A Reasonably Good Ad Campaign

With the home team in the American League Division Series and playing baseball like they really mean it this year, it certainly is a good time to be able to call yourself the Official Hospital of the Boston Red Sox. After all, winning is contagious. But that’s just one thing Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) has going for it this fall. Something else that’s been working in the hospital’s favor lately is its current advertising campaign, which is designed to call attention to the many different reasons people (750,000 of them annually) become patients there.

In a series of large, clever display ads in this town’s two major dailies (of course, there may be other publications on the media schedule of which I’m not aware), this nationally-renowned academic medical center distinguishes itself well in articulating its unique selling proposition.

For instance, on page 19 of yesterday morning’s Boston Herald, “Reason #11” in this series is promoting “open heart surgery that’s a lot less open.” A plastic adhesive bandage – yes, commonly referred to as a BAND-AID – is the visual centerpiece. And the feature highlighted in this particular ad is that BIDMC “is pioneering minimally invasive heart valve repair and replacement.” The benefit? “For patients it means less painful surgery, less cosmetic trauma and faster recovery times.” Okay. What obviously ties this campaign together is the fact that each ad in the series is numbered, giving prospective patients – and, I suppose, prospective employees – the impression that it contains just one in a long, impressive list of reasons why they shouldn’t even consider any other hospital. This is good.

I personally have seen five of these ads, numbers 8 (“making heartburn a quaint memory of the early 21st century”), 9 (“really, really tiny surgical instruments”), 11 (“open heart surgery that’s a lot less open”), 16 (“the better to see you”) and, yes, 63 (“apparently, the grass is greener”). Interestingly, though, when I followed the URL that’s included in these ads, I found the campaign prominently displayed on the BIDMC home page, but the list in its entirety was conspicuous in its absence. Only five “Reasons to Visit BIDMC” were there, and what had heretofore been “Reason #11” in the ads was now listed as “Reason #17.” This is not so good.

As fellow copywriter, creative director and past New England Direct Marketing Association president Bob McCarthy (of McCarthy and King Marketing, Inc.), cautions: “If you are using the ‘numbered ways’ approach in a series of ads, remember the reader may not see the entire series. If you cannot provide the entire list in your promotion, consider producing the full list in a brochure, booklet or flyer – then offering it to respondents.”

After reading just one of these ads, if I’m the target audience, I can’t help but want to find all of the “Reasons” together in one place on the hospital’s Web site. That’s my thinking.

Bob also says: “Keep your numbers reasonable. If you are writing an ad that says, “Reason No. 59,” you have pretty much maxed out your credibility. One can only imagine how trivial or watered down the reasons are if there are at least 59 of them.”

In this case, we’re apparently talking about a grand total of at least 63 reasons to visit BIDMC. Of course, no one’s arguing that there aren’t that many, but highlighting just one-third of such a large number would likely be perceived as more credible.

All this said, please don’t get me wrong: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center still has a winning campaign here, one certainly befitting its status as one of the top health delivery organizations in America. And, by the way, one that’s going to get much more attention if the Red Sox go all the way this year.

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