Business travel isn’t at the top of my list of favorite things to do. But being on the road does give me a chance to catch up on my reading.

Last week, I was on my way to the American Telemedicine Association conference in San Jose and opened my issue of Newsweek to an article titled, “Why Your Doctor Has No Time to See You.” A significant portion of the story was dedicated to how important it is for patients and providers to have high-touch, face-to-face encounters—something of an ironic message to be receiving on a trip dedicated to telemedicine.

Without a doubt, telemedicine and other technologies will provide great value in increasing access and quality, while helping healthcare reduce costs. But this article likewise reminds us that healthcare, at the end of the day, is an intensively human and personal experience.

It’s probably an occupational hazard, but I’m often overly critical of television ads. Recently, though, I’ve had to tip my hat to Kia and its “Sandman” commercials. The car company has done an extraordinary job, I think, in slicing and dicing a single concept to keep the audience’s attention time after time.

The extended version of the “dream car” ad presents a relatively detailed story. The Sandman visits a husband and wife separately during the night, showering each with sparkly dream dust. The woman slips into a pastoral scene, complete with rainbows, green fields and a hunk on a white horse. The man, on the other hand, dreams of a 2012 Kia Optima on a racetrack with barely-dressed supermodel Adriana Lima wielding the checkered flag. Motley Crue and a bevy of bikini clad spectators cheer him on. Eventually, the man drives the Kia off the track and breaks into pastoral scene, where his wife abandons the hunk and rejoins him.

I’ve found how Kia has presented shortened versions of the ad just as intriguing. Both feature the husband’s dreams and are shown frequently during prime evening viewing hours. In one, the Sandman doses the man with only a light sprinkle of dream dust, and viewers see a version featuring Lima and the racetrack, but none of the other additives. The other features the Sandman tripping and dumping the entire load of dream dust on the man—and we see a version that includes Motley Crue and the beautiful bystanders.

What makes it interesting, though, is that when the commercial comes on, you don’t know which version you’re going to see—until the Sandman performs his duty. I’m definitely not the target viewer for this ad and I tend to channel surf during commercials, but I can’t force myself to click the remote until I’ve seen which version is going to be shown.

And that’s the secret to a successful ad. Most of us get tired of TV ads long before the campaign runs its course. We leave the room, change the channel or zone out after we’ve seen them a few times. But Kia is using an identifiable and entertaining story line, and has been able to preserve an element of surprise even months after the campaign was introduced.

It definitely keeps this prospective customer watching.

(For the record, I also thought the Kia Soul “Party Rock” hamster commercials were hilarious, too!)

Jerry Baker is CEO of Halfpenny Technologies, a leading provider of clinical data exchange solutions. Halfpenny has been a Dodge Communications client for two and a half years.

Dodge: Can you tell us briefly about Halfpenny Technologies’ history and the mission behind starting the company?

Baker: Our founder, Charles Halfpenny, was a pioneer in developing clinical applications for physicians – applications that were the predecessors of EHR systems. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he developed Dr. Chart, which is very similar to today’s EHRs. Charles sold that company in the late 1990s and founded Halfpenny Technologies in 2000. Because of his experience with Dr. Chart, he realized that the biggest challenge once a clinical application has been installed in an ambulatory environment is achieving connectivity with other clinical and financial systems. Because 80 percent of data reside outside of the walls of the physician’s office, a reliable and secure way to exchange data is crucial. The first generation of Halfpenny’s lab platform, ITF (Integration Technology Framework), was developed in 2001 to facilitate data exchange between physician EHR systems and laboratory information systems. Currently, some 400 EHR applications are vying for meaningful use, and seeking to achieve connectivity with laboratories and other entities such as health plans.
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The current issue of Newsweek includes a special report on medicine in the U.S.—a report that is of great relevance to those of us who work in healthcare, not only because of our professional interest, but because we are patients as well.

The piece is titled “One Word That Will Save Your Life” and it refers to “no.” The five-page article examines research indicating that a significant number of the advanced treatments and technologies we turn to these days introduce risks that are greater than their potential benefits. The story includes a link to www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org with information about which tests and procedures are often overused and deliver mixed benefits.

I found it to be a riveting read—and it certainly presented a consumer context for many of the quality, safety and accountability issues we grapple with in the B2B arena every day.

Every once in awhile, a sales initiative crosses my desk that leaves me totally befuddled. In our business, it’s not uncommon for us to see examples of less-than-effective—if not downright embarrassing—marketing and promotional efforts.

Rarely do we encounter one, though, that fails to communicate even the most basic message of all: what product or service the vendor provides.

This weekend I received a communiqué via LinkedIn that broke this cardinal rule. I was left wondering what the company did and why I should consider reaching out to the representative as requested. Take a look (I’ve left the punctuation and grammatical errors uncorrected)…
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During a recent visit to my neighborhood burrito bar, I was struck by a minor change at the cash register. Instead of the usual glass tip jar, employees had purchased a (clean) red plastic gas can, cut a big hole in the side and adorned it with a “gas money for the crew” sign.

Nothing about the message was new; servers have long and openly requested tips for commuting expenses. But the manner in which the message was packaged and delivered was fresh – and prompted more than one customer to chuckle and throw in an extra dollar or two.

It was a timely reminder for those of us who work in the marketing and PR world – and a valuable lesson for us to share with clients. Successful messaging and promotion campaigns don’t necessarily require bells, whistles and razzmatazz (an animated, life-sized cutout of Jimmie Johnson with a sound chip of engines revving would not have caused me to increase my typical tip the way the gas can did). But they do rely on clarity and impact. Here are three rules of thumb to keep in mind… (more…)

Since passage of the Patient Privacy and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) earlier this year, there has been a great deal of talk about Accountable Care Organizations. They are still ill-defined, but more and more information is coming to light. In fact, an FTC/CMS/OIG Workshop on ACOs being held Oct. 5 in Baltimore. Those unable to attend, however, might be interested in a debriefing session being held by the law firm Katten, Muchin, Rosenman. Representatives will cover the key points of the FTC/CMS/OIG session, as well as provide an analysis of possible outcomes. Learn more here.

I attended the Healthcare Billing Management Association (HBMA) conference in St. Louis this week and one of the speakers made an interesting comment. He said it didn’t matter if you thought of yourself as an expert in your field – but only if others regarded you as such.

At first blush, this seems like a “Wizard of Oz” type of statement: The man behind the curtain isn’t all his image portrays.

But I don’t think that was the point. Most of us who have been in our respective fields for a number of years have accumulated a certain level of experience, knowledge and, yes, expertise. It doesn’t mean we are “the” expert, but certainly “an” expert.

And, probably, those who are least comfortable with the label “expert,” are the ones who have the requisite humility necessary to speak with greatest authority. We know what we don’t know, and how much there still is to know.

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Guest post by Robert Meyer, vice president of marketing for Chamberlin Edmonds (Atlanta)

A public relations program is not an undertaking that typically correlates one-to-one with sales.

Strategic PR is intended to increase brand awareness and market exposure. Position an organization as an innovator and thought leader in its market niche. Educate target audiences about industry issues. Inform clients and prospects about products, services, value and benefits.

Without a doubt, the long-term objective ultimately is to boost sales and produce the “green” of revenue. But that’s not to say PR can’t bear fruit in the short term as well.

Not long ago, Chamberlin Edmonds worked with our Dodge team to place a case study in an industry publication. And it caused the phone to ring. We received three direct leads from the story.

Why was this particular story so effective? Because it adhered to time-honored tenets that characterize strategic PR:

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The use of social media and networking sites has blurred the line between employees’ personal and professional lives in unprecedented ways. Work history is displayed prominently on LinkedIn profiles. Twitter encourages users to share nuggets throughout their day, whether they are at work or at play. Facebook provides a forum for dialog, discussing – and venting.

All are legitimate channels for communication and none is inherently “bad.” But the public and instantaneous nature of these postings raises questions about the impact that personal communication might have on professional reputations, individual and organizational alike. In the past, employers didn’t really worry about what their staff members said outside of work. Phone conversations occurred privately between two people and mail letters likewise reached the hands of limited recipients. That’s no longer the case.

And that raises the question: Can employers impose restrictions on the content employees post to various networking sites? And, if they decide they can, what policies should they enact and how should they monitor and enforce compliance? (more…)