Yesterday I received an email from a colleague and the header read: "Join me in making a difference." The body of the email read: "This story inspired me to make a difference. Watch it to the end - YOU ARE IN THE VIDEO." And there was a link to a video from a group called The Big Warm Up. That was all the context I had before I clicked on the link. When I clicked on the link I was taken to a video, what looked like a TV commercial, promoting a coat donation program sponsored by Lands' End. The Big Warm Up is an effort to help make the winter season warmer for homeless people nationwide. When you donate a gently-used coat you'll get 20% off a new coat at any Lands' End Shop at Sears through 11/30. The spot is engaging and features great music (no voice over). The cool thing is that at the end of the spot your name actually appears on the label of one of the used coats that has found its way to a new owner. And the copy on the last slide actually refers to you by name. I recorded the spot using my Flip camera and uploaded it YouTube. See the spot below; and please forgive the quality. When you go to the Big Warm Up website, you can enter info about the person to whom you will be sending the link, and that allows for the customization. This is a very cool use of technology. It reminds me of PURL technology we use with direct mail - where we send a consumer a direct mail piece that includes a custom URL where they will receive a personalized greeting. Check it out and let me know what you think. Go to http://www.video.bigwarmup.com or view my customized video at http://video.bigwarmup.com/index.php?code=679n777KEU73WoM61Luc. To get the full story about the Big Warm Up, go to www.bigwarmup.com. They've got a cool website. By the way, this is a great example of echo branding by Lands' End and Sears - marketing shared values. Extremely well done. Post by Dan Dunlop, Healthcare Marketing Done Right

Mark Shelley and I are currently working on an article introducing the concept of Hive Marketing and its relevance to social media. For the uninitiated, hive marketing is the notion of bringing together supporters of a brand or organization into a community of shared interest (the hive), so they can feed off of one another, share experiences, and extend the depth of their knowledge about the brand. This interaction serves to confirm their decision to embrace the brand, and makes them more effective brand evangelists given they are now armed with a greater depth of information. In essence, they become more effective storytellers and brand ambassadors because of their experience in the hive. The expectation is that they will leave the hive and share their passion for the brand with the rest of the world, and back it up with all that they have learned within the hive. Along comes social media. From our perspective, social media is the supreme Hive Marketing instrument. Imagine a hive with bees buzzing all around it. Although it might not be apparent at first, the bees are all involved in a common effort: sustaining life by gathering pollen from flowers and making honey. In the hive, there is organization and purpose in what first appears to be chaos. For me, that has proven to be a useful metaphor for social networks. We often run into people who feel that social media is just a “big waste of time.” But these are people who don’t understand the social web and how it is connected to the power of community and the power of the hive. Within the social web, people with shared interests come together in groups, in what may appear to an outsider as an unorganized mess, to exchange information and ideas. They feed off one another’s passion for the brand or subject matter; their point of view is often confirmed or reconfirmed, and their passion is ignited. When they end up leaving the hive (or the social network), they are ready spread the word with an authentic and c

Yesterday I had the pleasure of spending some time in a recording studio with Dr. Bill Chameides, Dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University. I'm fortunate to have some video clips from my conversation with Bill and will share them with you here. Bill has spent more than 30 years in academia as a professor, researcher, teacher, and mentor with a 3-year stint as the chief scientist of the Environmental Defense Fund. According to his bio on the Nicholas School Website, "Bill’s research focuses on the atmospheric sciences, elucidating the causes of and remedies for global, regional, and urban environmental change and identifying pathways towards a more sustainable future." In short, he is a rock star in the world of sustainability. And there's nothing "academic" about his quest for a sustainable future. He is after real solutions. Not only is the Nicholas School leading the way in creating a sustainable future, but they have embraced social media and are using blogs, Facebook and YouTube to spread the word. Bill maintains his own blog called The Green Grok. You can visit it online at http://www.nicholas.duke.edu/thegreengrok/. There you'll find both video and text posts from the Green Grok himself. "In The Green Grok, Dr. Bill Chameides elucidates causes of and potential remedies for environmental change and identifies pathways towards a more sustainable future." Bill recognizes that we are currently on an unsustainable path that threatens our way of life. He is on a quest for a more sustainable course - and for solutions that lead to a sustainable future. If this interests you, the Green Grok is also on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/thegreengrokcom/18954548244?ref=ts. Meanwhile, the Nicholas School's Facebook page can be found at http://tinyurl.com/ygohagw. Check it out. Here's Bill talking about why he's excited to be at the Nicholas School and how it differs from other academic programs: They are doing remarkable things at t

For those of you who couldn't attend my webinar on social media in healthcare (October 20, 2009), or who didn't know about it, I have embedded a video of the presentation below. It includes the slides from the presentation and my narration as I went through the presentation. I hope you find this to be helpful!

Our free webinar titled "Demystifying Social Media and Making It Relevant to Healthcare" seems to have been a success. This is the second time we've done this particular webinar, and the turnout was outstanding. I've already had more than 120 people download the PowerPoint and I am currently editing the video so I can post it online. Here's the link to view or download the PowerPoint presentation: http://www.slideshare.net/dandunlop/demystifying-social-media-webinar-102009-2293652. At a time when organizations are charging as much as $299 per webinar, we're doing them for free. Selfishly, we think it improves attendance and will eventually bring us more business as more people come to know us as social media strategists and healthcare marketing experts. Below I've embedded the PowerPoint presentation for your viewing pleasure.Demystifying Social Media Webinar 10-20-09View more presentations from Jennings.If you missed the webinar and are interested in attending the next time we hold it, please shoot me a message and I'll be sure to notify you once it is scheduled. We're considering doing it again in early December if there's enough interest. For those of you who didn't attend yesterday, here's some of the feedback I received in email messages from people who attended the webinar. "Absolutely fantastic webinar! Addresses a lot of concerns of the C-suite folks, as well as stresses the importance of starting slowly and with a plan in place, and frequent monitoring and evaluation. You've done the participants a great service." "Thank you so much for your presentation! I have dipped my toes into the social media scene, but your presentation showed me that there is so much to do. I’m hoping to get my administration on board with social media for the upcoming year – we aren’t allowed to access any of the social media sites, unfortunately." "Great presentation – you covered many of the issues I am currently dealing with and provided some wonderful resources. Thanks

Last week I wrote a post about ReThink Breast Cancer's "Save the Boobs" TV commercial. You can see that post and view the controversial TV spot by clicking here or here. That should help to provide context. The comments I received were both plentiful, passionate and varied in their reaction to the commercial: "(Sarah) If it's got us talking...and blogging...then it's memorable and making waves, which I'm sure is to the delight of the organization. And while it definitely has the "roll your eyes" factor for all us girls out there, it does put a young spin on the ugly side of breast cancer. It reminds us...somewhat shockingly...that breast cancer isn't just something middle-aged women have to deal with -- and that's an important message for both men and women to hear. Personally, I'm much more touched -- and inspired -- when I hear of the courage and tenacity of survivors such as actress Christina Applegate (see this month's Women's Day magazine) . . .but hey, clearly, I'm not the audience here." "(Carolyn) It's cute and funny, but in some ways the tongue-in-cheekiness reduces the impact of the message. There's so much going on -- the waiter, the improbable sailors, the guy in the inner-tube, the variety of reactions (oh, and the boobs themselves) - that the call to action is overshadowed. And because it looks like a beer commercial, it doesn't have enough identity to stand out ("Did you see the ad with the boobs? It was about ... um ...") Will this get men to care about breast cancer? Hard to say. The risk of breast cancer increases with age, with 61 being the median age (according to the ACS). Women aged 20-24 have the lowest breast cancer incidence rate. While showing young, healthy breasts may get guys to pay attention, there's a risk they'll lose interest once they realize they're actually supposed to care about the breasts of older women." "(Eric) I must say it definitely holds your attention and I agree that this is a very clever way to get the breast cancer a

Just recently I learned about an online community called DocWorthy. It's an online group for doctors, medical groups, and professional advisors. I have to admit that I'm a newbie when it comes to DocWorthy, but it looks interesting. For an advisor or consultant to join the community, you need to provide two recommendations written by physician clients. As a member of the group, you can add pod casts, blog posts, and articles, as well as interact with other group members. Check it out at http://www.docworthy.com. Also take a look at the video I've embedded in this post. It will give you a nice introduction to DocWorthy. This is the video targeting professional advisors joining the group, not physicians. To give credit where credit is due, I learned about DocWorthy from a discussion Christopher Jarvis posted on the LinkedIn Medical Marketing Network. Learn More About DocWorthy - Watch more Videos at Vodpod.Post by Dan Dunlop, Healthcare Marketing Done Right

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month so the press coverage and publicity around cancer related issues is increasing by the minute. Case in point is Dan Neil's story in the LA Times this morning (September 22, 2009). The headline read: "Breast cancer ads use lechery for good." Needless to say, I had to read on. So here's the deal. Rethink Breast Cancer, "a national volunteer-driven registered charity with a bold, enterprising and entrepreneurial approach," developed the "Save the Boobs" television commercial to promote one of their fundraisers and to increase awareness of breast cancer among a younger demographic. The spot is outrageous, and I mean that in a good way. The spot features a very round, young, bikini clad woman strolling around a pool full of interested and excited onlookers (male and female). (The video is embedded below.) And the camera focuses intently on this voluptuous woman's breasts. Then it delivers a powerful message: "Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in young women ages 20 to 49." The article makes the point that this is the kind of advertising that, if the same imagery were used in a beer commercial or for GoDaddy.com, would cause outrage (the bad kind) on the part of those who strive ardently to defend all that is politically correct. But because this is about breast cancer awareness, they don't have a leg to stand on without looking like morons. Here's an excerpt from Dan Neil's article in the LA Times: Also, this ad -- and a couple more like it -- represent one of the few occasions when the male tendency to objectify the female body is put to good use, as opposed to selling beer and premium football cable packages. They seem to answer a question that must have nagged breast-cancer-awareness advocates: How to get men to care? With rare exceptions, men don't suffer from breast cancer. The earnest, sad-violins spots invoking moms and grand-moms of the past probably haven't gained much traction among men. Feminist film the

Watching "Learn More About DocWorthy" at Vodpod

As a healthcare marketer, it's easy to get caught up in the day-to-day minutiae and forget that we are part of something very special. Today I was reminded of that when I attended the dedication ceremony for the new North Carolina Cancer Hospital.The new Cancer Hospital is built essentially in the front yard of what used to be known as North Carolina Memorial Hospital, where I worked as a young college student while attending the University of North Carolina. I worked nights as a nursing assistant (thought I would go to med school) on the 6th floor of the bed tower - a cardiology floor. I also did a brief internship working in the nurse recruitment office.It seemed like I had come full circle when in 1995 I led the marketing team that created the UNC Health Care brand, uniting UNC Hospitals (of which NC Memorial Hospital is a part) and about 49 other distinct brands under a single brand umbrella. The old North Carolina Memorial Hospital is still there, but today the number of people who know it by that name is diminishing. Today, they are UNC Health Care. I went on to serve as a brand manager for UNC Health Care, leading the account team at their ad agency (www.jenningsco.com) for more than 12 years before we finally parted ways. That brand will always be a part of me, and I will always take pride in its accomplishments. Over the last several years I've witnessed and played a part in the launch of the NC Neurosciences Hospital, NC Women's Hospital, NC Children's Hospital, UNC Wellness Center and the UNC Heart Center at Meadowmont, along with a number of community practices. I also led the team that worked on brand strategy when UNC acquired Rex Healthcare in Raleigh, significantly expanding the reach of the healthcare system. And today, I was there for the launch of the North Carolina Cancer Hospital!The North Carolina Cancer Hospital treats 15,000 cancer patients each year, serving as the clinical home of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center - one of only

MetroWest Medical Center and Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts Medical Center are launching a new pediatrics campaign this week. The campaign promotes the new partnership between the two organizations that brings the exceptional pediatric care available in downtown Boston to the people of MetroWest (a western suburb of Boston). The campaign messaging balances the excellence of academic medicine with the attention to care delivered by MetroWest Medical Center. Partnership is also an important theme - both the partnership between the two organizations and the partnership between physicians and families. This is definitely a patient-centered and patient-centric campaign, even though it features physicians in each of the ads and supporting materials. Uniquely, each physician is casting a shadow - the shadow of a child. The interest of the child and family is ever-present. The theme line for the campaign says it all: "When you're committed to kids, it just shows." Here's a video that introduces the partnership: Floating Hospital / MWMC Pediatric Partnership - Watch more Videos at Vodpod.I have to say that we almost never do campaigns that feature docs, but this is the exception to the rule. The playful shadows humanize the physicians and show their connection to the patient. The concept tested extremely well with consumers. There's a microsite that goes with the campaign that can be found at www.MetroWestCaresForKids.com. There you can see more of the campaign. Check out some of the creative from the campaign below:

I live in Durham, North Carolina, so I have the opportunity to watch one of the nation's finest health systems up close - Duke Health System. I've also had the opportunity to develop marketing strategies and campaigns for its major competitors over the years. Although I've constantly worked to position health care institutions against the Duke powerhouse, I've also admired them greatly. Yesterday Duke announced plans for a $700 million, 850,000 square foot expansion that will include a new cancer center and medical pavilion. The seven story cancer center will open in 2012 if all goes according to plan. The eight story pavilion will follow a year later. The projects are expected to generate 1,500 construction jobs (very timely) and 1,000 new positions once open and fully staffed. This should mean very good things for the local economy. Check out the story in the News & Observer at http://www.newsobserver.com/1005/story/1663154.html. Meanwhile Duke has also been busy developing suburban clinics throughout the Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina, in addition to its acquisition of Durham Regional Hospital and Duke Raleigh Hospital.All of this comes just as UNC Health Care, 8 miles down the road in Chapel Hill, NC, prepares to open its new North Carolina Cancer Hospital. The dedication ceremony for that new facility is scheduled for September 15, 2009. It seems that the announcement of Duke's new cancer hospital was strategically timed. Hmm? Check out this video I found on YouTube of the NC Cancer Hospital "then and now." It is remarkable to think that there will be two of the most advanced and well funded cancer centers in America within about 12 miles of my home. The Raleigh-Durham area of NC is fortunate to have such a wealth of quality healthcare institutions - care providers and employers. Post by Dan Dunlop, Healthcare Marketing Done Right

One of the art directors I work with forwarded me a link to Seattle Cancer Care Alliance's website: The Day I Found Out (http://www.thedayifoundout.com). This is inspiring marketing. The website contains video clips of cancer survivors sharing their stories about the day they found out they had cancer. This is a great example of how the best and most impactful marketing concepts are often the most simple. The idea is exceptionally well executed. I did some quick digging and found that the videos are also available on YouTube although none of them seem to have many views (that may change!). Below is one of the survivor stories I found to be so compelling. If you get the opportunity, you ought to visit this website. To me, this says that the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance has a deep understanding of what cancer patients go through and definitely pulls off miracles. And when you've got cancer, or have a family member with cancer, you hope for miracles. Kudos to the marketing team at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. Post by Dan Dunlop, Healthcare Marketing Done Right

I've written about the HyGreen hand hygiene technology in the past, but recently came upon a TV news story featuring the technology and wanted to share it with you. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find the video file on YouTube or upload it to VodPod, so I am just supplying you with the link: http://www.wcjb.com/news/4313/technology-spotlight. This is incredible technology that senses vapors from hand gel and soaps, and keeps track of handwashing behavior. Check out the news story for more details. I've also embedded a video below about HyGreen that I found on YouTube. For my past post on HyGreen titled "Soap Sniffing Technology" click on this link: http://tinyurl.com/loj3kb.Post by Dan Dunlop, Healthcare Marketing Done Right

For those of you who couldn't attend my webinar on social media in healthcare (October 20, 2009), or who didn't know about it, I have embedded a video of the presentation below. It includes the slides from the presentation and my narration as I went through the presentation. I hope you find this to be helpful! Post by Dan Dunlop, Healthcare Marketing Done Right