The name of the game for innovative healthcare marketers is finding effective and innovative ways to differentiate their messages and breakthrough the conservative "Marcus Welby-like" approach to healthcare advertising, according to Clay Wilemon, president of Health Communicatons, Inc., a Memphis-based consulting firm specializing in healthcare marketing, planning, research and strategy.
In his experience, some of the most creative campaigns have employed humor and entertainment to break through the clutter of healthcare messages and grab target attention. He points out that healthcare innovation isn't necessarily achieved through the medium, but in the message, then determining the appropriate target vehicle, whether it's theaters, buses, billboards or direct mail.
To sell HMOs and managed-care vision care plans on the benefits of including contact lenses on their plans, Health Communications went to the farm to market how client Cooper Vision's contact lenses could be profitable plan additions. Using exaggerated pictures of livestock like cows and pigs, the direct mail campaign to hard-to-reach managed care health plan execs worked. In one ad with a huge pig mug shot, the copy reads "Contact plans will be profitable in Managed Vision Care Plans. When Pigs Fly." And is followed up with a bold "Clear the Runway!" statement showing the same super-imposed pig.
To make cancer messages more palatable and less morose, the firm looked to simplistic copy-exclusive creative that employed nursery rhymes and riddles. For its client, the creative communicated various cancer symptoms with thought-provoking questions reminiscent of catchy nursery school pros. "See Spot? See Spot change? See your doctor" communicated skin cancer symptoms, and "What is 2x4x3cm, weighs 20 grams and can kill a man?" succinctly made men aware of indicators for prostate cancer. (Health Communications, Inc. 800/762-9069)