5 C’s of "discover" -- and how social media monitoring is applied

On Monday, I posted an article on my agency blog on tools to analyze the social media environment.

I shared some details on the social insights listening methods we can use in each of the 5C’s:

1.  Category – Document the language used by customers to describe the class, mechanisms of disease, modes of action, and the dynamics of care.  Capture both the words and visuals found throughout social media.  Analyze the frequency of use, as well as the context.
2.  Competition – Audit competitive online promotions.  Moreover, verify customers’ positives responses or negative reactions (using social media monitoring tools, such as Atlerian SM2 and Scoutlabs).
3.  Clinical – Compare and contrast how audiences are talking on social platforms.  Uncover opportunities for message clarity about the disease and treatment options.  Monitor products in the pipeline through social reaction to press releases, clinical trial updates, and investor communication.
4.  Customer – Evaluate forums where like-minded physicians are gathering or patients with similar conditions are interacting.  Identify channels for community management, content planning, and media engagement. Target the diverse stakeholders who are potentially impacting information and decisions of the customers.
5.  Culture – Assess social exchanges in broader cultural contexts, such as payer environments, practice settings, legal controversies, or patient advocacy positions.

Read more about this, along with a recent example of this kind of listening, on the "Brand Liberator" blog at GSW Worldwide.

6 research tools we’ve used lately to leverage social media in Discover stage

 Earlier this week, I posted a blog for my agency on ways to use social media to LISTEN, not just share.

At the heart of an account planner’s role is the ability to listen to what customers knows about a brand, how they feel about it, and how they use it.

That’s why we always have looked for new and better techniques to understand what they like, what they say to their friends, what they associate the brand with, and how they experience the brand – all in hopes of moving toward brand loyalty.

No wonder social media insight is proving such a powerful qualitative research modality.

Today, account planners can observe and learn from online communities by following the real-world conversations that take place there. Through networks (LinkedIn, Facebook), blogs, forums (WebMD, PatientsLikeMe), bookmarking (StumbleUpon, del.icio.us), podcasts, visual content communities (Flickr, Pinterest, YouTube), and micro-blogs (Twitter), we can construct a more complete picture of how a brand fits into a customer’s life.

In addition social conversations already taking place, we can use social media platforms to create our own source of customer research. Here are just a few tools we’ve used lately in our Discover stage with clients:

1. Online focus groups
2. Webcam one-on-one interviews
3. Content monitoring services and text analysis software
4. Keyword search analysis
5. SEO and linking research
6. Brand story and concept evaluation surveys

Read more by clicking on the "Brand Liberator" blog post at GSW Worldwide

N-of-8 case study: Exanta (ximlegagatran) for anticoagulation

I was thinking back to the big ideas that often emerge from N-of-8 story development.

Many of these need more rigorous study. Of course, a great brand story must be supported by the science and must navigate treacherous regulatory waters.

One agent, Exanta (ximelagatran) looked quite promising as a new anticoagulation agent with less need for monitoring than the standard treatment, warfarin.   

This story seemed to be upheld in progressing clinical studies, right up until the FDA reviewed the submission for Exanta and rejected it. 

According to reports, the FDA did not approve ximelagatran primarily for safety reasons related to the drug's effect on liver function in 6% - 12% of patients taking ximelagatran for at least 3 to 6 months. 

However, the FDA failed to recognize the efficacy of ximelagatran, which was supported by the literature and was uniformly recognized by experts in the field.  Plus, its position on this specific agent also erected almost insurmountable hurdles for new drug development in the entire field.

Until recently.

It's very interesting to watch the novel oral anticoagulants enter the market with this backdrop.

9 Environments that control you -- and how to take control of them

The environments that we live in—all 9 of them—either inspire us or expire us. 

They facilitate our success or they detract from our success. They energize us or they drain us. They relax us or they stress us. 

The good news, writes Jack Canfield, is that we have a lot of control of the environments that affect us. We can de-clutter our office, create better filing systems, paint a wall, redecorate a room, clean out the garage, join a health club, hire a personal trainer, buy a treadmill or some free weights, join a yoga class, join a mastermind group, move to a new area, take walks in the park, schedule more time with friends, stop hanging out with negative people, hire a coach, hire a financial planner, join an investment club, feng shui your home or apartment, or subscribe to a positive magazine. 

Jack  says, "While it is true that our environments exert a lot of control over our feelings and behavior, we have the power to create environments that positively impact us."

The only thing you can do to transform an environment is to add something (a new person, a new piece of equipment, a new belief), delete something (a negative person, the TV from your bedroom, a self-limiting belief, clutter), or modify something (paint a room, set a boundary with a family member, change where you eat dinner).

As you review the 9 environments that constantly surround you in your life, ask yourself:

"What could I add, delete or modify in each of these environments that would contribute to my success or enhance the quality of my life?"

See the full list at www.jackcanfield.com

3 videos from The Great Mohican Pow-Wow

Pow-Wow time is the Native American people’s way of meeting together, to join in dancing, signing, and visiting renewing old friendships and make new ones. 

This is a time to renew thought of the old ways and to preserve a rich heritage.

Pow-Wow singers are very important figures in the Native American culture. Without them there would be no dancing. The songs are of many varieties, from religion to war to social. As various tribes gathered together, they would share their sings, often changing the songs so signers of different tribes could join. With these changes came the use of “vocables” to replace the words of the old songs. Thus, some songs today are sung in vocables with no words. Yet they still hold special meaning to those who know the song. Many songs are still sung in native tongue either newly composed or revivals of old songs. These songs are reminders to the Indian people of their ways of rich heritage.

Dancers have always been a very important part of the life of the American Indian. Most dancers seen at the Pow-Wows today are social dances which might have had different meanings in earlier days. 

Although dance styles and content have changes, their meaning and importance has not. 

The outfits worn by dancers, like the style of clothing today evolve over time; it is not a stagnant culture, but a vibrant and changing way of life.

Lucas on Dwellable

4 decades of music in one evening: Crosby, Stills & Nash at Idaho Botanical Gardens

More than four decades since CSN first harmonized in Laurel Canyon -- and played their first concert as a trio at the legendary Woodstock festival -- its members continue a creative partnership that is one of the most influential and enduring in music.

David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Graham Nash have each been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame two times-once with Crosby, Stills & Nash, and a second time with The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, and The Hollies, respectively.

They have also been inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame, with the honor recognizing both CSN as a group, and each member as individual solo artists.

Global blog readers expand my horizons for innovation

I always enjoy seeing where my blog readers are coming from.

Just in the last day or so, we’ve had visitors from US locations, including:

• Alexandria, Virginia
• Baltimore, Maryland
• Cedar City, Utah 
• Ithaca, New York
• Phoenix, Arizona
• Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 
• San Diego, California
• Sturbridge, Massachusetts
• Sunnyvale, California
• Troy, Ohio

And we’ve had visitors from locations all over the world, such as:

• Bombay, Maharashtra
• Den Haag, Zuid-Holland
• Hanoi, Vietnam
• Johannesburg, South Africa
• Leicester, United Kingdom
• Lima, Peru
• Samokov, Macedonia
• Santiago, Chile
• Singapore, Singapore
• Sydney, Australia

1,674 works at the MAC Museum of Rio, Brazil

During my trip this summer to Rio, I spent my last afternoon at the Niterói Contemporary Art Museum (Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói), or MAC.

It is situated in the city of Niterói, Brazil, and is one of the city’s main landmarks.

The idea of building a contemporary art museum came about in 1991 when Joao Leao Sattamini Neto offered his collection in the city of Niteroi, including works by the leading names in Brazilian art from the last 60 years. 

The Niteroi Town Hall began constructing Oscar Niemeyer’s architectonic design in 1992, and the museum was officially opened on September 2, 1996. 

Its privileged location provides a panoramic view of the Guanabara Bay, featuring monuments and landmarks in al directions, such as the Santa Cruz Fort, Boa Viagem Island with its age-old church, in Niteroi, and Corcovado and Sugarloaf Mountain, in Rio de Janeiro.

The MAC de Niteroi collection is composed of 1,118 works in the Sattamini Collection and 556 works in the museum’s own collection, gathered through donations and acquisitions, and features artists such as:

• Abraham Palatnik
• Amilcar de Castro
• Anna Bella Geiger
• Antionio Dias
• Antonio Manuel
• Artur Barrio
• Beatriz Milhazes
• Carlos Vergara
• Carlos Zilio
• Cildo Meireles
• Daniel Senise
• Farnese de Andrade
• Flavio Shiro
• Felipe Barbosa
• Franz Weirssmann
• Helio Oiticica
• Iole de Freitas,
• Jorge Guinle
• Lygia Clark
• Lygia Pape
• Leda Catunda
• Mira Schendel
• Nelson Leirner
• Oscar Niemeyer
• Raimundo Colares
• Roberto Magalhaes
• Rubens Gerchman
• Sergio Camargo
• Tomie Ohtake
• Tunga
• Victor Arruda
• Waltercio Caldas