A new way to access healthcare that’s gaining momentum is the “shared medical appointment” (SMA) - think total opposite of concierge medicine. In a nutshell, you get more time with your doc (60 - 90 min. appmt.) but very little one-on-one time. Still get a private exam (whew), but the follow-up conversation is with a group of 15 (yikes! I mean they all sign a confidentiality agreement, but how can I trust them with my deepest, darkest health secrets?)

I’m surprised at a new PriceWaterhouseCoopers study that shows 28% acceptance for the SMA. Docs can make out pretty well (depending on their patient per hour ratio), as each visit is billed the same as a traditional visit. I’m not in the 28%, but as a healthcare marketer, I do think SMAs have marketing value as a flexible option for patients yearning for a support group atmosphere. Disease-specific, older patients such as diabetics could benefit from the education and motivational encouragement toward necessary lifestyle change. Kudos to SMA innovators as data shows high satisfaction for both docs and patients. 

Call me selfish, but coming from a family of 7 kids, I know how to share, I just really need my doc time all to myself! How ’bout you?

We used to tell teens to “just say no”. It was defense. Now, with this campaign, The Partnership for Drug Free America is making staying drug-free really cool, empowering and inspiring.  This campaign is so right on.  I’ve seen many of the spots over the years on TV and the whole collection is online. These are my favorites…

Above the influence has a facebook fan page with 17,855 fans. And the web site is rich with sections on…

• Games, like thumb wrestling, word play and sketchpads 
• Wallpapers and buddy icons
• Drug facts
• Get help/ask a doctor
• Conversation starters
• Mobile expressions—so you can inspire others with videos, podcasts, photos and words from your phone
• And, of course, links to the great creative

I am sharing the link with my teenage daughters. Hopefully, they will have fun while being under the influence of above the influence.

What do you think? Do you think a great social marketing campaign can really help teens overpower peer pressure?

This is the #1 in my blog series 21 creative social marketing campaigns.

Are you trying to break the mold and think of new and innovative ways to hit your target audience?  Maybe we could take a lesson from our friends in the Netherlands.  A “Walk the Line” app was launched by Grolsch, a Dutch brewing giant, at the annual North Sea Festival.  The premise of the application was to determine whether or not the user was too drunk to drive.  The application challenged users to walk a straight line and if users had a high score they were offered a chance to get a free festival photograph and those with a low score were invited to have a drink of water with the Grolsch team.  Check it out and let me know what you think.

I can think of a lot of clients that these kinds of applications would work for.  Can you?  This is media that works and is targeted.  Need help finding the right arena for your product?  Contact us, we can help.

While home with the flu this past week, I started looking online to see if there was anything I could do to speed up my recovery process.  It’s amazing how much information there is about the flu and the H1N1 virus. 

There are kids pages, with videos from Elmo talking about proper hand washing (I can’t seem to get the song out of my head either).  There are PSA’s, websites dedicated to educating and preventing the spread of the flu.  There is even a social media campaign that the US Department of Health & Human Services launched. 

They are asking for the public to develop a PSA that talks about preventing or dealing with the flu.  All someone has to do it post a response to their YouTube video and they could win $2,500. 

Just thought it was a clever way to get all of us to think about flu prevention (not to mention a great way to use social media for their cause).  It’s even been mentioned on some high-profile blog-posts including the White house and has been tweeted about by biggies including the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

This is my favorite one so far….

Maybe we should take a stab at it?  Any creative ideas?  Or perhaps you want to win the $2,500.  Contest ends August 17th, so you better get moving.

I love finding brilliant advertising creative that makes me wish I thought of it. And I especially love it, when it’s for a client that’s trying to make the world a better place. That’s what social marketing is all about. And because it’s only “sell” is to try to get us to change our behaviors or attitudes about something, it can be powerful when done well.

In this blog series, I will write about 21 creative social marketing campaigns I admire. If you have any favorite campaigns to add to this list, leave me a comment and link, and I will check it out.

1. Above the Influence
2. Amnesty International
3. American Stroke Association
4. Boys and Girls Club
5. Children’s and Adolescents Reference Center
6. the truth
7. Covenant House
8. Invent Now
9. Land Transport New Zealand
10. Looking Glass Foundation
11. My Sister’s Place
12. Nike Foundation
13. Parkinson’s Society Canada
14. Partnership for a Drug-free America
15. obesity prevention
16. stop land mines
17. thinkb4yourspeak
18. Michigan Department of Community Health
19. World Wildlife Fund
20. United Nations Campaign
21. United Way

If you would like to check out 26 social media examples in detail check out Lisa Braziel’s blog at our sister company Ignite Social Media.

If you’re not sure what’s the difference between social marketing and social media, check out my post on that subject.

It’s only fitting that I start my social media nonprofit blog series with the Breast Cancer 3-Day–an organization that is very close to my heart.  I’m a 3-Day walker and extremely passionate about raising money for Breast Cancer.  I spend a lot of time posting on my personal breast cancer blog about my efforts to raise money and my excitement about the big event.  The Breast Cancer 3-Day made a slam dunk when they contacted me and asked me if I would be an online ambassador.  I happily agreed, accepted my badge with honor and posted a blog about my fundraising efforts right away.  Within hours, my blog traffic shot up and I found they had linked to my blog on their Facebook page.  This inspired me to continue writing creating a win-win scenario.

Facebook fundraising application

The Breast Cancer 3-Day just recently launched a brand new application–I think it’s great.  It works really well and posts in my news feed whenever I get a donation giving my friends updates on my fundraising progress.  Just yesterday I got a donation from a Facebook friend who I’m sure saw the post in her news feed.  Great addition to their social media work. Would love to see if they can link the news feed message directly back to my fundraising page.

Social Networks

The Breast Cancer 3-Day has lots of places for discussion and interaction between walkers, crew and staff.  The 3-Day message boards are very active with posts on everything from personal stories, fundraising, training and what to pack.  There are lots of similar discussions on the Facebook fan page which has over 20,000 fans.  The benefit of the Fan page is the ability to post links to blogs, articles, videos and news stories and they do a great job of that.  There are also lots of active discussions on this page.  There’s a small group on LinkedIn which doesn’t seem overly active with a little over 300 members.

Twitter

The 3-Day Twitter page has close to 3,000 followers with lots of ongoing discussion, links to blogs, retweets and announcements about upcoming events.

YouTube and Flikr

I was glad to see so many videos on the YouTube channel and photos on the Flikr site.  Both provide lots of visuals to really show the experience.  Nothing beats being there, but I have to imagine the videos and photos inspire future walkers and donors.

Final Thoughts

All in all, the Breast Cancer 3-Day is doing a great job facilitating conversations and generating excitement about the events through their supporters.  As the 2009 walks approach, I’m curious to see what 2010 brings and how they will continue to inspire their ambassadors and supporters.  Would love to hear what you think about their efforts.  Post a comment and share your thoughts.

Fisch Franke is a well established fish restaurant in Frankfurt. What they did to promote their promise to be the freshest fish around was take a fortified, 3 dimensional poster frame and fill it with 600 litres of water and real fish! This outside ad quickly became the city’s most photographed site. This is an excellent example of taking a concept, “fresh as can be”, and executing it as extreme as possible — and as extreme as the client will let the ad agency go. Would you remember a restaurant that advertises like this? I would.

Are you in need of (fishing for) some extreme ideas that break through? Give Brogan & Partners a call or visit our web site.

Last week, I spoke at the Social Media Breakfast in Toledo on social media and nonprofits.  I was particularly excited about this topic because it was the nonprofit world that launched me from traditional advertising into the fun and constantly changing world of social media.  I loved doing research for this talk and seeing how all sorts of nonprofits are engaging with their communities in the social sphere.  Many have made decent entries into the world and some are making baby steps.  Over the next few months, I’ll share what these nonprofits are doing in my social media and nonprofit blog series.

Here’s a short clip from my talk followed by a list of the first 10 nonprofits I will highlight.

Breast Cancer 3-Day

American Cancer Society

United States Humane Society

Susan G. Komen

American Red Cross

Ad Council

Pickens Plan

Greenhour

Nothing but Nets

Autism Speaks

Got any thoughts about others you would like to see, leave me a comment and I’ll check them out.

Recently, there has been talk that General Motors is going to change the background color on its logo from blue (would the legions of art directors who were tortured over the years to not offend trade dress in any way like to honk now? Or sing out the PMS number?) to green to signify the new company focus on greener vehicles.

Hmmm. That’s something one could argue for either way.
 
Con: Why? It’s an obvious, cosmetic and superficial signal that you’re now “green”. It seems pandering to the public and government “partners” who want the old GM gone. It’s kind of laughable. Ha! You think turning the logo green will convince people you’re green? Please. Build a bunch of green cars. Then we’ll talk.

Pro: Why? It’s an obvious and cosmetic symbol that it isn’t business as usual for this former lumbering giant who had logo police patrolling the corridors of ad agencies worldwide. And if they did it fast, GM would demonstrate they’re not lumbering anymore—no, now nimble and flexible where there had been rigidity and tired thinking.  Cool.

This kind of flexibility could open the door to showing corporate support for breast cancer, heart health, gay rights. That’s kind of human and fun for a corporation not known for a culture of either. An automotive writer recently put forth another notion. Blue? Green? Please. You need to concentrate on getting from red to black.

I have read that “blue” is the new “green” because most of the world’s population lives next to water and it’s a critical resource to attend to. So, in fact, good old GM with it’s old blue background may be the right color for right now. Irony abounds.

What do you think about trade dress? Hard and fast rules about corporate ID? Branding?

I was about to do a blog series on social marketing. But then I realized a lot of people online are confusing it with social media. Social marketing is marketing that builds awareness about a social issue and works to change people’s behaviors or attitudes for the public good. Like wear a condom, don’t smoke, get a mammogram, recycle and save the endangered bats.

With the advent of social media, a lot of people are misusing a phrase that has been around for decades. Social media is conversation between people and consumers and brands through blogs, social networks like Facebook and Twitter etc. Social media marketing uses these interactive social platforms to build their brands and consumer fan base.

While Cause Marketing, is where for-profit corporations team up with non-profit corporations and create a win-win for both to build business and raise money and awareness.

So while social marketing can use social media as a tactic, social media and social marketing refer to two very different things. And while social marketing and cause marketing are similar and both raise awareness, the former is about changing behaviors, the latter is about partnering to raise money for the cause and the corporate partner.

Now that we’ve got that cleared up, I can start my series on my top 20 social marketing creative campaigns. To be continued…

With the economy as it is today, we must be more and more conscious of our client’s dollars. This means less mass marketing, more targeted marketing.  But to do it right, you have to be smart and truly understand your audience.

Colt 45 recently launched an advertising campaign in Detroit with a billboard that features the actor, Billy Dee, with the slogan “Works every time.”  And I can tell you, living in Ferndale, I don’t see the billboards north of 9 mile.  But why does that have Detroit city leaders up in arms? 

I can tell you it’s not because the campaign is running in Detroit, but because the message isn’t relevant to the audience. 

Who were they targeting?  The old-school generation that would remember the old ads he did in the 80’s and that are already loyal to the malt beverage?  Probably not.  My guess is they wanted the younger, urban, city dwellers.  And if that’s the case – the creative and the message don’t connect with them.  First off, that generation probably doesn’t even know what malt liquor is or who Billy Dee is.  Let alone do they remember the old commercials that featured him. 

I would be interested to know what the residents of Detroit think about the campaign.  What do you think?  Did Colt 45 go to far? 

I’ve been getting religious gifts in the mail. And I can’t make them stop. Saint medals. Holy cards. Rosaries. Even a Mother’s Day card that I sent to my mom. You see, I sent this charitable organization a donation because of the first gift they sent me (and because they truly do wonderful things for the poor), and that was it. I’m on the LIST. And I keep getting STUFF. It’s brilliant marketing. They know me. They know I have a severe case of Catholic guilt syndrome and that if they give me something I use (i.e. the card), I’ll feel bad if I don’t send a donation.

Kudos to the targeted CRM program of this nonprofit! The gifts get my attention, so I read their letters, which always pull at my heartstrings…and my pocketbook.

It’s sort of annoying when you’re a cause marketing expert and you know exactly what they’re doing, but you succumb anyway. Care to fess up on any annoyingly effective cause marketing tactics you’ve fallen for?