Marina Maher Communications

Image courtesy of photography-match.com

I’ve had the privilege of spending the past two weeks at AXON Communications, MMC’s medical communications partner in London.  It’s been a unique opportunity to gain a new perspective on what it’s like to work on global public relations in a country outside the US. While the foundation of our business remains the same, the experience has really driven home the importance of keeping local cultural and business nuances top of mind when working on global business, which many of us at MMC do.  Here are some of my recent takeaways:

1. When building market awareness for a new disease treatment, it is critical to understand the complexities of each country’s healthcare system, the differences in treatment guidelines and access to treatments by country or region.  I work for a client in the area of fertility, for example, where there are significant disparities in treatment access, funding and policies across Europe.
2. Social media offers marketers huge potential to reach consumers directly – but it’s critical to understand the best way to use it locally.  A recent BBC article noted that worldwide revenues from social media sites such as Facebook are on track to reach $10 billion this year. However, the ways in which you activate individual social media properties vary depending the country and your brand objectives. A recent study on social media usage in the UK found women are more likely to connect with others on Facebook,  while men are more likely to use LinkedIn and Foursquare.
3. Despite cultural differences, language barriers, economic factors or government regulations, women around the globe – the target for most of the products MMC represents –want to share  their ideas, goals and emotions. This desire to share builds bonds between women.  It is our job to determine how best to leverage their influence to build ambassadors on behalf of our brands.

What differences, or similarities, have you observed in working on a global scale?

Since I’m probably not becoming an actress any time soon, watching the Oscars on TV is the closest I’m going to get to the red carpet. So instead my friends and I make our own celebration by developing dishes and concocting cocktails in honor of the year’s nominated films.

This was our third annual Oscar Party and as usual, everyone impressed with their creativity and unique interpretations of how to bring a movie to life in edible form.

This year’s dishes were:

• Fried Chicken & Biscuits (“Precious”)
• Pie in the Sky (“Up in the Air”)
• Popped Up Popcorn (“Up”)
• Brownie/Cookie Combo with the Alphabet on Top (“An Education”)
• Quentin Tarantini with Champagne and Chambord (“Inglorious Bastards”)
• Manischewitz-tini with Vodka and Cranberry Juice (“A Serious Man”)
• Blue Chip Fried Chicken (“Avatar”)
• Vegetable Quiche (“Fantastic Mr. Fox”)
• Beef Bourguignon (“Julie & Julia”)
• Black and White Bean Dip with Homemade Pita Chips (“Blind Side”)

The party was a success, even though some dresses were not. Personally I thought J. Lo looked like bubble wrap and SJP was wearing a nightgown…but without these risk takers what would we have to talk about on Monday morning?!

P.S. Big shout out to the agency for raising $205 for Chilean earthquake victims through our MMC for a Cause Oscar pool and congrats to Megan Svensen on winning!

As my MMC blog description states, I’m an “Obsessive University of Michigan Fan.” So it’s not surprising that every year since I’ve graduated I’ve traveled back to Ann Arbor. This year, I braved the cold and rain to stand outside and cheer on the Wolverines during this weekend’s Michigan vs. Penn State football game. Despite the bad weather and embarrassing game, I still had a fabulous weekend surrounded by great friends, good food, a gorgeous campus and lots of laughs. Even though years have passed, new stores have opened and buildings are always under construction, the overwhelming feeling of happiness and contentment is constant. I’m so grateful for my amazing college experience filled with a high quality education, unbelievable friendships, exciting sporting events and great memories…all of which prepared me for the real world.

As I sit in a cube surrounded by Michigan paraphernalia (including a coffee mug, mouse pad, calendar and newly acquired water bottle), a little bit of my passion for the maize and blue is brought to MMC every day. Engrained in my personality and fueled by four years full of school spirit in Ann Arbor, is an enthusiasm and excitement for everything I do. Whether changing the way society views feminine care or increasing awareness for serious health conditions such as heart disease, I take each task at hand as a challenge that, similar to Michigan defensive lineman….I can’t wait to tackle!

What could be better than spending a rainy Saturday afternoon curled up in bed catching up on the DVR?!? Well if you’re a huge Mets fan like me…cheering on the team at their brand new stadium!

Despite the weather, I headed out to CitiField with a group of friends to partake in the sporting event tradition of tailgating. We parked under an overpass to protect us from the rain, fired up the grill, put on the radio and got the cooking underway. After countless ribs, hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, cupcakes, cookies and obviously, a few beers…we began to pack up in time for the first pitch. Just one minor hiccup…playing the radio had killed the battery and the car wouldn’t start. “No big deal,” we said to ourselves. “We’ll just figure it out after the game…we’re dedicated fans after all!”

From the extremely friendly stadium staff who gave us a hearty welcome as we walked through the gates, to my surprise at finding out it was FREE HAT day, the rain did not put a damper on my trip to the ballpark. However, Mother Nature didn’t cooperate and after an on-and-off drizzle through seven innings, it began to pour and the umpires called a rain delay. We hung around for a while, but eventually decided to leave. After getting the car jump started, I made it home just as the game resumed and curled up in my bed to watch the last two innings. Guess I got the best of both worlds?!

So even though it rained…and even though the Mets lost…it was a Saturday well spent in my book! GO METS!

Although I’m usually not an early bird on the weekends, I didn’t mind getting up at 10am (early for me!) on Sunday for my first touch football game, especially since it was one of the nicest days of the year so far. I trekked up to 138th and Riverside to meet my new ZogSports team for the season opening scrimmage. ZogSports is a co-ed sports league for young professionals in New York City. They organize leagues for a bunch of different sports and even plan trips, social events and volunteer opportunities. The league also donates a portion of all proceeds to charity and helps participants “Play For Your Cause” through donations to winning teams’ charities of choice. In five years, ZogSports has had over 50,000 participants and has donated almost half a million dollars!

I’ve played on a bunch of different ZogSports teams over the past few years (softball, volleyball, soccer), but this was my first foray into football. I only knew one person on the team and was looking forward to meeting a bunch of new people and being outside on such a beautiful day.

So after some brief introductions and a lot of joking around, the games began! It started with a lot running…accidentally knocking a girl over…profusely apologizing…some more running…an attempt to catch the ball…I dropped it….then caught it…but that one didn’t count because I was out of bounds…touchdown for the other team…run some more…halftime…catch breath…drink water…ok back on the field….more running…hike the ball…run…touchdown for our team!!…interception…another touchdown for us!!…more running…more touchdowns!!…lose track of score…more running…game over…we win!

All in all it was a great time and pretty easy to get the hang of the more we played. I look forward to a great season, more winning and hopefully a lot less soreness after the next game.