Sep. 5, 2008 at 8:50am

Make your claim matter

Posted by Shari Campbell in Advertising, Care Line Marketing, Planning and Strategy
Comments (1)

So what?

That was my initial response to a health care ad I glanced at this morning that claimed, “ … we have some of the fastest ER times in the state.”

I suppose I’m more cynical than your average consumer about ER wait times because of all the local, regional and national press about how long it takes to get through virtually every ER.

I’ll read the fine print, I mumbled to myself. Little did I know it would require my caffeine-deprived brain to do math.

Here are the facts behind the claim

While most hospitals in Washington state have an average ER wait time of 263 minutes – that’s more than four hours if you haven’t yet sipped your first cup of Starbucks – the hospital running the ad has an average ER wait time of 200 minutes. That’s nearly 3.5 hours – or more than an hour shorter than the state average.

Lots of big numbers. (Simply using smaller numbers like more than four hours and less than 3.5 hours would’ve helped!) And any way I slice it, nothing to make hay about.

My simple advice as you consider running ads aimed at consumers: think outside your organization. Take a reality check with your friends, neighbors or loved ones if you have any doubts about the claim in your ad. Make sure your claim matters to the audience that matters most – consumers.

Because when I asked a few colleagues this morning about spending 3.5 hours in the ER, we all came to same conclusion: unless our loved one is having a heart attack or one of our kids is bleeding to death, we’ll skip the trip to the ER.

Comments (1)

I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I dont know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

Alena

http://www.sunscreenstips.com

1 | Left by Alena | Dec. 11, 2008 at 5:04am