“Different” to a healthcare client and “Different” to a creative agency can mean two very different things. As a creative, I get very excited when a client says they want something “different.” I think, “oh I can give you different alright!” But then I have to calm myself down and realize that what I think is just outside of the box may be way outside of the box for the healthcare  technology or life sciences industry. That one word can cause hours, sometimes days of wasted time. When a client says they want something different, it’s our job to ask “different to what you have now or different from your competitors?” and “on a scale from 1-10, how different?” Over the last year I’ve had several clients say they want something different and they “like the apple site” all in the same breath. Then everyone jumps on the same bandwagon and nobody’s different any more.

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Do great creative ideas = great response? Well, it definitely helps. But if the call-to-action is weak, your chances of prospects knocking your door down are slim. Too often we get caught up in the clever folds of a direct mail piece, the brilliant flash animation of a web banner, the tedious styling of a photo shoot, all to forget the purpose of this multi-faceted dog and pony show…to get people to actually respond! Sometimes clients almost seem afraid that people WILL respond. Almost like they aren’t quite sure if they will measure up to the unique positioning for which the communication has touted them. Or even worse, they don’t have enough support in place to properly handle the response – but that’s another blog.

So here are just a few call-to-action tips that, when combined with a creative single-minded message sent to the right audience, could actually turn into sales. (more…)

Intangibility. The absolute biggest challenge of advertising in the field of healthcare.

I feel for the marketing folks at healthcare technology companies. They’re consumers, they see the Coke ads, the Nike ads, all the slick auto advertising, and they want something cool too! And they deserve it. Don’t worry, I’m not going to start talking budgets. I’m also not going to start using intangibility as an excuse. It is possible to do great ads for intangible services and products (within a budget too!). It’s more of a creative challenge, but it is possible.

I guess you could argue that technology products aren’t completely abstract. You could use a computer to represent technology. Of course, we’re not selling PCs, we’re selling software, middleware, systems, portals, whatever, so let’s fill the screen with a big blurry screen shot of 3pt type or show a group of administrators pointing and smiling at a computer screen. Obviously, this doesn’t work, so we focus on the benefits.

So the next challenge of healthcare technology advertising is that just about every competing company touts the same benefits. Increasing revenue is a big one, especially for a Clearinghouse. So let’s show a giant dollar bill or a big stack of money. Our audience is smarter than that. This type of advertising might seem to work in a focus group due to its obvious message, but what is it really doing to your brand long term? It cheapens your brand. It lacks intelligence. So what is another benefit of many healthcare technology companies? Let’s say Electronic Medical Records is the “product”, then the benefit is often efficiency which hopefully leads to better patient care. Is this a stretch? And even if it’s not a stretch, how do you show “efficiency” in an ad and still stand out from the competition? Happy patients are often seen in healthcare advertising and we used to be able to get away with that, but the stopping power just isn’t there without some kind of creative spin in this world of advertising overload. It’s too common.

So what’s the answer? The answer is dig deeper. (more…)

Seriously, when was the last time you thought about updating your Web site? There is a 99.9999% chance that your Web site makes your first impression. Does it take forever to load? (“These guys are wasting my time. Who do they think they are?”) Is it overcrowded with information and clashing images? (“Man, these guys are unorganized. I need someone to make my life easier, not more complicated.”) Is it lacking content? (“Tell me something I don’t know. Who needs you?”)

The list goes on. Get some people (i.e. fresh eyes) together whose opinions you trust, who have never seen your Web site to give you their first impressions. You may get a wake up call from 2010. Check out these links with some of the latest Web site trends. The basic principles behind these mostly B2C designs are inspirational and can be applied to B2B healthcare Web sites too!

So now you know. Think BIG in 2010 (typography not hair!).

What is ambient advertising?

I first heard the term while working in New Zealand. The term started to appear in British media jargon quite a few years back but is now a standard term within the advertising industry. It refers to advertising that occurs in a non-traditional medium outside the home. For instance, printing a message on a little card at the bottom of a golf hole, on the handles of grocery carts or the security bars on a chair lift, on sidewalks, stuff like that. I love it because it can be so unbelievably creative and grab your audiences’ attention just at the right moment. For instance, the golf hole could have a message about golf equipment or some big golf event, the bars on the ski lift could have an advertisement for a hot chocolate. One time I had to get the attention of advertising people at a direct marketing awards ceremony. It’s dark, most people have had a few too many, and their only concern is what everyone is wearing, and who’s gonna win what. The client was New Zealand Post and they were trying to promote their mailing list services. This was of course the perfect audience, direct marketers. So we had the message printed on the bottom of the dinner plate. As attendees ate their food the message was revealed “Clean up at the RSVPs (that was the name of the awards) by cleaning up your mailing list.” Brilliant! If I do say so. Ha. One of my favorite ambient ads was a Burger King bag placed next to a statue of Ronald McDonald sitting on a bench. Love it.

We should do more ambient advertising in the healthcare industry. B2B is a little tricky and of course healthcare technology specifically makes it even trickier, but anything’s possible when you think outside the…..physician’s office. For example, next time there’s a big tradeshow, find out more about the location and the possibilities of advertising outside of the tradeshow floor. Maybe you could get permission to put some advertising on the mirrors in the bathrooms that read something like “wash your hands of rejected claims”. Or what about printing  removable stickers on the side walk leading into the event that look like dollar bills that lead to your booth. At a dinner for phsyicians, steal my dinner plate idea and print something like “clean up your accounts receivable  with <your company name>”. Maybe you could print a message on medical booties to hand out to hospital staff about “covering healthcare technology needs from head to toe” or print on clipboards to hand out free to administrators…kind of getting into promotional item territory, but you get the idea.

According to Wikipedia, the reasons for the growth of ambient advertising are:
• A decline in the power of traditional media.
• A greater demand for point-of-sale communications.
• Its ability to offer precise audience targeting.
• Its general versatility.

Below are just a few links to some great examples. I could keep searching for days. By the way, 165,000 results came up when searching “examples of ambient media”.

 http://adsoftheworld.com/media/ambient/bubbles_hair_salon_comb_crossing?size=_original

http://www.thecyphersagency.com/blog/2009/09/22/turn-heads-and-create-buzz-with-ambient-media/

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4909/1020/1600/Guerilla_Thai_Massage.jpg

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4909/1020/1600/Guerilla_dent.jpg

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4909/1020/1600/Guerilla_DHL.jpg

So get out there and advertise!

For environmentally friendly paperstocks for their print materials.

Everyone knows that corporations are globally warming up to the idea of going green. I’m no expert on this massive topic, but what I do know after many years in design and advertising is that clients are actually starting to request or at least act interested in things like biodegradable envelopes and recycled paper. Most clients are putting their collateral online and printing a little less too.

FINALLY social responsibility issues are becoming a major component of corporate brands. Let’s face it, saving mother earth is only half of it. By doing things such as carrying the FSC-certification logo on their print products, companies are enhancing their own brands. Whether it’s ‘green’ for environment or ‘green’ for money, I don’t care, I’m just glad it’s become a top of mind issue.

What does FSC stand for?
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is a non-profit organization devoted to encouraging the responsible management of the world’s forests. FSC sets high standards that ensure forestry is practiced in an environmentally responsible, socially beneficial and economically viable way. For more information on FSC click here.

So be sure to ask your designers or printers to provide you with FSC certified paper options. There are some nice ones out there. President Barack Obama did it — check out the bottom right corner of his inaugural invitations — so you can too!

Screenshots that is. Just when you’ve presented a beautiful layout and everyone wants to roll with it, someone says, “Oh yeah, there’s one more thing, can we scatter a bunch of screenshots of our software throughout the copy?” And the beauty is lost.

There are obviously a few issues with screenshots. The first is that in order for anyone to really be able to see the detail, it needs to be big. The second is that the shots need to be small so that the resolution for printing is kind-of/sort-of ok. Yes, you can take a picture of it really big and shrink it down to increase the resolution, but it’s still not ideal. To trace or recreate a really detailed screenshot could take a very long time and most people wouldn’t want to pay for it. This site has some good tips for creating the best possible screenshot to begin with. (more…)

Color is a funny thing. So is colour. Especially when it comes to branding healthcare organizations. OK, so admittedly blue says healthcare and probably always will. But I believe some new trends are on the horizon. So what is the new blue? NOT BLACK. There are lots of other colors out there, but I would recommend staying away from a heavy usage of black and healthcare. Oh yeah, black’s not a color.

ANYWAY, what I find most difficult about branding for healthcare clients (usually quite conservative and there’s nothing wrong with that) is that often clients seem to want their brand to reflect their living room. That, or some shade of blue. Sometimes, this can work out quite well, but just because you wouldn’t wear any jeans that weren’t blue or paint your house bright red, yellow, or orange doesn’t mean your brand can’t be one of those colors. Combining bright colors with black and/or some other neutral color works well too. OK, or even a hint of blue. What do colors say about a company? Orange is warm, friendly, inviting. I think those are great traits for a medical clinic. Yellow is happy, cheerful, energetic, young – what’s healthier than that?

A few anti-blue logos in the healthcare space are:
3M Canada
ImageNow Perceptive Software
Capario 
AeroScout
Ingenix

And this one, although still blue, gets wild and crazy with that little touch of orange! McKesson 

There’s a great Web site, Colourlovers, that I like to play around with at the start of a new branding project. There is also a good guide to choosing colors for your brand, Usabilitypost.

 So brighten up everyone.

OK, there will always be a place to show a happy doctor, nurse, or administrator. A smiling face is engaging – especially when all the doctors and nurses are in their mid-twenties and look like they stepped right off the set of ER. But let’s face it, if you’re flipping through a medical journal seeing medical image after medical image, what is going to really get your attention? Healthcare advertising needs to take a creative pill. There ARE ways to make healthcare advertising visually interesting. (more…)

My good friend Mary Robbins taught me many things about effective advertising. She has served as a creative director for Ogilvy & Mather, Cohn & Wells, ACQ, Robbins Brandt Richter and others. With hundreds of awards for creativity, she’s most proud of campaigns that delivered measurable ROI for her clients.

I’m finding that Mary’s list below – pulled from one of the gazillion articles she has written on advertising that works – is also useful in the healthcare industry. I often glaze over most healthcare advertising that I see. So the list below, mixed with a little creativity, can get your ads noticed and better yet, get people to respond! (more…)