asked to help toward food drives, toy drives, and helping out this group and that group, let’s stop for a moment and consider if the proverbial shoe was on the other foot. Do we need that extra pie on the table, can the kids receive one less game for their DSi, do you really need another scarf or iTune or DVD player? Perhaps dig out all your change and have it at the ready to drop into those cans, bottles and other receptacles, send a check to your local charity or volunteer your time – something, anything that will make a difference to someone in need this holiday season. It might be your own perfect gift too.

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 Jeremy Lichtenberger, Senior Brand Planner, Palio

I never thought I would say this, but I was thrilled the other day when I saw my daughter talking on her cell phone. If you don’t have a teenager (otherwise known as “screenagers”)  you may have missed the key word in that last sentence. Here it is again with a little emphasis; I was thrilled when I saw my daughter TALKING on her cell phone. You see, last month we had to have a little sit-down about her text usage – I thought that over 5,000 in 21 days was a tad too many. She is almost 16 and, like most teenagers, she communicates with her friends through text message for just about everything.

Teenagers rarely use email anymore because it’s considered too slow, but that’s just the reality of “The Digital Generation,” or “Millennials.” I became a father at a young age and you’d think that would have advantages in terms of being able to communicate with my kid. Not quite. The evolution of communication through new technologies like texting, instant message, Skype, Web cams and more has made good ole one-on-one conversation a lost art. Having a personal conversation while looking someone in the eyes is a special way of connecting with one another and I cherish the connections my daughter and I make through this “old-school” medium.

Millennials are attached to their devices, and actual verbal conversations amongst each other are becoming more rare every day. So whether you are a parent of a Millennial or a marketer, or both (as I am), it’s important to realize that connecting generations starts with understanding the latest generation because, as is always the case, it’s the youth that change the world.

This short movie titled, “We All Want to be Young,” is the result of several studies developed by BOX1824 in the past 5 years. BOX1824 is a Brazilian research company that specializes in behavioral sciences and consumer trends. It does a nice job of summarizing the differences between past generations and the Millenials of today.

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 Alan Steele, VP, Head of Art, Managed Markets, Palio

Currently, the U.S. leads the world in the amount it pays for healthcare – a whopping 17.3 percent of the gross domestic product in 2009 – according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. As A. Mark Fendrick of the University of Michigan and his colleagues wrote in the December 2009 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care: “In short, we pay more than any other country for healthcare, but get less.”  On top of that, poor adherence increases annual healthcare costs in the U.S. by $290 billion according to the New England Healthcare Institute (NEHI).

Closed systems. In spirit, there is no healthcare “system” in America; there are various disconnected players guarding their turf. Stakeholders such as empowered patients, enlightened policy makers, treatment-deciding providers, cost-conscious payers, and profit-driven manufacturers measure value differently. For instance, a manufacturer sees value as the efficacy of a drug versus placebo based on select clinical trials while a payer thinks of a drug’s use as a loss (cost) to its members (patients). Our country needs consensus among all stakeholders, an understanding that revolves around a universal definition of better health: improved outcomes using more economical treatments and advanced tools for diagnosis and patient adherence.

Open system. Managed care is defined as the delivery of the best care for a specific patient at a particular time. This is reached by transparency. Transparency is a broad-scale initiative enabling consumers to compare the quality and price of health care services, so they can make informed choices about doctors and hospitals. In cooperation with America’s largest employers and the medical profession, this initiative is laying the foundation for pooling and analyzing information about procedures, hospitals and physician services. When this data foundation is in place, regional health information alliances will turn the raw data into useful information for consumers.

Government initiatives. The U.S. government, under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), has allocated over one billion dollars to several agencies including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to increase studies which compare drugs and their effectiveness in certain populations. This is called Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER). One of CER’s goals is to cease the “adopt everything for everyone model” and to initiate the “adopt when appropriate” model. Three current inefficiencies in healthcare are overuse, misuse, or underuse of treatments or services. Evidence-based research obtained in real world settings will be used by the FDA to force manufacturers to demonstrate the value of new drugs. Pre-selecting patients and incorporating bio-markers, laboratory measurements indicating a disease or process occurring in the body, will bring us closer to “personalized medicine.” Electronic medical records filled with valuable patient data could also help improve the selection of patients who respond to therapies.

Extracts: “The New Value Equation”, Mike May, Scientific American Pathways. “The Social Life of Health Information,” Pew Internet and American Life project, June 2009. “Value-Driven Health Care,” http://archive.hhs.gov/valuedriven/index.html

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.