« A two-minute escape | Main | If only editors had paid more attention to this video in 1981 »

New trend in hospital marketing: More YouTube, less gloss

The New York Times is reporting this morning of a new trend in hospital advertising: more YouTube, less gloss. For instance, an ad for Akron Children’s Hospital in Ohio features a 14-year-old boy talking about his plans of life after cancer.

The Times said this TV commercial is “emblematic of a new approach to advertising by hospitals—an industry that, despite the recession, is not slashing ad spending.”

The campaign, by the Marcus Thomas agency in Cleveland and running on about 20 cable channels and network stations in Ohio, is entirely unscripted. Other spots feature more patients and their young siblings, who talk about how their families are coping.
Patients in ads usually are success stories, survivors crediting hospitals with saving their lives. But the Akron campaign features patients in the throes of crises, with no inkling of their outcomes (which, considering that the footage was shot within the last few months, may still be unknown).

Are you more persuaded by the ad about Austin, or a more traditional commercial like this one for Community General Hospital in Syracuse, New York?

Comments (2)

gill:

This has been very interesting and it was very informative.

To view the rest of the Community General Hospital campaign, along with other work by 7053 Productions, please visit our youtube website at

http://www.youtube.com/user/7053productions

Post a comment

Important:
to protect against spam you must enter the letter "d" in the box.
(The comment will be posted ONLY when the safety letter is entered.)

About

This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on May 4, 2009 8:21 AM .

The previous post in this blog was A two-minute escape .

The next post in this blog is If only editors had paid more attention to this video in 1981 .

Many more can be found on the main index page or by looking through the archives.


Comment Feed Subscribe to this blog's feed
[What is this?]

Recent Responses

Tom McLaughlin
The year's top search results for Yahoo! and Bing
Hello! Reassuring to see that BP oil spill is number one. I will take this to mean, being the eternal optimist that I a...
read all | post a response

Tim S
10 modern ads that are sexist toward men
I have noticed for a number of years that it seems to be ok to bash men, especially Dad, portraying him as a fool, worth...
read all | post a response

FEATURED

Blogger Bios

About

Tell us how you manage unrealistic expectations, meet reporter needs, churn out news when there is none, deal with a client you can't stand, and what you say to people that slam PR. Or anything else that's on your mind.

Ragan Blogs

Coaching Success
BRODY Professional Development
Officiency
K.J. McCorry
The Spark
Denise Ryan
PR Junkie
Michael Sebastian

Other Blogs

- Blog written by team members of Affect Strategies, a strategic public relations, marketing and social media agency located in New York City.
- Shines a brighter light on the subtle roles played by public relations
- Blogging at the intersection of communication and technology
- PRNewser is a blog about Public Relations

- Business communications for the real world

- Les Potter blogs about Strategic Communication and Public Relations

- An award-winning public relations resource

- What would the LEAN Communicator do?

- A gathering place for professional communicators
- Ranting and raving about news, techniques, and development in the world of PR research and evaluation.

- The latest and most effective strategies to market your business.

- The place at the intersection of business, communication and technology.
- Social Network for PR Students, Faculty, and Practitioners

- Conversations about Social Media and Marketing

- educational resource for public relations with hundreds of articles to browse on various PR topics

Home | Internal Communication | Public Relations | Speechwriting | Web Content | Government Communication | Tips & Tactics | Hot Topics | Back to Top
MyRagan | MyManageresNetwork | MyRaganTV | Blogs | Podcasts | Jobs | Forums | eNewsletters
About Us | Copyright 2007 Ragan Communications, Inc. | Privacy Policy | Search | FAQ | Contact Us | Store | RSS RSS | Widgets | Site Map