We recently developed a mixed media campaign for Memorial Physician Services (MPS), an affiliate of Springfield, IL-based Memorial Health System. The beautifully-shot 30 second spot conveys a clear message: that MPS doctors are more than just doctors; they’re personal guides to great health.

Several different scripts were presented to Memorial Health System. Their marketing department, physicians, and staff chose the script you see in the video. It was a complex shoot, but efficiency allowed us to both shoot and edit into a final polished spot within one week. At Demi & Cooper, we take pride in using technology to our advantage. It used to be producing a spot that looked half has good took twice as long. No longer!

Wondering what Demi & Cooper can do for you? Drop us a line!

DC Interactive Group is proud to announce the launch of Alex’s Gluten Free Spots, a new gluten-free iPhone app. The app will offer crowd-sourced reviews and ratings of gluten-free restaurant offerings, and it’s also the first of its kind to offer celiac friendly ratings, so users understand the risks of cross-contamination in restaurants with gluten-free items on the menu.

Why Gluten Free?

Not long ago, Charles Falls (our company president) had trouble finding out if gluten-free food offered at restaurants was safe for his daughter, Alex, 19, who was recently diagnosed with Celiac disease. “Existing apps showed that particular restaurants offered gluten-free food, but none offered a thorough rating system that said if the food was Celiac friendly, the risk of cross-contamination, or how well-versed staff members are in which items are gluten free,” he said.

Healthcare Impact

1 in 133 Americans are diagnosed with celiac disease, and on top of that, an estimated 85% who have it are undiagnosed. And despite the large number of undiagnosed, 5 times more people have been diagnosed with celiac disease today compared to a half century ago.

A gluten free diet is currently the only treatment for celiac disease. The number of people with gluten sensitivity is staggering, and more Americans express the desire to eat gluten free year after year. (Currently, 29% of adults say they want to cut back on gluten)

With gluten awareness and interest in eating gluten free on the rise, we’re excited to see just how far this new app can go.

About Alex’s Gluten Free Spots

Released for iPhone on April 14, 2013, Alex’s Gluten Free Spots is free to download. Offering the app free of charge will allow anyone with an iPhone and an interest in the app to download it, which will help build the database of gluten free spots.

Learn more about the app at AlexsGlutenFreeSpots.com. Find graphics and video for the press at AlexsGlutenFreeSpots.com/media.

Every business has competitors with more Facebook followers. After having clients approach us for creative ways to outpace their competitors on Facebook, we decided to create an app that would help them stand out from the rest. We are excited to finally announce the release of an exciting new app, Hostile Takeover, that allows businesses to anonymously take over their competitor’s Facebook accounts, and ultimately drive business away from competitors and to their own pages.

Hostile Takeover allows a user, in just a few clicks, to become an admin on any business account Facebook page. Once you are an admin, posts are up to your discretion. The takeover is completely anonymous, and other admins on the account are automatically boxed out. This allows you to take over the account until the competitor alerts Facebook to the takeover. “Most Hostile Takeovers will last up to 24 hours before Facebook can get the account straightened back out, which has proven to be enough time to do the necessary damage,” says Falls, President of DC Interactive Group.

You can also fully delete the competitor’s account. This is a good option if you want to be in and out, with no mess. This option also takes the competitor longer to recover the account, if they are able to at all.

For a limited time, Hostile Takeover is free for the first Takeover. Then the cost is $100 per Competitor.

Here are a few reviews from recent Hostile Takeover Users:

“We are a community hospital with a larger competitor a few miles away. Our Hostile Takeover allowed us to convince their followers that they had an outbreak of a rare disease and were under quarantine. That day our patient volume grew by 40 percent!”

“As a new restaurant, we were having trouble garnering business, likely due to repeat customers at nearby restaurants. After our Hostile Takeover of a few of their Facebook accounts, where we changed their hours to show they were closed on Fridays, our Friday night business has been booming! And the best part is, most of them didn’t even notice, so they are still shown as closed on Friday!”

As for what’s next, we may have a Twitter Hostile Takeover in the works. “People have asked us about the recent Burger King Twitter hack. We aren’t going to take credit, “says Falls. “We’ll just say, ‘We know a guy.’”

Some have questioned the ethics of a Hostile Takeover. To that, Falls simply responds: April Fool’s! If you have gotten this far without realizing this was an April Fool’s joke, we’ll just say, “Come on, people!” In all seriousness, though, we have created some cool apps for our clients that aren’t in any way questionable. Check out our branded ICE App for hospitals here, or sign up for the launch of our new Gluten free restaurant review app.

In this television spot for the Memorial Medical Center (Springfield, IL) Orthopedics department, designed as part of an overall campaign, six adults use their hips and knees during various everyday activities. They get some multitasking in as well. While the activities are performed, each person explains why Memorial Orthopedics is the most experienced in the region.

If you’re in marketing, or if your idea of a good time is following privacy issues beyond just those associated with Facebook and Instagram, you’ve certainly heard the phrase “remarketing” in 2012.  From a marketing perspective, remarketing is a dream.  It’s the web world’s automated equivalent of a salesperson getting the phone number of a prospect who visited the “store” in order to contact the person at a later date — except remarketing does not know anything about the person to whom the sales messages will be delivered, other than that the person had visited a coded website, and remarketing simply feeds ads to the prospects as they peruse various websites fed by Google ads.

In a nutshell, once someone visits your site, a code from your site is placed on the person’s browser that allows Google to feed your remarketing ads to the person at a schedule you create.  These can be pay-per-click ads, so it only cost you money if the person clicks on the ad.  Even better is that if, while on your site, the person does what you want him to do (ie purchases, signs up for a class, fills in a contact form, etc.), the remarketing code can be removed automatically.  The thought is, why spend money marketing to someone who just bought?  Then again, your remarketing dollars to that person can be spent on getting a testimonial from the buyer.  Pretty cool, huh?

Here’s Google’s webinar on remarketing.  It’s one hour long, but worth it if you want to understand how it works.

Consumers like to think that they make buying decisions with their heads.  Some are adamant, even without provocation. But advertisers know better.

While at dinner parties and social business events, I’ve had more than one fork of food stall on its way to my open mouth as I tried to digest a stinging comment from someone I didn’t even know about how my chosen profession is “full of bad art without any real purpose”.  “C’mon, you got a couple in separate bathtubs . . .out in the woods . . . holding hands . . . why would anyone in their right mind think that a commercial like that could sell a pill for Erectile Dysfunction?”  My lack of response, coupled with raised eyebrows, is misunderstood as signs that I’m actually looking for another example.

“Or that gecko . . . selling car insurance. . . I know people like the little creature, but how many stupid people are there who would buy insurance because some lizard says they should?” (click this link to see the type of person I’m describing).

Well, a lot of people.  And they’re not stupid.  They’re, well, people.  They’re human, and they react to human things that appeal to the most persuadable parts of their minds — their emotions.  Rarely do we buy based on our intelligent minds.

Successful advertisements aren’t trying to win debates.  They’re not even trying to be logical.  Instead, they’re trying to cut through all of the clutter that has filled a viewer’s mind, connect with a need the viewer has, and associate the product or service with the successful fulfillment of that need.  Logic has nothing to do with this, and neither does passing along valuable knowledge. Indeed, as proven in the medical community, having a whole lot of knowledge about a subject has nothing to do with how a person views the subject.

In research published by the Journal of Internal Medicine titled “Healthcare and Lifestyle Practices of Healthcare Workers: Do Healthcare Workers Practice What They Preach?”, it was shown that the lifestyles of healthcare workers were basically no different than the general population when it came to important medical concerns like weight control, binge drinking, and cigarette smoking.  Amazing, right?  Despite all of the facts and knowledge they have on these subjects, and all of the deadly reminders they see daily, healthcare workers act, in general, no different than those with much less knowledge of the dangers of these lifestyles.  They’re fat, drunk and stinky just like everyone else.

Clearly, knowing the facts doesn’t sway people.  Knowing that 60-something % of smokers will, in fact, die from smoking doesn’t stop people from smoking — not even healthcare workers.  These people are choosing to follow unhealthy lifestyles, despite knowing clearly the risks they are taking.  The decisions they make have nothing to do with knowledge.

What persuades people, what overrides all logic and rationale thinking in the minds of all people, is when a clear message gets wrapped up in an emotion that resonates within the population. How else can you explain a brand of flavored carbonated water selling for five times the price of a no-name brand?  Logically, it’s just a drink; but emotionally, it’s so much more.  Indeed, it’s “The Real Thing,” whatever that means.

“We’ve taught over 10,000 people how to play the piano in just three months!” has nothing on “Everybody laughed when I sat down at the piano, but then I began to play . . .”  One gives facts — big, ho-hum facts.  The other hits an emotional nerve — “man, I’d love to impress people by playing the piano.”

All advertising, including healthcare, connects better with the audience when it involves emotion.  “Our Retina Center Has More Modern Technology Than Anyone In The State” cannot compete with “Jimmy’s Parents Feared That He Would Never See Again. Then They Saw Us.” I was able to add even more emotion, and thus more power, to the second headline by simply adding a child.  “More Technology” is a brain phrase for “better”.  However, “Fear” is an emotional word for “do something”, which really is the point of the ad.  The first headline explains.  The second headline gives hope. People react to hope.  They want opportunity.  They don’t want knowledge because they really don’t know what to do with it.  And I think the health habits of our medical community prove this fact.

Maybe the next time I’m confronted at a dinner party, I’ll point out that the Erectile Dysfunction ad was aimed at men, giving them hope by talking to their pleasure centers.  I’ll then ask my “friend” if he would prefer that the ad say honestly and factually,  “This pill has thrilled millions of men and, at the same time, aggravated millions of wives”.

Nah.  Let them believe they buy using their brains.  We advertisers know better. I’ll just try not to choke on my food when the subject comes up.

Okay, here’s what happened. An eblast was sent for our client, Sherman Health. One of the stories in the weekly newsletter teased a great gluten free recipe for chocolate puddle cookies. Sounds freaking nummers, right? It is. You should bake these cookies and I will eat them for you.

Anyway, here’s what the eblast teaser looked like.

The eblast was written, reviewed, and sent in a swift and effective manner. Only one problem this time: the link to the story pointed people to an old article for a pumpkin butter recipe.

Curses!

Now, when a mistake like this is found, most people would correct it and send a recall eblast. But because we had the mistake link under our control, we were able to come to a different solution. Here’s what we added to the incorrect landing page.

In a nutshell, eblast mistakes (or any internet marketing mistakes) hurt and are panic-inducing. But if you can find a way to correct the issue honestly and have fun while doing it, it just might be even more effective than it would have been had you gotten everything right in the first place.

The testimonial, when done right, can work. People love a great personal story told by someone who will be universally loved. And what’s more lovable than a sweet, witty, honest 90-year-old who saved up to go skydiving? Add to it a clever story-telling method—cute kids lip syncing the story (oh goodness, those kids!), acting it out as she tells it, and you have a formula for success.

Hear Marian Barnett’s story below. I’ll be darned if you don’t love her by the end of it, and even start considering how you can save up to end up just like her.

This is a testimonial we love.

This morning Facebook launched its very first advertising campaign. It’s targeted at Facebook users in 13 countries: Brazil, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Philippines, Russia, Spain, UK, and the US. The marketing will be translated into 12 different languages.

Just about everyone uses Facebook. After all, they have just hit 1 billion users — and they have gotten that far without any advertising at all. It begs the question: why does Facebook even need an advertising campaign.

I offer three answers. 1) After Facebook’s botched IPO, they are beginning to try attract shareholders again. 2) The spot, as they say themselves, is designed to celebrate hitting the 1 billion user mark. 3) The campaign, at least this first video, is intended to remind us all of why we use Facebook. In my opinion, this is likely the most important answer.

By comparing Facebook to chairs, bridges, airplanes and dance floors and other commonplace things they are attempting to solidify Facebook’s place in our world as yet another thing we, as humans, have built to connect us together — to remind us that we are not alone. That Facebook provides just another vital way for us to share our experiences with our friends and family. It reminds us of something we sometimes forget: that sharing our lives is more than a fun, social thing to do. It’s actually a basic need we have as a species.

In my opinion it’s a beautiful and surprisingly humble start — and while it could have stopped short of comparing itself to the whole universe near the end, overall it is well done.

Until this week, I hadn’t heard of Carlton Draught. It’s one of Australia’s most popular beers, as it turns out. Boring details: 4.6% ABV, pale lager style, made by Carlton & United Beverages.

Not so boring? The latest entry in a series of what’s become known as quirky and memorable Carlton Draught advertising. It’s a 90-second cops and robbers chase through city streets that manages to get the “don’t drink and drive” message across while poking fun at (by my count) close to ten action movie tropes.

It’s a great time. Watch responsibly.