Donna and Rob do Vegas!

Donna Arbogast, Springboard D.C., and Rob Rosenberg, Springboard Brand & Creative Strategy, recently exhibited at the Consumer-based Marketing Strategies conference in Las Vegas. We will be sending our clients and friends presentations from these sessions in the upcoming weeks.

Overall, it was a good show with a lot of interesting content. The healthleadersmedia.com web site has some good tidbits from the sessions. If you would like to discuss any of these in greater detail, please let us know.

North Mississippi Medical Center has patients who "have it."

In 2008, North Mississippi Medical Center (Tupelo, Mississippi) launched a new branding campaign featuring real patients from throughout its service area.  As the region's leading provider of specialized care - covering nearly 25 counties - NMMC reaches towns throughout northeastern Mississippi and Alabama.  

From the parents of new triplets to a young firefighter with heart disease, this campaign featured a wide range of people who benefited from the care and services of the medical center.  The television spots are narrated by the patients and the newspaper ads feature the common headline, "I have...," referring to the new opportunities they have in life thanks, in part, to NMMC.  Marsha Tapscott, Director of Marketing and Public Relations at NMMC, and marketing managers Debra Pugh, Scott Costello, and Genie Alice Via interviewed patients in each of their service areas to determine  the best fits for the campaign.

Revealing the Big Picture

The connection I'd like to make is how this campaign (4 television spots, print ads, etc.) breaks through the clutter and captured the attention of both the MarCom and Davey awards, where it won a Platinum and Silver award, respectively.

The tagline, such an important transition element from strategy to execution, became -- "We See the Big Picture." A cool line, an appropriate line for a healthcare organization, and one that doesn't contain the words, "care," "quality," or " close." And, of course, the punch line of the tagline, which is how medical imaging is guiding the specialists at OMHS to provide better, more accurate treatment.

With said tagline in place, the creative team was able to think of ways and scenarios in which the medical imaging transitions to the lifestyle images. If you'd like to see the other spots, we'll post them.

Start with strategy, summarize with tagline and execute with creative. Simple right? Congratulations to Barbara Taylor and her team at OMHS for taking this idea and running with it in publications, direct mail, and other communications programs.