How good are healthcare service companies at PR?
publication date: Jul 14, 2010
I guess I am well placed to answer this question as I spend most of my life trying to contact people in large healthcare groups. People sometimes ask me how I get the information and the answer is persistence, not magic. And, yes, I might use this to settle some scores – but it shows what I go through on your behalf, dear reader.
Let me first say anyone has the right not to talk to the press. But you need to tell journalists that this is your preference up front.
Culture plays a big part. Certainly, Latin countries, particularly France and Italy, are much worse. Phone a Nordic PR person and, often as not, you get through immediately. Embarrassingly, they will answer when on holiday. Germans are also good – culturally, I think Germany is best seen as a large version of Sweden. East Europeans and British are variable. The Spanish can be surprisingly good, which may reflect the fact that most healthcare groups are owned by large concerns who understand PR.
The real shockers are France and Italy which reflect the heirarchical nature of companies in such countries. Here, as a journalist, it can take weeks to contact a PR person. They routinely fail to respond to emails and telephone calls. Communication managers are invariably to be found "in meetings".
In fact, to get through to senior managers you have to go direct.
The worse offender of all is Generale de Sante, an organization well-known for its steadfast refusal to communicate. One of my recent bouts is worth repeating.
To talk to the person in charge of press communications, Gérard Benedetti, you first have to talk to a gatekeeper, called Marie Roux de Louz, who (unhelpfully) works part-time.
Five phone calls over 4 days were not answered or returned. I eventually got through to Marie and asked for Benedetti. This I was told was impossible, unless I first sent Marie an email.
Email communication proved impossible. The GdeS system returned my communication as spam (the only press office to ever do this). Two faxes got through.
The eventual response?
An email from Marie, enclosing some information, which was on the website. At this point, I gave up.
In two years, I have still not managed to talk to Benedetti, the man whose job title suggests his function in life is to talk to the press.
Never mind, there are plenty of analysts, who have faced versions of this, (GdeS’s investor relations is of a similar level, I am told) and are happy to give me their impressions of the group.
So who has the most responsive PRs?
Step forwards Kenneth Wall at Ambea in Sweden, who always answers his mobile and always has a comment. Also Véronique Molières at Medi-Partenaires in France and, in Spain, Mariló Beltrán Rubio at Ribera Salud.
And does responsive PR and investor relations lead to better publicity? Not always, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t have an influence!
Let me first say anyone has the right not to talk to the press. But you need to tell journalists that this is your preference up front.
Culture plays a big part. Certainly, Latin countries, particularly France and Italy, are much worse. Phone a Nordic PR person and, often as not, you get through immediately. Embarrassingly, they will answer when on holiday. Germans are also good – culturally, I think Germany is best seen as a large version of Sweden. East Europeans and British are variable. The Spanish can be surprisingly good, which may reflect the fact that most healthcare groups are owned by large concerns who understand PR.
The real shockers are France and Italy which reflect the heirarchical nature of companies in such countries. Here, as a journalist, it can take weeks to contact a PR person. They routinely fail to respond to emails and telephone calls. Communication managers are invariably to be found "in meetings".
In fact, to get through to senior managers you have to go direct.
The worse offender of all is Generale de Sante, an organization well-known for its steadfast refusal to communicate. One of my recent bouts is worth repeating.
To talk to the person in charge of press communications, Gérard Benedetti, you first have to talk to a gatekeeper, called Marie Roux de Louz, who (unhelpfully) works part-time.
Five phone calls over 4 days were not answered or returned. I eventually got through to Marie and asked for Benedetti. This I was told was impossible, unless I first sent Marie an email.
Email communication proved impossible. The GdeS system returned my communication as spam (the only press office to ever do this). Two faxes got through.
The eventual response?
An email from Marie, enclosing some information, which was on the website. At this point, I gave up.
In two years, I have still not managed to talk to Benedetti, the man whose job title suggests his function in life is to talk to the press.
Never mind, there are plenty of analysts, who have faced versions of this, (GdeS’s investor relations is of a similar level, I am told) and are happy to give me their impressions of the group.
So who has the most responsive PRs?
Step forwards Kenneth Wall at Ambea in Sweden, who always answers his mobile and always has a comment. Also Véronique Molières at Medi-Partenaires in France and, in Spain, Mariló Beltrán Rubio at Ribera Salud.
And does responsive PR and investor relations lead to better publicity? Not always, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t have an influence!