Amendola Taps Philip Anast for General Manager Position

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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., June 30, 2020 – Amendola Communications, a nationally recognized, award-winning healthcare and health IT public relations and marketing agency, has promoted Philip Anast to the position of General Manager, the agency announced today. Anast is a PR agency veteran with more than two decades of experience in account leadership and executive roles at B2B, healthcare/health IT and technology agencies. In alignment with Amendola’s policy to promote from within, Anast previously served as a Senior Account Director at Amendola, providing strategy and oversight for numerous client accounts over the past three years.

As General Manager, Anast is taking on a number of leadership roles. On a daily basis, he handles employee and client relations, and is managing agency-wide best practices. He also manages major agency projects and evaluates and implements new products and services that expand the agency’s digital marketing, social media and analytics capabilities.

“Philip has built an impressive career at PR agencies of all sizes and is ideally suited for the role of Amendola’s General Manager,” said Jodi Amendola, founder and CEO of Amendola Communications. He is objective, solutions-oriented, and cares about agency employees and clients. Philip is not only an exceptional account director, he also brings to the table strong managerial experience.”

In addition to his General Manager role, Anast serves as strategist for a number of accounts.

Anast has served in senior positions in large and small agencies over the years. Prior to joining Amendola,  Anast was Vice President at Chicago-based PR firm Tech Image. During his 15-year tenure there, Anast was instrumental in managing client programs, providing strategic counsel, pitching new business, growing client relationships, teaching best practices and managing finances.

During his prolific career, Anast has provided public relations expertise to clients such as HP, Language Analysis Systems, Motorola, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Kaufman Hall, Vocera (VCRA), Capsule Technologies, Lightbeam Health and others.

“I’m pleased to step into the role of General Manager at Amendola. I see Amendola growing on multiple levels, including our client portfolio, service offerings and account director and support teams,” Anast said. “My chief goal for the new role is to set us up for success as we expand our footprint in public relations, digital and content marketing, and social media.”

Members of the media can access Anast’s bio here.

About Amendola Communications 
Amendola is an award-winning, national public relations, marketing communications, social media and content marketing firm. Named one of the best information technology (IT) PR firms in the nation four times by PRSourceCode, Amendola represents some of the best-known established brands and groundbreaking startups in the healthcare and HIT industries. Amendola’s seasoned team of PR and marketing pros delivers strategic guidance and effective solutions to help organizations boost their reputation and drive market share. For more information about the PR industry’s “A-Team”, visit www.acmarketingpr.com, and follow Amendola on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Media Contact:
Marcia G. Rhodes
Amendola Communications
480.664.8412 ext. 15
mrhodes@acmarketingpr.com

Bulldog PR Awards 2020 Honors Amendola for Air Methods Crisis Management Campaign and Vocera Product Launch

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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. June 4, 2020 Amendola Communications announced today that it has won two 2020 Bulldog PR Awards, solidifying the company’s reputation as a top public relations (PR) and marketing communications agency for healthcare and health IT. The Bulldog PR Awards, which celebrate the best and brightest corporate communications and PR efforts, honored Amendola with a Gold award for a Crisis Communication campaign for its client Air Methods and a Silver award for a Business-to-Business (B2B) Product Launch campaign for long-time client Vocera Communications.

“We are proud to be recognized for the hard work that our team put into executing both metrics-driven campaigns,” said Jodi Amendola, CEO of Amendola. “From September 1, 2018 to July 30, 2019, Air Methods saw their positive PR coverage double from 28% to 45%. The success of the Vocera campaign in generating both traditional and new media hits will serve as a blueprint for future product introductions.”

AIR METHODS

“Amendola Helps Air Methods’ Reputation Take Flight” campaign took Gold in the Best Crisis Management category. Emergency air medical transport service Air Methods called upon Amendola after facing ongoing negative coverage about their pricing model which had been misrepresented by former patients in the media. Amendola took innovative steps through social media outreach, proactive storytelling, localized base engagements, and digital media to change the public perception of Air Methods and the quality of media coverage about the company.

Amendola created an all-encompassing, 40-page, multi-pronged crisis communications playbook to anticipate and help address a myriad of potential challenges. Additionally, the agency crafted a proactive storytelling pipeline that included information about Air Methods’ business goals to curb balance bills, showcased positive patient stories and highlighted the innovative clinical processes that Air Methods created that were impacting the industry. With the proactive storytelling, a large element of the strategy was to implement Air Methods’ first-ever integrated marketing campaign to leverage more channels than ever before to ensure all stakeholders received the message.

By placing a human face on the company Air Methods has been able to use their visibility as an industry leader to encourage other changes to industry practices. For example, it eliminated “memberships” that offered little value if patients were transported by a different company and is now pushing the industry as a whole to do the same.

VOCERA COMMUNICATIONS

“Vocera Calls on Amendola to Introduce Smartbadge Wearable Communications Device” campaign took Silver in the Best B2B Product Launch category. Vocera Communications, whose mission is to simplify and improve the lives of healthcare professionals and patients, while enabling hospitals to enhance quality of care and operation efficiency, launched a voice-activated communications badge, the Smartbadge. A new category of wearable communication devices, the “Smartbadge” enables clinicians to communicate using all the options available in the expanded Vocera Platform voice calling, messaging, clinical alerts/alarms and more.

With intentions of making a splash from the start, Vocera turned to Amendola to develop an integrated PR/marketing strategy that encompassed generating quick visibility during the introductory period (January-February) while also being sustainable throughout 2019. To seed early coverage, Amendola pre-pitched a press release to healthcare and national media journalists, including broadcast media and podcasts. Furthermore, the plan called for the creation of various writing pieces as it relates to communication in healthcare, aggressive content marketing efforts for infographics, and the submission of Vocera executives for a broad range of speaking opportunities.

The initiative resulted in 29 high value, single-focus features or interviews, four byline placements, three confirmed speaker opportunities, and a prestigious MedTech Breakthrough Award. Additionally, the campaign significantly impacted its Twitter presence resulting in 173% rise in @mentions received, 145% rise in new followers, 312% increase in retweets, 429% increase in click-throughs, and nearly 50% rise in impressions to 12,200.

About Amendola  
Amendola is an award-winning national public relations, marketing communications, digital and content marketing firm. Named one of the best information technology (IT) PR firms in the nation four times by PRSourceCode, Amendola represents some of the best-known brands and groundbreaking startups in the healthcare and HIT industries. Amendola’s seasoned team of PR and marketing pros delivers strategic guidance and effective solutions to help organizations boost their reputation and drive market share. For more information about the PR industry’s “A Team,” visit”https://www.acmarketingpr.com, and follow Amendola on Twitter and LinkedIn. 

Media Contact: 
Marcia Rhodes, Amendola Communications, 480.664.8412 ext. 15 / mrhodes@acmarketingpr.com