Join the bowel movement!
Bowel Cancer Awareness Month (formerly Bowel Cancer Awareness Week) is well underway. Now in its thirteenth year, the initiative aims to raise public awareness of a disease that claims the lives of 77 Australians every week. According to Bowel Cancer Australia, the disease is the second most common type of newly diagnosed cancer in Australia affecting both…
Latest tool for pharma marketers now available
The latest version of a global tool that provides up-to-date information on pharmaceutical marketing, public relations and advertising codes across 16 countries, is now available thanks to our GLOBALHealthPR network. Now in its third edition, The Global Guide to Pharma Marketing Codes, provides guidance for responsible health care public relations at local and global levels.…
Short-changing yourself on sleep?
Are you getting sufficient shut-eye, or short-changing yourself on sleep? As the mother of a newborn, it’s a topic with which I am very familiar. Experts suggest up to eight hours of sleep is required for optimal function. Insufficient sleep can compromise your health and potentially shorten your life. From birth to the grave,…
From corporate responsibility to corporate sociability
Think back a few years and the buzz word of the business world was CSR (corporate social responsibility). In 2012, sustainability was on everyone’s agenda, but this year there’s been an apparent shift to sociability. Sociability relates to an organisation’s online presence and its level of online social engagement. It’s seen as a way of…
International Men’s Health Week June 10-16 – ‘Health Snapshots’
Australian men have a higher death rate and lower life expectancy than Australian women. It’s a sobering statistic and one that International Men’s Health Week aims to address as it returns this year with a new theme – Health Snapshots. It will be a week of awareness and focus on the issues and opportunities faced…
What ‘The Great Gatsby’ can teach us about PR
Team VIVA! recently attended the opening night of The Great Gatsby at a local Sydney cinema and inspired by an article we read, What ‘The Great Gatsby’ can teach us about PR, we have come up with our own analysis of what lessons the acclaimed 1920s novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald may hold for PR…
Q & A with the great Mr Microsoft
Recently, billionaire and philanthropist, Bill Gates, featured on ABC’s Q&A, which was broadcast live from the University of New South Wales. 900 people attended the live Q&A session to see, and hear from, the founder of Microsoft and one of the world’s most generous philanthropists through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The Foundation is…
To vaccinate or not to vaccinate
It’s a hotly debated topic at the moment – to vaccinate or not to vaccinate your children? As a small and reportedly increasing group of vocal parents continue to question the efficacy of vaccines and whether their potential risks outweigh their benefits, public confidence in immunisation appears to be eroding. Many of these “conscientious vaccine…
Team VIVA! expands
VIVA! Communications wishes to announce the introduction of a new member to the VIVA! crew. VIVA! Principal, Kirsten Bruce, gave birth to Tristan Hugo Robert on Friday, May 17 at 3.56pm, weighing in at 3.63kgs and 51.5cm long. Kirsten’s family is thrilled to have welcomed their first son into the world, who joins older siblings,…
Eight popular Medical Myths busted!
In our job as professional communicators, we take pride in educating the public on health issues and the best possible treatments available. As part of most campaigns there’s an element of debunking medical myths and dealing with contradictions. Sometimes old-wives’ tales don’t stack up that well against medical facts, but they can be more persistent…