Akron General Medical Center; Innovare’s 10th Hospital Partner within 2 Years

Akron_General_Health_SystemInnovare Medical Media (Innovare) is pleased to announce its 10th Hospital Partnership with Akron General Medical Center (Akron General) in Akron, OH.  Michael Ricciardi, Innovare’s New Business Partner, says “Innovare is excited to continue to grow its network of hospitals providing Akron General with an entrepreneurial opportunity to market their services on their own campus and create an additional discretionary revenue stream all at no cost to the hospital”.

Thomas Neumann, Akron General’s SVP Strategy, Marketing & Communications, says “Akron General is excited to have leading businesses within the region featured in our displays.  Innovare is installing technologically advanced, green equipment in the areas of high-traffic by the visitors, physicians and employees to provide very attractive marketing platforms for both Akron General and our business partners and friends”.

About Akron General Medical Center:

Akron General Health System is a not-for-profit health care organization with the mission of improving the health and lives of the people and communities it serves. Akron General Medical Center is a 532-registered-bed teaching and research medical center.  Recently, U.S. News & World Report ranked Akron General Medical Center as the seventh best hospital in Ohio. In 2013, the American Nurses Association bestowed the prestigious “Magnet” status on the more that 1,000 nurses from Akron General Medical Center, Edwin Shaw Rehabilitation Institute and the Health System’s Health & Wellness Centers. For more information about Akron General Health System, visit www.akrongeneral.org.

Global Internet Ad Spend Sees Double-Digit Growth, Outpaces Other Media

statsWith consumer confidence up and brands looking to reconnect, spending on advertising is on the rise—around the globe and across media types. TV, newspapers, radio, outdoor, Internet, and cinema all saw an increase in ad spend in the beginning of 2012 compared to last year, according to Nielsen’s quarterly Global AdView Pulse report. Though TV continues to attract the majority of advertising dollars, Internet advertising saw the biggest increases, with advertisers spending 12.1 percent more in Q1 2012 than one year prior. During that time, ad spend overall increased 3.1 percent globally.

Across the regions, the findings are markedly different as each media has taken root and evolved uniquely.

Television
Dollars devoted to TV advertising grew 4 percent in North America, second only to outdoor, and 7.5 percent in Latin America. In the Middle East and Africa, TV ad spend grew a whopping 33.8 percent.

Internet
Online ad spend was a bright spot for the industry, with growth around the globe. Growth was particularly notable in Europe (12.1%), Latin America (31.8%) and the Middle East & Africa (35.2%).

Print (Magazines and Newspapers)
Magazines saw a minor decline compared to last year, but newspapers grew 3.1 percent. In Latin America and Asia Pacific, both media grew—7.6 percent and 10.3 percent, respectively in Latin America, and 3.6 percent and 5.4 percent, respectively in Asia Pacific. North America saw nominal declines in print ad spend.

Radio
Radio saw increases in every region around the globe, including a 2.6 percent increase in North America and 2.8 percent in Europe. In emerging markets in Latin America and Middle East and Africa, those increases were much higher. Radio grew 18 percent in Latin America and 21.1 percent in the Middle East and Africa.

Cinema
In Asia Pacific, cinema grew 27.1 percent, offsetting the declines seen in Latin America and the Middle East and Africa.

Outdoor
Still a nascent industry, outdoor is growing rapidly. In the past quarter, outdoor ad spend increased 6.4 percent globally. This included gains of 4.4 percent in North America, 45.3 percent in the Middle East and Africa and 21.1 percent in Asia Pacific. Only Europe experienced a decline (1.2%).

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Methodology
The external data sources for the other countries included in the report are:

  • Argentina: IBOPE
  • Brazil: IBOPE
  • Croatia: Nielsen in association with Ipsos
  • Egypt: PARC (Pan Arab Research Centre)
  • France: Yacast
  • Greece: Media Services
  • Hong Kong: admanGo
  • Japan: Nihon Daily Tsushinsha
  • Kuwait: PARC (Pan Arab Research Centre)
  • Lebanon: PARC (Pan Arab Research Centre)
  • Mexico: IBOPE
  • Pan-Arab Media: PARC (Pan Arab Research Centre)
  • Portugal: Mediamonitor
  • Saudi Arabia: PARC (Pan Arab Research Centre)
  • Spain: Arce Media
  • Switzerland: Nielsen in association with Media Focus
  • UAE: PARC (Pan Arab Research Centre)

Read the Full Article at Nielsen.com

LI Hospitals Up Their Dosage of Advertising

— Although physicians rarely make house calls and health care providers face declining reimbursements, Long Island hospitals are making a rush to residents’ homes with advertising ranging from TV to radio and from outdoor media to the Web.

They’re snapping up full-page print ads, radio spots during drive time and TV spots that tug at the heartstrings, a bright spot in an otherwise anemic advertising market.

They’re also buying billboards at Long Island Rail Road stations, Long Island Ducks games and the Nassau Coliseum.

The ad spending binge is a bid to capture share of mind in a crowded field of nearly 30 Long Island institutions.

Bill Daddi, a spokesman for Kantar Media, which tracks health care advertising spending, said hospitals, clinics and medical centers in the New York metropolitan area spent $69 million in 2010, up from $66 million 2009. They spent $19.8 million in the first quarter of 2011, up from $15.4 million a year ago.

The North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System is in the midst of its “biggest campaign yet,” said Don Simon, the system’s vice president of marketing.

“Health care is moving to a consumer orientation where consumers have a greater say in the choice of health care providers. They’re seeking more information,” Simon said. “As a lot of health plans increase deductibles, consumers are being more careful about how they spend their health care dollars.”

While North Shore-LIJ hits home with its “Hope Lives Here” campaign, Winthrop-University Hospital in Mineola has been flexing its marketing muscles with a campaign touting “Your health means everything.”

“We’re spending a bit more than last year,” said Ed Keating, Winthrop’s vice president of marketing, advertising and public relations. “It’s become a much more competitive market, especially in the greater New York metropolitan area.”

Hospitals say they’re spending to build customer loyalty and avoid losing revenue, which would be a one-two punch as reimbursements drop.

“Our goal is twofold,” Simon said. “To create an emotional connection with potential patients as well as provide the community with health care information that will help them make a good health care decision.”

Keating said hospitals need to market or risk being marginalized.

“Left to themselves, people will think of you what they want,” he said. “It’s important to us to make people aware of the excellent medical services we have.”

Although hospital advertising runs the gamut, providers are investing more in Internet campaigns than in the past.

“We know that the Internet is playing an increasing role in how people educate themselves about medical care,” Keating said. “Eight in 10 Internet users have looked online for health information.”

Simon said North Shore-LIJ is using interactive digital banners and linking consumers to information about service such as orthopedics, doctor lists and videos.

“Health care is one of the highest searched areas on Google,” Simon said. “Patients and caregivers are going online to access information that helps them make health care decisions.”

Winthrop positions itself as a big institution amid a sea of smaller Long Island hospitals. Only North Shore University Hospital at Manhasset is larger.

“We’re in the process of changing the perception of Winthrop,” Keating said of the 591-bed institution. “We’re not a small hospital.”

In addition to vying with one another, Long Island hospitals are seeking to dissuade Long Island patients from going to New York City hospitals. Eighteen percent of patients from Nassau County in 2008 went to hospitals elsewhere, primarily New York City.

“Any hospital is trying to do that,” said Janine Logan, a spokeswoman for the Nassau-Suffolk Hospital Council. “We want to avoid the outmigration to New York City hospitals. We’ve got stellar facilities here.”

Winthrop’s Keating said the proof of the wisdom of marketing is in the profits, as good medicine, marketing and reputation keep the hospital healthy.

“It’s working,” he said. “We’re getting great feedback from the community and doctors. We have increased referrals and business, which is the most important thing. Our business is strong.”

Read the Full Post at Long Island Business News

Ad Spending Increases Again, Report Finds

Advertising spending is continuing to recover from the recession and financial crisis, according to a report released Monday morning, although the rate of growth is slowing.

The report, by Kantar Media, part of WPP, found that ad spending in major media in the United States in the first quarter rose 4.4 percent from the same quarter a year ago. The percentage gain is the fifth quarterly increase in a row since the end of 2009, but it is the smallest of the five.

That is not necessarily a red flag, according to Kantar. As the bounceback from hard times goes on, the quarterly results are up against tougher comparisons versus the previous year.

“We’re now comparing against stronger numbers from a year ago,” said Jon Swallen, senior vice president for research at the Kantar Media Intelligence North America unit of Kantar.

“A year and a half into a recovery, that’s not an unusual pattern to see stronger growth at the outset,” he said.

Another signal that Madison Avenue may not need to be anxious is that “we’re seeing growth across a very broad spectrum of advertisers,” Mr. Swallen said.

“More than two-thirds of advertisers are increasing budgets compared with a year ago,” he added.

The 4.4 percent increase in the first quarter comes after the four consecutive quarterly gains in 2010 compared with the same periods of 2009: 7 percent in the fourth quarter, 8.7 percent in the third quarter, 5.4 percent in the second quarter and 5.1 percent in the first quarter.

Although most advertisers are continuing to spend more, they are still shying from newspapers and newspaper-related media, the Kantar report shows.

Of the seven categories of media tracked in the first quarter, only two were down from the same period a year ago: newspapers, down 2.1 percent, and free-standing inserts, mostly distributed through newspapers, down 17.5 percent.

Within the newspaper category, ads in local newspapers declined 1.1 percent. It was the 22nd consecutive quarter of negative results, Kantar said.

Ads in national newspapers fell 7.5 percent compared with the first quarter of 2010, according to the report, and ads in Spanish-language papers declined 7.4 percent.

The media category with the largest percentage gain was Internet display ads, up 14.6 percent, followed by outdoor ads, up 12.5 percent; television, up 5.3 percent; and magazines, up 4.5 percent.

The media subcategory with the biggest percentage increase was cable television, up 31.9 percent, followed by Spanish-language magazines, up 22.3 percent.

Turning to ad spending by categories of advertisers, there were gains in eight of 10 categories in the first quarter, just as there was in the fourth quarter of 2010.

The category with the biggest increase was insurance, up 29 percent, reflecting the intense competition among auto insurers.

Insurance was, appropriately, followed by automotive, up 23 percent. (Automotive is the largest ad category of all.) Within the auto category, ad spending by automakers climbed 24.2 percent, the report said, and ad spending by auto dealers rose 20.6 percent.

The increases for auto ad spending are “beginning to slow down just a little bit,” Mr. Swallen said, “and we see that extending into the beginning of the second quarter as well.”

Some of the slowdown was related to the effects of the Japan earthquake and tsunami on supplies of cars made in Japan, he added.

As for the advertisers that spend all the money, Procter & Gamble led the list of the top 10, as it often does. Procter spent $719.8 million in the first quarter, the report said, down 5.9 percent from $765 million spent in the first quarter of last year.

Of the top 10 spenders, seven spent more than they did a year ago. They include the Chrysler Group, up 58.6 percent; Toyota Motor, up 30.3 percent; Ford Motor, up 27.3 percent; L’Oreal, up 14.1 percent; AT&T, up 6.9 percent; and General Motors, up 1.3 percent.

Another bigger spender, the Comcast Corporation, has a virtual asterisk next to its name.

Comcast’s ad spending rose 47.7 percent, vaulting the company into the top 10, because of its acquisition of NBCUniversal. The ad spending for Universal movies and other NBCUniversal properties is now added to Comcast’s totals.

The other decliners in the top 10, in addition to Procter, were Verizon Communications, down 24.4 percent, and Pfizer, down 11.1 percent.

The top 10, in descending order of total first-quarter spending, are: Procter, AT&T, General Motors, Comcast, Verizon, Pfizer, Chrysler, Toyota, Ford and L’Oreal.

The Kantar top 10 list pretty much matches the top 10 list that has been compiled by a Kantar competitor, Nielsen. The Nielsen list of top 10 ad spenders in the first quarter, also in descending order, is: Procter, AT&T, General Motors, Toyota, Ford, Comcast, Chrysler, Pfizer, Verizon and Honda Motor.

And like Kantar, Nielsen’s numbers show that among the major media categories, ad spending declined in the first quarter in only one, newspapers, by 10 percent.

Read the Full Article on The New York Times Website

Newly-founded Innovare, Partners with 1st Hospital: Winthrop-University Hospital in Mineola, NY

logoInnovare Medical Media (Innovare), launched in late 2010, partners with Winthrop-University Hospital (Winthrop) in Mineola, NY to provide a Community Showcase Display Program on the Winthrop campus.  The program will provide Winthrop with various marketing opportunities throughout the campus to reach their current Patients, Visitors and Employees with creative and strategic messages.  In addition, Winthrop will receive a new, annual, revenue stream from this Community Program, which can be utilized towards their mission priorities.

“Winthrop-University Hospital is very pleased to announce a partnership with Innovare Medical Media in creating a new, highly effective Community Showcase Display Program for leading Long Island businesses.  Winthrop continues to seek out Innovative solutions to more effectively communicate our world-class services to patients, visitors, and employees of the hospital.  This community display program will, for the first time, give local and regional business the remarkable opportunity to reach our incredibly strong demographics audience and the leadership of the greater Long Island community” says J. Edmund Keating, Vice President, Marketing, Advertising & Public Relations.

About Winthrop-University Hospital:

Winthrop-University Hospital is a 591-bed university-affiliated medical center and New York State-designated Regional Trauma Center which offers sophisticated diagnostic and therapeutic care in virtually every specialty and subspecialty of medicine and surgery. Winthrop-University Hospital is a major regional healthcare resource with a deep commitment to medical education and research, offering a full complement of inpatient and outpatient services.  The Hospital employs 6,000 dedicated and caring individuals, including nearly 1,500 nurses and 1,525 full-time and voluntary attending medical staff. For more information please visit www.winthrop.org.

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