I notice some of the most interesting things while driving to work in the morning. Whilst pulling out of my subdivision a couple of weeks ago, I noted that the church across the street changed their sign. It read “Joy Flash Mob 2/12/10.” Really? A flash mob used for religious purposes? Unheard of. So what does one do when they want more info? Google it of course!

After doing a little digging I found that a Joy Flash Mob is a dance performed to share the joy of Jesus. I also learned that the practices were being held at the church I mentioned before as well as online for those that couldn’t attend. On top of that, I realized these flash mobs appear several times a year at different festivals around Michigan. How did I not know this? I’m a flash mob fanatic! And why hasn’t it drawn more attention?

It really made me wonder… do flash mobs need to have popular music and a well choreographed crew to be successful or could a flash mob focused on joy and religion really bring the same amount of attention?

Check out the video of a Joy Flash Mob at last year’s Winter Blast.

The Patient-Centered Medical Home is a hot topic. Docs are scrambling to become one. Hospitals are trying to market themselves as such. But I’ve yet to see it done well. As healthcare marketers, we all know what this well-meaning phrase means. But think about consumers. They don’t have a clue. In fact, it’s worse. They think PCMH is something completely different. While I haven’t yet done formal research, my anecdotal and “friends and family” data (not to mention my gutt), indicates misperceptions about an actual  physical place, a medical home, an extended care facility where people reside.

Some folks think it may be more “homey”, where “the patient comes first” (getting closer), but no normal consumer understands the real definition… “an approach to providing comprehensive primary care that facilitates partnerships between individual patients and their personal physician, and when appropriate, the patient’s family.

I’ve been thinking that a better way to convey what a PCMH is may be to convey what it’s not. It’s an old creative trick. It’s also how I felt as a patient recently - where I was shuffled from one doctor to the next, each in their own specialty and discipline (including my attempt with a “naturalist” type of M.D.), each in their own world really, oblivious to each other, oblivious to the best coordinated care for me.  I realized I felt lost, alone, confused, homeless, like a medical ORPHAN! I kinda wanted my mommy. Or at least one wonderful doc to shepherd me through the maze. People get what Medical Orphan means. Again, my unscientific data revealed, “Abandoned”, “Someone who can’t get the care they need,” “A person that’s alone.”

I’m hoping to develop my PCMH campaign for some lucky client soon! In the meantime, let me know if you’ve seen any good marketing on the PCMH concept. As with a lot of our healthcare jargon, I think we have a long way to go before we can assume people understand what it means.

I read an essay the other day written by my former Journalism professor at Wayne State University, Jack Lessenberry.
He wrote about Toyota’s woes and how Detroit car companies now have a chance to capitalize on sales during this drama.
I totally agree that the next strategy for the Big 3 is that they should swoop in like Superman and boast about all the changes that are to come for the future of American made cars.
Toyota seems to be in a panic and they don’t appear to be utilizing social media to get their name out of the gutter – a perfect “in” for GM, Ford and Chrysler.
What would be the first social media tactic you would do if you were an American car company?

Healthcare marketers who are hesitating over beefing up their interactive and social media plans just got a wake-up call thanks to Millward Brown’s latest research. We all know that trust is what makes us return to a brand time and time again. It makes us tell our friends. And when it comes to our health, it’s how we prescribe healthcare services for one another. But who whould have thought that recent research would show that WebMD is the eighth most “trusted” and “recommended” brand in the U.S.?

The internet is, more than ever, the place we turn to when we need immediate feedback about our health or the health of our loved ones. Face it, it’s a lot faster than getting that appointment with your GP. It’s always there. Combine that efficiency with the power of communication that the internet provides (think social media) suddenly, WebMD at number eight just isn’t such a shocker. What do you think - ever used WebMD? Write back and let us know your favorite healthcare destinations online.

When I was a kid, I remember seeing schoolteachers out and about (i.e., store, restaurant) and just couldn’t believe it.  What?  They let them out of the school?  Shouldn’t they be in the classroom – clapping erasers, reading the dictionary or putting the border on the bulletin board?  It was hard to imagine them as everyday folks doing everyday things.  I find I do that with physicians.  Shouldn’t mine be at the office – reading scans, looking through a microscope or discovering cures?  Nope.  Turns out they get to lead normal lives too.  And boy do they.  A study from Manhattan Research found 64% of physicians own smartphones and that this number is expected to rise to 81% by 2012.  And can you find them updating their status on Facebook?  Yes, 88% of them have visited the site.  But, odds are you won’t find them tweeting – with about 16% of them using Twitter, which is a bit less likely than the U.S. adult population at large. 

As a recent advertising graduate, I can honestly say that one of the most influential books that I’ve read in the past year was not a textbook on advertising but instead, The Medici Effect: What Elephants and Epidemics Can Teach Us About Innovation by Frans Johansson.  Those who have heard of this book or had the pleasure to have read it understand why I believe this book reinforces the basic reason why most of us enter the field of advertising.  We all have ideas, perspectives, creative minds, or experience that has led us to believe that we would best be suited in an innovative and always evolving atmosphere.

In the Medici Effect, Johansson discusses how merging two completely unrelated fields produces breakthrough innovations that come together when old ideas intersect to create entirely new thoughts and perceptions.  This book not only discusses how to find such intersections but also gives real life examples of how some of the biggest ideas have come from some of the most unexpected places.

In the advertising world, generating new ideas for our clients and thinking of innovative ways to get a message across are consistently things we are trying to improve and conceptualize.  As Johansson points out, “creation comes from a combination of different concepts in a unique fashion and it is difficult to trace the origin of insight,” (p.67).  I think that as a person in advertising, I need to be open to new ideas no matter where or whom they come from in order to continue to grow and succeed in my profession.  After a while, people tend to build up associative barriers that can hinder their willingness to keep an open mind.  For example, this book has pushed me to be more open to experiencing new things when choosing what I eat, how I spend my free time, the places I visit, and even the acquaintances that I make along the way.  The Medici Effect urges people to interact with the unfamiliar. It is about breaking down old barriers and becoming submersed in new atmospheres, diverse people, and assorted occupations to come up with a truly new idea.

We’re currently developing a hospital branding campaign for one of our newest clients, Otsego Memorial Hospital (OMH).  It’s a community hospital located in Gaylord, MI, a beautiful city famous for it’s skiing and amazing landscapes.  Which brings me to the question, how do you brand a community hospital?

As healthcare marketing and branding experts, we’ve seen one of the most common and greatest obstacles many community hospitals are faced with is how to re-position themselves in the community.  Most already know the hospital name, they know the location, but they are stuck in the mentality that the only thing the hospital can handle is a broken arm.  When in reality, community hospitals are more than just that now.  They are stepping up to their game; hiring leading specialists and providing more comprehensive services.

Below is a community hospital brand campaign example from Danbury Hospital in Connecticut:

Their campaign goal was similar to many community hospital goals: convince consumers to look past their old-time preconceptions and see the hospital as a high-care provider.  The imagery is a nice blend of humanity and high-tech and so far, the brand campaign results deem it pretty successful.

As a team, we’re having a lot of fun working on the concepts for OMH and I look forward to sharing them with you in a few weeks.  I will also share some insight on how and why we recommended the strategy used to develop the campaign and continue to update on its success.

In the meantime, have you seen or created any powerful community hospital brand campaigns?  I would love to see them.

As with most people, I have zero patience for slow drivers during my morning commute. So while following the line of cars passing the offending driver this morning, I was fully prepared to give the stink eye… until something caught my attention.

Ok, I lied, two things caught my attention. First, the vehicle was wrapped in an advertisement for a weight loss product and second, the driver’s reason for going under the speed limit? He was texting!

This got me thinking (shock!). Does the behavior of the driver affect potential consumers’ feelings towards a brand?

In my marvelous morning mood (say that 3x fast), I immediately disregarded the brand, I can’t even recall the name of the product. I felt as if the driver was a reflection of it, just as a salesperson would be. If they could hire someone so unsafe on the road, how were they capable of making a safe product?

So I ask, should an advertiser make sure they have a superb driver before wrapping a vehicle? Or does this not have an impact on the effectiveness of an ad?

Well you aren’t alone; I myself was one of those lucky graduates who was sent into the real world jobless. Many college seniors and recent graduates are on the lookout for a job in Marketing, Advertising, Public Relations and Communications and are stuck in a rut. However, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has some promising news to share. Employment in media communications fields is on the rise slowly but surely. Does this mean you can sit back and wait for your dream job to fall out of the sky into your lap? No of course not, but if that works let me know. So how do you go about landing the dream position? Well in one word, ENTHUSIASM.

If you stay positive and motivated that’s the key to getting a gig you love. And if you are one of those college seniors or recent graduates seeking something in these fields go off and show your skills as you are applying! If you are applying for a job in marketing do something to differentiate yourself and show that you can MARKET yourself. If you are seeking a creative position at an ad agency do some research on their big clients, if you know you will be working on the McDonald’s campaign why not submit your resume in a “Happy Meal” box? That means get to thinking, develop a brand image for yourself and make it noticeable so employers will have to meet the mind behind that brilliant resume.

Just in case you haven’t been told by every college professor, your parents, friends and the random guy at the coffee shop, you must NETWORK! Okay, go to career fairs, ask dad to talk to his colleague but it also means whenever you meet someone mention you are on the hunt and you never know their Uncle Andy may have a job opening at his PR firm that just happens to be awesome for you!

Now go out there and get that job that will actually make you want to get out of bed before noon!

Through my work in organ donation healthcare marketing over many years, I have learned that organ donation is a topic that people either don’t want to think about - or one that is near and dear to their hearts. I fall into the latter category. You can’t hear the life-changing stories from organ recipients and families of organ donors and ever be the same. Which is why I’m so excited about the opportunity to use social media tools to extend the Donor Drive 2010 message for our long-time client, The Gift of Life Michigan.

Part of the problem with getting people to sign up has been getting them to take the time to register online (btw, just signing your driver’s license is not enough!). Hence, this quick-read, yet multi-functional microsite is designed to make it VERY simple. The widget allows you to sign up right there. You can share the widget via Facebook and Twitter. Email messages can be sent to family and friends letting them know you’ve just registered and encouraging them to follow suit. You can see the total count of registered donors, even by county. Compelling recipient and family donor video testimonials and opportunity to share your own organ donation story provide the emotional connection to seal the deal.

It’s only been a couple of weeks and already over 5000 widget impressions and over 125 widget installs. Help share the gift of life. Sign up on the widget below and share the widget.

And know that you’ve made a difference. Just one donor can save or improve the lives of 50 people. And there are thousands in Michigan just waiting for your help.

Let us know your thoughts on this social media strategy and any other successful cause social media strategies you’ve used.

Social Media and the Olympics combine to form the Twitter Olympics 2010.  How amazing is this, athletes providing behind the scenes comments and photos that only the most elite competitors have ever been able to experience.  But of course there is a catch with all of this, four pages of catches. According to Eddie Pells, the International Olympic Committee released an addendum that says blogs are permitted, so long as they are diary-like in nature, don’t include live action or ceremonies and don’t give “newsy” updates, such as injury reports or information about rivaling countries.  The athletes can only report from a first person perspective , which has caused some confusion, and they can’t display any photos that include any of the sporting events taking place. 

So what does this mean for the Olympics?  Will the popularity of the Olympics increase because athletes are twittering about what is going on behind the scenes?  Or is the information too restricted?  Will you be more inclined to tune in because Shaun White is twittering about the weather?

Healthcare marketers are often challenged with to how to participate and ultimately lead health conversations through social media channels. In this highly regulated market, even marketers armed with great social strategies can find that they face seemingly insurmountable barriers thrown up by administration and information technology departments.

So how can you become part of the conversation when the thoughts you express could create a liability or privacy concern for your organization? Here’s one idea: borrow third party expertise. Turn the conversation away from your organization, your doctors, your services, and tap into some of the rich public health resources available online.

Why not get familiar with the major public health research publications such as Environmental Health Perspectives (fd: Brogan & Partners publishes and markets EHP on behalf of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences). Stay ahead of the competition when it comes to understanding the major health concerns of today and tomorrow by commenting on the research or news provided by these publications and the esteemed researchers that contribute to them. You can then draw connections back to your service lines as a way of providing additional information.

You’ll appear smarter and better informed while fostering a feeling of goodwill among consumers because your organization is taking the time to help them understand how to live healthier lives. Got other ideas on how to insert your organization into the social sphere while limiting exposure? We’d love to hear them!