Brandcast Media

Working hard in Milan

Well it had been nearly a month since we’d been on a plane and there was a big oncology meeting, so we really had to go to Milan. None of us wanted to, but when you are the agency that manages the digital content for a leading cancer journal, there are some burdens that you just have to bear and excellent Italian food and wine aside, this was definitely work. I mean obviously there was a bit of sunshine and we did spot Rutger Hauer in one of the restaurants, but mostly, we filmed high quality interviews and round table discussions with leading European oncologists at the 35^th European Society of Medical Oncologists (ESMO) meeting in the Fiera Milano conference centre… And drank a beer or two with the locals in the bar, by the hotel.

Eastern Europe. Cold, dark, brutal communist architecture, outdated engineering, unfriendly people – mistrusting of the west. Apparently not in Prague. Brandcast’s first trip behind the iron curtain was an absolute delight. Lovely friendly people, stunning old buildings, beautiful autumnal sunshine and the aptly named Skoda Superb always on hand to glide us through the streets. Only the economic oddity of everything being ‘about a tenner’ caused any consternation… How much is the cabbage soup in pounds? About a tenner. How much is a pizza? About a tenner. How much are 2 beers? About a tenner. How much are 3 beers? About a tenner… Are you sure we’ve got the exchange rate right? Probably not. Still, with 15 interviews and podcasts from the International Gynecologic [sic] Cancer Society (IGCS) biennual meeting in the can, we can’t complain and that Irish bar looks lovely. Now.. How much is a pint of guiness?

Gold Winner:  ecancermedicalscience.com

Category: Web TV

Produced by: Brandcast Media

For:  Cancer Intelligence

We were very excited to be named Gold Winners at the IVCA Awards on Friday night. The awards are the most acclaimed celebration of effective business and public sector communications in video, interactive projects, business television and digital media across Europe.  The ceremony was held at the Grosvenor House Hotel, and was attended by over 700 commissioners, government representatives and industry colleagues. One of our favourite cameramen, Robin Fox also scooped a Gold Award for Best Photography.

David Bowie once described Berlin as “the greatest cultural extravaganza that one could imagine.” So off we all tootled to ECCO 15 – ESMO 34 – Europe’s biggest cancer conference with 15,000 delegates arriving over the space of 4 days.

Berlin’s ICC is a strange place, although as one of the team said, “If there was a nuclear explosion at least we’d be safe” – no windows, heavy doors and very easy to get lost in.  In fact we spent a good half hour trying to find one of the stands.

The congress though was a huge success though, full of fascinating symposia and we got some great interview coverage for ecancer.tv

Other highlights included

- Watching Dave and Steve’s sting at the Opening Session and being blown away by how good it was
- All the boys curled up under fluffy blankets after a hard days work – telling stories and listening to some seriously dodgy tunes
- The prof snoozing with the camera crew
- J snoozing during one of the symposia
- The boss fitting in as many flights as poss over the space of 24 hours
- Bagels

Looking forward to Stockholm in 2011!

Tis the land where the columbines grow,
Overlooking the plains far below,
While the cool summer breeze in the evergreen trees
Softly sings where the columbines grow.

Jon, Claire and Linda are busy filming at AARC in Denver for ecancer.tv. Had to battle through a snow storm but all safely there to film. We’ve just put them on twitter so Jon was busy tweeting in between takes.