Pegasus post

Pegasus has a sweet time exploring a factory

Posted by LauraJ in Clients No comments»

While most people are clinging onto the last precious weeks of summer, Pegasus has been gearing up for the winter months and preparing for the launch of Covonia’s new cough and cold lozenge.  To learn more about the product before the launch, we were lucky enough to witness the lozenge being made in a sweet shop up in Yorkshire. 

The factory is still rich in tradition, retaining its Victorian origins and while it was a far cry from Willy Wonka, it wasn’t without its ‘magic’. Brightly coloured lollipops speeding down conveyer belts, men in overalls trundling huge vats of goo between old-fashioned machinery, eye-watering smells and the taste of warm candy hot off the belt, it was an assault on all senses that didn’t disappoint.

Delving into the world of a sweet factory was fascinating, as was following the production journey, from raw materials right through to the final packaged product and now we are fully prepared to answer any question on the production of the new Covonia lozenge!

‘Guilt Free’ snacking with Elizabeth Hurley

Posted by LauraJ in Celebrity, Clients, Team No comments»

Last week, lucky members of the Holland & Barrett team went to the King’s Road to meet up with Elizabeth Hurley, as she popped into her local branch of the national health food retailer. As well as checking on the progress of her own brand of ‘Guilt Free’ snack bars, Elizabeth took the chance to stock up on healthy diet products and chat to staff about life on her organic farm in Gloucestershire, including the birth of her new  piglet.

Holland & Barrett has been working with Elizabeth since May, after it became the first high street chain to stock her snack bars – which have gone down fantastically well with consumers, the media and the Pegasus office!

New award added to the Pegasus trophy shelf

Posted by LauraJ in Clients, Pegasus, Team No comments»

Another fantastic achievement last week as Pegasus picked up the Communiqué Award for Best Consumer Health Programme for the successive year.

The educational campaign ‘Once a Week, Take a Peek’, highlights the importance of weekly head lice checks, providing simple advice aimed at tackling parental confusion about how to treat the problem.

The campaign managed to see off tough competition and clearly impressed the judges, who commented, “Such a fine example of medical and consumer tactics working well together. They used a clever, creative platform, uncovering a huge knowledge gap amongst parents. Very thorough and beautifully executed”.

Joy of Sound

Posted by LauraJ in Celebrity, Clients No comments»

As part of Hear the World – an initiative for Phonak – we have been helping launch the ‘Joy of Sound’ photography competition. The competition invites people to submit a photograph that captures the joy that sound can bring. For some it is laughter or music and others it may be simply peace and quiet, but for everyone sound is an integral part of how we experience the world around us. The winning photo will be selected by a panel of judges and there are lots of prizes to be won, including a Nikon digital camera, iPod Touches and Audéo Perfect Fit earphones.

Hear the World is a global campaign, highlighting the importance of hearing and the consequences of hearing loss.  In the past we have helped raise awareness for this campaign by promoting photographer and musician, Bryan Adams photography exhibition, which is packed with iconic images of well known celebrities, including Annie Lennox, Moby, Mischa Barton and Amy Winehouse.

The competition has only been running a few weeks and already there are some great photographs.  Check out the entries, vote or even submit a photo yourself via the Hear the Word website: http://www.hear-the-world.com/

150 women shape up in Trafalgar Square

Posted by Stuart in Clients, Social media No comments»

The team embarked on a fitball frenzy this week, when we created the UK’s largest fitball workout for Simplyhealth. The event – held in Trafalgar Square – saw 150 women come together to launch The Vitality Show and raise £15,000 for Breast Cancer Campaign. All the women were recruited in just eight days through a mix of Facebook, Twitter and traditional media relations. We had a great turnout from TV, radio and print media and even managed to secure a plug on the ITV London News.

Case Study: Training and support for pharmacies

Posted by LauraJ in Clients, Health news No comments»

For parents, head lice are a frustrating problem and recognising that pharmacy is often their first port of call for advice, Pegasus gathered together a group of pharmacy experts at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society to discuss what the key issues are and what can be done to help parents tackle head lice effectively.

The debate was organised on behalf of leading head lice treatment, Hedrin and followed a report it commissioned into effective head lice management in the UK, which found that families have felt abandoned by health professionals, with half driven to despair by head lice.

The group discussed and devised ten golden rules for advising parents about head lice. These rules are currently being edited down by the group and will be used to help train and support pharmacists, as well as offered to journalists alongside the report findings.

To maximise the debate, journalists from pharmacy title OTC and the health section of the Daily Mail were invited along as exclusive media attendees, generating pieces in each title.

Riding the news agenda

Posted by LauraJ in Clients, Media No comments»

As well as shaping the headlines, a good press office rides the news agenda, often having to react at the drop of a hat in order to stand a chance of success. As well as requiring quick thinking, this requires planning and preparation, ensuring you have quality resources to hand – both in the form of case studies and expert commentators. Recently, we’ve put this into practice for a couple of clients in the weight loss sector.

Just before Christmas, Dawn French  allegedly said she wanted to ban jokes about fat people for good, and that any woman who doesn’t like chocolate must be a ‘complete bitch’.  Since obesity levels are still rising rapidly, this comment was viewed by many in the press as irresponsible.  Pegasus jumped on the story, offering up new GP statistics about attitudes towards obesity and interviews with some of our consultant dieticians.  The team’s quick actions generated positive, branded coverage across the nationals press, including The Daily Mail, Daily Express and Daily Telegraph and a broadcast interview on Channel 5 News.

This side of Christmas there has been a lot of media coverage surrounding ex-EastEnder and Calendar Girls actress, Hannah Waterman’s rapid weight loss.  After news broke that she had split from her husband following a crash diet for her fitness DVD, we were quickly able to offer the  media weight loss case studies with similar stories, resulting in double page features in Reveal, The Sun and the Daily Mirror - all appearing within a week of the original story breaking.

Changing rooms star undergoes personal makeover

Posted by LauraJ in Celebrity, Clients 1 comment»

Since the summer, we’ve been working with celebrity interior designer and TV favourite, Anna Ryder-Richardson, who at 45 yrs old decided it was time for a bit of a personal makeover.

Anna underwent a course of Sculptra, a collagen stimulation treatment that increases facial volume and reduces lines and wrinkles. During her treatment we used cutting-edge 3-D photography to demonstrate Sculptra at work, with the final results generating some great column inches, including the Mail on Sunday, Celebs on Sunday and Woman magazine.

In a bid to spread the word far and wide, we have also been touring the country with Anna, visiting Sculptra clinics in Richmond, Newcastle, Birmingham, Southampton and Swansea. The events have all gone down a storm, with Anna talking freely about coping with the pressures of ageing, working in show business, as well as waxing lyrical about how the treatment has given her a huge confidence boost.

Pegasus ends year with an OTC award hat-trick!

Posted by LauraJ in Clients No comments»

Pegasus secured a hat-trick of OTC awards, as it picked up the OTC Marketing Campaign of the Year trophy at the Pharmaceutical Marketing Effectiveness Awards (PMEA) last night. This, coupled with the OTC Marketing and Communique awards, completed an OTC Grand Slam for Pegasus in 2009 – a fantastic feat.

The PMEA awards recognise and reward marketing effectiveness in the UK and European pharmaceutical industry.  Campaigns for Colief, Hedrin and Covonia were shortlisted in four categories but in the end it was Colief’s ‘A Problem Shared’ that picked up the gong. The judges commented:

“A memorable and impressive campaign – such clever imagery.  They engaged healthcare professionals and reached out to patients well outside the traditional parenting media. The results significantly exceeded all expectations.”

Earlier in the year, Hedrin picked up ‘Best OTC Public Relations Campaign for a Medicine’  at the OTC Marketing Awards and Colief won ‘Best OTC Product Campaign’ at the Communiqué Awards.

Burt’s Bees and the University of Sussex unite for natural partnership

Posted by LauraJ in Clients No comments»

As part of our CSR work for Burt’s Bees, we’ve teamed up with the University of Sussex and pledged £50,000 to help better understand Colony Collapse Disorder – the sudden disappearance of honey bee colonies. This is a serious worldwide threat to the countryside and more needs to be done to find out why it is happening.

The University of Sussex has developed a five year plan comprising of four projects studying honey bee health and well being.  The Burt’s Bees sponsorship will be directed towards the study of the British countryside as an environment for honey bees. The waggle dances of worker bees will be decoded to determine the habitats and distances from the hive that honey bees collect food and the plants they visit. This information will be used to make recommendations for land use in both rural and urban areas that benefit honey bees and beekeepers. Burt’s Bees is also planning fund raising activity to further support the Sussex research and we’re very excited to be helping in such a worthy cause.