PM Society Advertising Awards 2009

At 12h00 on January 29th, 1,300 guests gathered in the ballroom of the Grosvenor House hotel, Park Lane, in London, for the 24th annual PM Society Advertising Awards, which aim to promote pharmaceutical marketing excellence.

According to the awards chairman, Neil Smith, the quantity of this year’s entries held up to previous years, despite difficult times for the industry in 2009. He added that, significantly, and despite the inaugural PM Society Digital Media Awards held only a few months ago, there were as many digital entries as GP press advertisements. "This clearly reflects the way our communications are changing," Mr Smith said.

The very capable host this year was comedian, actor and presenter, Alexander Armstrong, who introduced entertainers – solo beatbox artist, Beardyman, and stand up comedian, Paul Thorne, before running through presentations of the 19 awards. While all winners are worthy of acknowledgement, Langland must be singled out for setting a new record for the highest number of categories won by one agency since the awards began. Langland's achievement comprised craft awards for best detailing aid (Neurobloc for Eisai UK), best hospital campaign (Compass for Schering-Plough), best international core campaign (Neurobloc for Eisai UK), best patient information campaign (real danger for Pfizer), best hospital journal advertisement (Compass chairs for Schering Plough), best journal advertisement campaign (Compass for Schering-Plough), and target audience awards for best healthcare industry journal advertisement and best hospital journal advertisement.

An inaugural 'digital pioneer award' was presented to Mark Prince, UK brand manager at Lundbeck, and Neil Smith received a special surprise award in recognition of his 10th year as award chair.

The charity supported again this year was the Princess Royal Trust for Carers (PRTC), and chief executive of the Trust, Carole Cochrane, gave a moving tribute to those adults and children who devote their lives to caring for loved ones. She said being a carer should not mean a life of poverty and isolation, and called on attendees to help the PRTC to help them, adding that these dedicated individuals save the NHS £87bn a year. £12,337 was raised in donations from attendees at the event.

Photographs of the winners can be viewed in the PMLiVE photo gallery.