Thursday, March 22, 2007

Blood Treasure

See the ad above? It just appeared in Medical Journal Houston. It announces the upcoming AMA Healthcare SIG event, April 4th, 2007.

This case study is so good, it’ll make the blood rush to your head. (Sorry, couldn’t help it.) So make your reservation now – don’t be put off by that bland online title. You are going to have fun!

Our speaker is a treasure: Annetta Morris oversees The Blood Center’s successful Commit For Life blood donor program. She’s one of the most engaging people I’ve ever met.

So you’re going to hear about the Commit For Life program, that uses [1] regional marketing research to develop The Blood Center’s integrated marketing plan, and [2] a series of tactics that has boosted the number of donations and prompted current donors to donate more.

If marketing’s in your blood, you’ll find out how The Blood Center keeps on persuading donors to help people throughout the region. You’ll discover how to “envision” a comprehensive marketing approach to a core audience, whether it’s for external (public) or internal (employee) use.

And you’ll learn more about executing such a marvelous integrated marketing plan.

Morris has 15 years in the blood-banking industry, including experience in donor collections, donor recruitment and information systems. She’s using this experience to help The Blood Center increase the retention rate of donors…and she’s going to share her story with us on April 4th.

Morris’s department is responsible for recruiting and educating donors, volunteers and donor groups: a huge job. Under her team’s direction, The Blood Center partners with businesses, religious organizations, community groups and educational institutions in the Gulf Coast region to permanently increase the blood supply in more than 220 health care institutions in a 25-county area. It’s an award-winning marketing program that’s being copied all over the country.

I alerted you last month that this was coming. Now I’m throwing some red-blooded promotional language at you, so you’ll make your attendance April’s don’t-miss thing.

(And I’m not even close to running out of bad puns.) So come on down to Trevisio’s in the Texas Medical Center on Wednesday, April 4th. I’ll see you there.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice poster/ad.

Anonymous said...

I used to do work with my local Blood Drive Center while in college. I found that our blood drives were extremely successful when we took the approach of a "human story". Everyone knows the facts about donating blood and how badly these centers need blood to help people as a whole, but the message really stuck when we found an actual family in need right in our community.

We contacted the family and asked if we could use their names/pictures to help drive this cause. They were all for it. They even made an appearance at the Blood Drive Event. The turnout was amazing. People weren't just picking up brochures, they were lining up to donate.

I would love to ask the speaker if the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center has had any success with that type of human story approach? And if so, how would they plan to implement a strategy like that on a local level to really hit home in specific communities?

Sounds like an interesting event for a great cause. Have a good one.

Anonymous said...

I ran a very succesful blood donor campaign based on the fact that one pint of blood can help save the lives of 3 people.

I can't actually draw the graphic here, but it was something like:

Picture of one pint of blood = graphic of a man + graphic of a woman + graphic of a child
What a bargain!

The campaign was based on the idea that doctors have to go to school for 8 or more years to save lives. Firefighters have to rush into burning buildings to save lives.

But all you have to do to save lives is donate a pint of blood. What a bargain!

Richard Laurence Baron said...

After being asked about the subject several times, it ought to be noted that Active Imagination here in Houston constructed the ad. I created the concept, wrote the headline and copy, and supplied the photo. Thanks, everyone, for the compliments.

Anonymous said...

Nice work, Richard. I have to be at the Dentist on the fourth; can you send me all the notes you'll be taking at the talk?
SDK