If you want to know where the future of marketing is headed, all you have to do is look at the item that probably stays attached to you as long as your hand does–your mobile phone. Mobile applications are designed to provide accessibility to features and programs we would normally enjoy on PCs or laptops and they are used not only to entertain but to inform and educate as well. 

Healthcare marketing is increasing its usage of mobile applications. For example, Bayer HealthCare just launched their FactorTrack™ mobile application to assist Hemophilia A patients with managing their treatments. According to a June 28th Bayer HealthCare news release, FactorTrack™ is designed to “illustrate (our) ongoing commitment to helping enhance the lives of people who live with bleeding disorders.” Some of its features include capturing dosing history and frequency and customizing their infusion schedule based on their prescribed regimen.

Blackberry’s Blood Sugar Diary is another example of an application to help make lives that much easier for those affected by health-related issues. This app allows users to track their blood sugar readings and can be saved in chart form to show to their doc at future visits.

I think it’s safe to say that this is just the tip of the iceberg, people. There are life-saving apps out there!

In a market saturated with conventional modes of advertising, mobile applications will be an effective way to add depth to a company’s marketing arsenal.  To all those affected by healthcare issues, do yourself a favor–educate yourself, use your phone to its highest potential and make the app world work for you!

By now, we’ve all seen a lot of H1N1 ads. But are they working? Our client, Michigan Department of Community Health, decided to go straight to the target audience - minority populations of African Americans, Arab Americans and Hispanics who have NOT received the vaccine - with focus groups to understand WHY NOT. 

The problem? They simply don’t trust it.  Respondents said it was “rushed into circulation”, “pushed by the government”, and is “unsafe”, “untested and experimental,” and “unproven.” Of course, all misperceptions and untruths, as the vaccine is the safest, most effective way to prevent the flu.

We know that trust is a critical component of the healthcare marketing equation — and that we had to overcome this basic feeling of mistrust. Since the majority of respondents said their doctor would be the single person they would trust the most about whether or not to get the H1N1 vaccine, we encouraged action through this open door. Even though we know 61% if adults search online for health information and 81% of Internet users search online for health information (Pew Research Center), we bravely persevered with what research told us is the most effective call to action: TALK TO YOUR DOCTOR.

The print ad is straightforward. Designed to help people make a list of questions to ask their doctor about seasonal flu and H1N1. I think its simplicity and utilize are unexpected — and will break through the clutter.

This past Monday Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, announced the new iPhone 4, which is said to be the “biggest leap forward” for the iPhone since 2007. After reading this statement I had to take another glance at the date. The iPhone was only released 3 years ago?!

With the release of the IOS4 there are a handful of new features to gawk at. For instance, real time chatting will allow you to no longer meet for client luncheons. You can bring the client with you in your pocket then set them in between your water glass and soup bowl to chat it up.  One catch is that this feature is only available on Wi-Fi, and the presence of good Wi-Fi connection is slim, thus preventing our need to have actual human to human contact. On a positive note the introduction of multitasking now allows one to switch between apps, the internet, and music without any disconnect.

The IOS4 will also have the iAd mobile advertising platform which utilizes the multitasking feature. “The iAd system allows third party developers to include advertising in their apps to earn more money or subsidize free apps.” Apple will sell the advertising and supply the ads from their servers. The advantage to the iAd system is if the user clicks on an iAd banner, a full screen advertisement will appear within the application instead of being redirected to the Safari web browser. Apple will sell and host the ads, giving 60% revenue to the developers. According to Jobs, “People aren’t searching their phones. People are spending time in their apps.” Do you think that with the introduction of iAd there will be in an increase in mobile ad sales?

We always say, there is no better advertising then word-of-mouth, especially when it comes from a celebrity.  And the Lupus Foundation just hit the jackpot.  A phenom right now, Lady Gaga, has recently opened up about a health scare, saying she tested “borderline positive for lupus.”  It now has many of her millions of fans asking “what is lupus?”

Thank goodness.  For a disease that affects over 1.5 million people, the medical research is seriously under-funded, and awareness of the overall disease is extremely low.

Up until 5 years ago, I also had no clue what lupus was either.  Which is odd, being in healthcare marketing, I am engrossed in the medical world everyday.   I only became educated after my dearest friend, my sister, was diagnosed with the disease.  And while my sister has become an advocate for educating people on the disease, she is no Lady Gaga (no offense Nikki)!

Here’s hoping that her lupus scare will raise awareness, and ultimately funds for research so that people with lupus can have a greater chance to live a long and healthy life!

I hope that the foundation is in talks to have her become a spokesperson, even if she doesn’t have the actual disease.  We’ve seen first hand how much a celebrity spokesperson can bring to a cause.  Just look at what Michael J. Fox has done for Parkinson’s awareness.  Prior to him being diagnosed, it was another “secret” disease that only those affected knew about.

What do you think?  Would Lady GaGa make a good spokesperson for the Lupus Foundation?  Or is there a better way to gain awareness that you can think of?

Amongst all of the discussion about the BP oil spill, there has been plenty of speculation about the way it was handled in social media.  With what seems to be a lack of effort and a disregard for their users, BP has remained mum on the topic except for a few PR statements, prompting a backlash in the social media community.

Well that seems to have been the wrong way to handle the situation because now instead of just boycotting the gas stations as a means of protest, you can black out BP across the web. A Firefox plugin has been created to place oil splotches over anything BP related. This includes photos and words such as BP oil, BP gas or BP worldwide.

Do you think social media has gone too far with the Black Oil Firefox plugin or is it our right to determine what we do and do not want to see across the web? Either way, I hope this widely publicized incident will prove as a warning of what not to do when a company makes a mistake.

Well, it won’t be long until boomers out there enter the riches of retirement.  Life on a golden pond.  RV’ing.  Fishing.  Quilting.  Soap Operas.  Fabulous group tours on one of those fancy buses with dark windows and rainbow speckled seating.  Medicare coverage.  Of course I’m kidding (well not the part about boomers becoming eligible for Medicare), but the whole group tour thing, now that was a joke.  Kind of.  You see, the boomer group is going to be large but it isn’t going to be homogeneous.  Yes, some will be on group tours but others will want to stay close to home.  Many will enjoy watching daytime television shows while others will be connecting with friends on Facebook.  You may find some sitting down with a good book - either on paper or an e-reader.  This group needs to be segmented so that they can be targeted with the right Medicare product, right creative message, and at the right place.  I was pleased to read this blog by Robin Raff in MediaPost which emphasizes the importance of avoiding generalizations about this sought-after group.   

Forget the sandwich, in the words of our illustrious COO, Maria Marcotte, I am a full-fledged member of the “four course meal generation.” I won’t mention my three children whose ages span 21 years, my full time career, or volunteering (although after 6 years of Lost, my schedule has now cleared for an hour a week), I’ll just focus on an ever-so-gracefully aging mother who is halfway through a rehab stint at a very good convalescent home in North Carolina.

I’ve spent the last three weeks dashing around between home, work, hospital, and convalescent care, since my mother had knee replacement surgery. And would you like to guess how many elder-care marketing messages I’ve encountered? None.

What a missed opportunity. Do I want the best ongoing care for my mother? Yes. Do I have time to figure out what that really means? No. In the hours I have spent with her at the hospital and in the nursing home (sorry Mom, I know you like to call it re-hab), have I been a captive audience with a Blackberry and a penchant for searching health tips for older folks? You betcha. But not one relevant ad has crossed my path. In fact, kudos go to Johns Hopkins for being the ONLY organization to remotely recognize my situation, but that is only through opt-in health alerts.

So where are the marketers? I’m not that hard to find. Why not serve me up something on Facebook (since my life story is now ever-so-public)? As I dig around online why am I not targeted contextually? Why aren’t those ads hitting me on my phone during those endless bedside hours?

Long-term care insurers? Long-term care providers? Home health organizations? Home medical equipment retailers? Hello? Anybody out there? Help me and the millions of people like me figure this elder care mystery out - we certainly don’t have the luxury of time to do it ourselves.

As advocates of making an emotional connection, I have to blog about the Embrace Life  spot that rates 10+ for EC.  It got forwarded to me a couple months ago thru the adworld,  and my sister (non-adworld) just forwarded it to me.  Which tells me this internet phenomenon is now reaching stay-at-home moms.  Now she’s a very intelligent gal, and she thought it was pretty, but she wasn’t sure she got what they were trying to communicate - hence, her question to her adsister.  She got the main message - Wear Your Seatbelt - but she was looking for something deeper…Why is his family there? Are they saving him? Are they the reason he should wear it?

All good questions, and all likely part of the message intent. The key point is it made the emotional connection for her to begin questioning and thus, interacting with the communication…and bravo, she understands the main point - Wear Your Seatbelt! I passionately explained the whole emotional connection thing to my sis to which she responded, “hmmmm…so, are you bringing your broccoli salad Sunday?…”

We do a lot of social marketing  (we call it “oughta marketing”) and this is one of the best spots I’ve seen. I believe the beautiful emotional connection (love) has created this beautiful viral phenomenon (6 million plus views).  If you haven’t seen it yet, you really oughta click below.

Does it make your favorite commercial list?

Mother’s Day is this Sunday and I haven’t gotten my mother anything yet.  Like most folks I am obviously waiting until the last minute.  This year it might just be a card, as funds are a little low for me – since I am getting married in a month.
With that being said – maybe I should just post Happy Mother’s day on my mom’s Facebook Wall.  Okay, maybe not.  That’s kind of tacky.
Well it’s not tacky to retailers who might be trying to reach the consumer like me – a last minute shopper.  Now stop reading this and go out to buy your mother at least a card.
Happy Mother’s Day Sally Jo!  You’re the best!

It seems like all I ever hear anymore is how many people do not like Twitter or understand the concept. Those that actually have an account either use it strictly for business or forget that it’s there all together. So if this is the general buzz surrounding the social media site, why is it U.S. site traffic grew from a few million unique monthly visitors early last year to over 20 million by June?

Below is the projected continued growth of the site.

Do you believe Twitter is being utilized more often? Is it by people documenting their everyday life or business professionals trying to promote themselves? These are hard questions considering the general consensus used to be that Twitter would have lost steam by now.

Ok, I admit it.  I am mad about the new Mad Men collection of dolls by Barbie.  Yearn for a Don Draper to carry around in my purse.  Sadly, madly, will have to wait for JULY to buy.  Much as I fear being left out by this generosity, I am sharing a secret way to be first in line: Go to AMCTV.com and sign up for a notification when they reach the market.  May the best women win!

 As compensation for lack of immediate gratification, I have just ordered the complete three-season set of the MM series.  And just bought a ticket to the Adcraft Club of Detroit’s Mad Men party on June 15th

It feels good to know you are part of something bigger than yourself. Today our spot for the Michigan Turnaround Plan launches. It will help build awareness and action for the 5 step plan created by Business Leaders for Michigan—an amazing group of CEOs and leaders from around the state who are dedicated to creating jobs and turning our state into a Top 10 State again. It’s a tremendous effort and the website makes it easy to read about the plan, contact your legislator and share with friends. A shout out to the rest of the Brogan & Partners team for creating this spot with me and to Universal Images and Ron Rose Productions who helped bring it to life. Tell me what you think. Do you think we can set aside partisan politics and turn Michigan around?