Despite gloomy predictions for the nation's economy, analysts are reporting brighter days for the future of internet ad spending. This article from Forbes outlines three separate reports offering prognostications for online ad spending from a general perspective, another with a strictly local viewpoint and an examination of streaming media.
To stay ahead of the social networking curve in 2008, interactive marketers should put brand monitoring in place, focus on objectives over technologies, and go for speed over perfection in applications deployment, according to a report from Forrester Research analysts.
For its Truth campaign, the American Legacy Foundation is featuring cartoon characters and real actors singing a sarcastic song called the "Magical Amount," a reference to the level of nicotine needed to addict smokers without making them sick. Foundation officials said the use of the cartoon characters is a move both to refresh the now two-year-old Truth creative and to use the mix of live-action and computer-generated animation seen in other spots targeting a teen audience.
The pens on the reception desk at my doctor's office, which is part of a large Massachusetts health system, are emblazoned with logos. Ditto for the clipboard the receptionist uses to check me in, the educational posters in the waiting area, and the little rubber hammer the doctor uses to test my reflexes. Clocks, sticky notes, prescription pads, stress balls, mugs--all have prominent logos on them. But they aren't branded to the practice or even the health system (which has a very spiffy logo, in fact). No, these items are all branded to the pharmaceutical companies that want my doctor to prescribe their drugs to me.
On my last visit, while waiting to get my blood drawn, I sat in a make-shift waiting area that was crammed to the rafters with boxes of freebies from drug companies. This wasn't a sample closet--or even a sample walk-in closet--it was a sample studio apartment. And when they called me in to get my blood drawn, they handed me a squishy ball with--well, you know what was on the squishy ball.
I couldn't help but notice it and wonder why on earth my doctor would want or need all these silly and tacky items. Surely the cost of pens and sticky notes and mugs couldn't be that exorbitant, could it? Could it be worth the cost to her image? Worth the cost of my questioning whether she's looking out for me or the well-dressed drug company rep in the waiting room?
SMDC Health System in Duluth, MN, put a price on all of those freebies the drug companies handed out each year: $100,000. That's how much they decided it would take them to buy their own pens and whiteboards and a long list of other items. And SMDC's administrators decided that $100,000 was a fair price to pay for office supplies that don't scream drug companies can buy us off with cheap trinkets.
"This shows people we're not in the pharmaceutical companies' back pockets," Kenneth Irons, chief of community clinics for SMDC, told the Star-Tribune.
Many practices, hospitals, and health systems have already banned doctors from accepting free lunches and trips and other big ticket items that patients can't actually see. But the SMDC policy goes a step further, getting rid of the logo-packed perks that patients can't help but notice.
And kudos to them: In cleaning out all the drug company freebies, they also made sure that their own image remained untarnished.
Thinking of just saying no to drug company logos and other perks? Consider these sources:
Pediatric Surgery Centers--a $4.3-million, 18,000-square-foot outpatient surgical facility--is expected to open as early as June in Odessa, FL. The center will be a larger version of the multispecialty Pediatric Surgery Centers located in Brandon, FL, which opened in 2005 and treats about 3,000 children a year.
California has become the second state to introduce a Web site that helps consumers find out how much hospitals are willing to discount care for uninsured patients. New York previously gave consumers a tool to shop and compare charity care or discount payment policies. The California site, called the Hospital Fair Pricing Program, is a result of a 2006 law authored by former Democratic Assemblywoman Wilma Chan of Oakland.
Heart disease deaths in the United States have fallen below the American Heart Association's prevention goal for 2010, and deaths from strokes are nearing their own record low. The analysis of data released by the National Center for Health Statistics doesn't explain why death rates continue to fall, but some experts say improved methods of preventing and treating cardiovascular disease have paid off.
On the eve of a major legislative hearing, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's healthcare overhaul has won so little support that the Democratic leadership may have to alter a committee's makeup for the measure to pass. A report by the nonpartisan legislative analyst's office questions some of the plan's fiscal assumptions, and estimated that by the fifth year of operation, the plan would be spending $300 million more than it was raising.
A group of former executives of Triad Hospitals Inc. has launched Legacy Hospital Partners Inc., a new company to acquire hospitals through joint ventures with not-for-profit hospital systems. James D. Shelton, former chairman and chief executive of Triad, is chairman of Legacy. The new company will own, operate and manage acute-care hospitals in small cities and in select urban markets.
For more than 17 years, Prince Market Research has done surveys, polls and arranged focus groups for many clients, including hospital chain HCA when it tested the name of its Centennial Medical Center. Now, Prince has created Catalyst Healthcare Research to focus on the marketing needs of healthcare providers, suppliers and insurance plans.
