Nearly one million children in Georgia are overweight or obese. That puts the state of Georgia in second place for the highest number of obese children in the country, right behind Mississippi. Illinois is close behind at number four. Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta is filled with children who have type 2 diabetes, hypertension, liver and kidney disease or are in need of joint replacement — all of which could have been avoided with proper weight control. And now, they’re taking a stand.

First, let’s cover some background. It’s a harsh truth that 40% of children in Georgia are overweight. And as you know, Georgia isn’t alone. What you may not expect is how frighteningly fast the rates are rising. The last time data was collected for Illinois, 34.9% of children were overweight — which was a staggering 19.1% rise from 2003 when the rate was 15.8%.

2003 Rates of Overweight and Obese Children

2007 Rates of Overweight and Obese Children

* Obesity is defined as body mass index (BMI) at or above the 95th percentile of the 2000 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention BMI-for-age growth charts. Children with BMI between the 85th and 95th percentile are classified as overweight. BMI is calculated as weight in  kilograms divided by the square of height in meters. Children age 10-17 are included in this data. Courtesy of National Conference of State Legislatures.

It’s a problem not many wish to address for a variety of reasons. We don’t want to embarrass our children. We don’t want to seem mean or judgmental. The fact is that weight issues are deeply personal and emotionally charged. 75% of parents who have overweight or obese children do not recognize the problem.

At the heart of this issue is the fact that most people view being overweight as a cosmetic problem — and while personal appearance is a concern, the real trouble are the heath problems that inevitably worsen as a result. Understandably, it’s often difficult connect health problems that can sometimes occur far in the future. Children are viewed as either resilient (and may grow into a healthy weight) or needing to be protected and sheltered (their self-esteem needs to be insulated).

From a healthcare perspective, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, liver and kidney disease, joint replacement surgery and other health issues precipitated by weight cost over $3.4 billion annually in Illinois alone. That’s because one out of five children are obese and one out of three are obese or overweight — and 62% of our state’s adults are overweight.

The officials at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta have had enough. They’ve launched a five-year, $25 million anti-obesity campaign that includes training pediatricians, developing educational programs in schools, setting up a health clinic, developing a microsite, TV, radio, outdoor, print ads and social media.

The campaign is being praised by the community, families, experts and health officials, but isn’t without controversy. Rodney Lyn of Georgia State University’s Institute of Public Health feels the effort is too harsh and says, “This campaign is more negative than positive.” Frustrated by so much preventable disease, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta patterned the ads after popular anti-smoking and anti-methamphetamine campaigns — and intended them to be blunt. “Ignoring this problem is what got us here. It’s time to wake up,” clearly states the hospital’s microsite strong4life.com.

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta’s campaign is part of a growing movement in the United States to address weight issues head-on. Today, more and more hospitals are already offering nutritional counseling, healthy eating programs, bariatric surgery and other services to adults. Creating a campaign to help children and their parents learn to manage their weight is a courageous undertaking — which can have a truly positive effect on our future.

Doctor visits have steadily declined since 2007. Your first thought may be, “well of course, they’re just finding information online — or getting advice from friends.” But surprisingly, surveys show they’re not doing that either.

The Center for Studying Health System Change performed a massive survey of 17,000 patients and released their findings two months ago in November of 2011. They found that between 2007 and 2010 visits to physicians dropped 4%. Surprisingly, the percentage of adults who sought information about a personal health concern in the previous 12 months decreased from 55.5% to 50% in the same period.

I find this study surprising for a number of reasons — including who is searching for health information. We tend to think that the number of older Americans and those with chronic illness who are looking for health information should be on the rise — especially with our aging baby boomer population. But that demographic, along with those who have lower education levels, have shown the largest decrease of interest in health information.  While searches for health information declined across every demographic, not surprisingly, those with high education levels remained the most likely to be interested in their health.

This all seems very disturbing, doesn’t it? It’s easy to worry that the general population has given up and isn’t interested in their well-being anymore — and in turn, easy to worry about the economic well-being of healthcare providers. Why are doctor visits down and searches for health information seemingly declining? As with most complex problems, there’s a complex answer:

1. The overabundance of health-related information. There is such an overabundance of health information that people are now so easily getting the information they need they do not perceive themselves as actively searching or researching. (And thus not answering the survey questions correctly.) In other words, you don’t think about how you’re going to water your garden in a rainstorm. This overabundance of information may lead people to believe they already know what they need to know. Finally, when you’re in an echo-chamber it’s hard to remember where a specific sound originated.
2. Confusion over or lack of health insurance/benefits. Health insurance has become so complex that some individuals are emotionally skeptical that they won’t be covered and will have to pay high out-of-pocket charges. Even if they are covered, some may still fear their claim will be unjustifiably denied and they may become embroiled in a paperwork hassle. The increasing population of illegal immigrants and the unemployed may further explain the decline.
3. Immediate/urgent care, supermarket and pharmacy quick-serve clinics. 2009 and 2010 saw easy-access and quick-serve healthcare brought out of the hospital and into the grocery store, greatly increasing competition. As well, with easier access, people would be less concerned about managing their healthcare when they can see someone so easily — and pick up a gallon of milk in the same place. Nurse practitioners and physician assistants are now able to treat many conditions that only doctors were able to take care of in 2007.
4. Alternative care isn’t as alternative anymore. Major corporations are beginning to cover chiropractic, massages, acupuncture and other once-alternative treatments in an effort to reduce or stave-off medical claims and costs.
5. Online resources have matured to become trusted veterans of healthcare information. Once-feared online resources have given way to sites like WebMD which have become trusted proprietors of reliable and updated health information. It wasn’t long ago that you had to visit your library or bookstore to search for the latest information as new technology and knowledge progressed. Books become outdated and have to be replaced — but WebMD does not. It’s easier to say you don’t think about where to get health information when it’s available on your smartphone anytime.
6. We’ve realized doctors are human. I have a friend who once told me, “I used to think doctors knew everything. And then I married one.” Her point was meant to be funny, but it’s true as well. As we all have gained more access to information, doctors have been taken off the pedestal we gave them as exclusive authorities of health information.

Source: Surprising Decline in Consumers Seeking Health Information, Center for Studying Health System Change, November 2011

It comes down to this: I don’t think that anyone should fear the appetite for health information has declined  — anymore than you should fear that people are reading less because book sales are down. We’ve just changed how we’re consuming — while at the same time it has become harder to tell truth from opinion. It’s up to us to rise above the cacophony of information to position healthcare providers as  safe, reliable and up-to-date resources.

We’ve recently teamed up with Albert Einstein Healthcare Network to develop our ICE App for their communities. Albert Einstein Healthcare Network is the Philadelphia’s largest independent academic medical center.

The first ICE App we designed was for Sherman Health. The iPhone version of the app currently has over 1,000 downloads and the Android version was recently launched. The app has also been designed for Silver Cross Hospital.

We’re really looking forward to sinking our teeth into the new design for Albert Einstein Healthcare Network. If you’re interested in hearing more about our ICE App that can be branded for your health system, you can visit iceapp.dcinteractivegroup.com.

Memorial Medical Center has the #1 Emergency Department in the Springfield area. How can you express this incredible achievement without being boastful? You let the patients say why you’re number one based on their experiences. From this simple idea came a remarkable campaign that was not only successful but also inspiring & heartwarming.

The Memorial E.R. Stories campaign succeeded on a statistical and emotional level. At the date this post was written, we have read through 82 stories all submitted by patients of Memorial’s Emergency Department. Some stories left us smiling, some inspired us, and others left us teary-eyed.

We knew this campaign had a lot of potential so we used our concept of web herding and spared no advertising medium. We created a landing page dedicated solely to the E.R. Stories campaign. Content on this site was almost exclusively patient-driven. We introduced online banner ads, a custom Facebook tab, print ads, billboards, pay-per-click, bus wraps, radio ads, a commercial, and topped it all off with t-shirts for the story submitters.

Normally we would recommend dedicated URLs on ads for tracking purposes, but the client was concerned about keeping the brand consistent so we didn’t. So as the website got underway we carefully watched for specific trends. It was clear when an ad was running based on jumps in web traffic as various pieces were introduced. During the peak of the campaign, visits to the website were about 500% more than during the launch. Page views were up 200%.

Another interesting statistic involved a close competitor’s foot traffic. A competing area hospital opened up brand new facilities in late-November; just prior to the start of the Memorial E.R. Stories campaign launch. The patient visits to the competing hospital did not improve even though brand new facilities were introduced.

The Memorial E.R. Stories campaign has done its job, but won’t end just yet. Soon we will be turning three of the E.R. Stories into commercials. The patients from the chosen stories will have a chance to share their story in a commercial. Choosing just three stories will be a near impossible task, but it’s a task we look forward to. It was a real pleasure to work on such a captivating campaign.

Ed McDowell, VP of Marketing & Communications at Memorial Medical Center, was ecstatic about the campaign stating, “With more than 40 story submissions through the first five weeks of the campaign, the results speak for themselves. We could not be more pleased or excited”.

We could not be more pleased or excited either.

Below are just a couple images from the campaign. Check out more images and our case study for the Memorial E.R. Stories campaign here.

We’ve come a long way since the days of “Help, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.” Of course, almost everything in our lives is affected by the evolution of mobile, so why not emergency response? Like Life Alert, the system the nice old grandma used in the famous fall commercial, there does happen to be “an app for that.” Called “Fall Alert“, it makes a phone call to a programmed number if it senses the person carrying the phone has fallen.

I started thinking about mobile and emergencies last week, when the city of Chicago announced that it would accept images from 9-1-1 callers to help them analyze emergency situations. As much as idiots who text while driving have caused emergency situations, perhaps this will help tilt the scale a little back toward helpful and good for mobile technology.

Chicago’s move reminded me of the only time I’ve called 9-1-1, when I was driving and a car in front of me was swerving liberally into the neighboring lane and into the oncoming traffic lane. I stopped at a gas station to make the call, keeping an eye on the offending vehicle, which was stopped behind a few cars at a light. After explaining the situation calmly, something like, “HELP-THERE’S-A-DRUNK-DRIVER-AND-HE’S-DRIVING-DRUNK-AND-SWERVING-AND-DRUNK-DRIVING-AND-HE’S-GONNA-KILL-SOMEONE-HELP!” The dispatcher got the location information (somehow) and continued to ask questions.

While answering, I was rendered speechless because the drunk driver proceeded to drive the few feet into the car in front of him, while the light was still red. It was such a light tap that the other driver got out, inspected the bump, and waved it off, letting Mr. Drunk Driver step back into his car. I explained this to the dispatcher, who was having a hard time understanding me, as I was coming across as a bit dramatic (Who, me?). I would have loved to send a picture at that moment, first of the car and the evil life-endangerer who was about to drive away and kill someone (so he could be identified at a later time), and then of my own shocked and amazed and helpless face.

I did luck out, however, since the driver proceeded to hit the person in front of him AGAIN before the light turned green, and that driver knew at that moment that something was up. Police showed up, and I exited the scene having done all I could.

I read the next day in the paper about an arrest—the driver had been hitting cars for a few miles in parking lots, etc, before being arrested for life endangerment. He had been trying to commit suicide with a bottle of pills, it didn’t take, so he went for a little ride to get the job done. Yipes.

In this case, mobile photos could have helped identify the vehicle, make, and possibly driver, since I know the basics—truck, van, car, but would have a hard time identifying further than that to anyone.

So hooray to mobile for helping with emergencies, and to the city of Chicago for taking this first step. And can I get a loud collective “Boo!” and a hiss for those who text while driving, so we can help move mobile more toward good on the scale and away from the harm side.

I like to think we’re helping evolve emergency response a little, even in our line of work. Demi and Cooper has recently launched an “ICE app”, which, among other things, lists an emergency contact on the wallpaper of an iPhone, and within the app lists medications a person is allergic to and currently taking. Hospitals can sponsor the app and offer it to people in their area. Check out the app here. The Sherman Hospital version of the app will be available for download soon!

Healthcare is moving toward a more de-centralized focus. Just like retail, healthcare now includes more stand-alone and strip-mall type locations and facilities. However, when it comes to marketing, most healthcare hasn’t shifted towards the retail strategy. So we went ahead and changed that for our clients.

In order to stay competitive in retail, you must be better than the retail around you. The object is to gain more attention than the surrounding retailers. That is where a window cling, or adhesive mesh vinyl, comes into play.

What exactly is an adhesive mesh vinyl (we’ll call them vinyls for short)? In technical terms it is a vinyl image that you can place and display over a window pane. In marketing terms, a vinyl is your sales message. It’s what is going to separate you from the surrounding competitors. Before you assume that a vinyl is just a glorified poster or wall sticker, there are some major differences that you should know.

First, a quality vinyl, like the ones we use for our clients, generally last for 2 years. That is not your average sticker that peels away in a couple of weeks. For two years you will have a cost-effective advertising option that boasts a strong graphic presence.

Another really unique thing about these vinyls is their transparent properties. The material used is such that you can see outside of the building (through the vinyl) while inside. The vinyl allows sunlight in and an unobstructed view of the outside. When looking in from the outside, the vinyl is primarily opaque.

Below you can see an example of what the adhesive mesh vinyl would look like displayed on a building.

I just caught up on my Grey’s Anatomy, and in the episode from 2/3 I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I had played a part in creating the storyline. See, a few years back we had a forward-thinking hospital client, Sherman Hospital, agree to having us do a live-tweeted surgery to show the benefits of their new da Vinci, a surgical robot used to shorten the recovery time for hysterectomies and prostatectomies. One of our creative directors had wanted to do a live-tweeted surgery for a while, and Sherman was bold enough to do it. We were only the second hospital overall to live-tweet a surgery, and the first in Illinois. I was at the hospital that day to escort the media (it was a big news story at the time, covered by WGN TV and the next week mentioned on Good Morning America).

Two Demi and Cooper employees (including my husband) were in the OR, tweeting live updates, picture, and video as the surgery happened. Fast forward a few years, and I’m watching Grey’s Anatomy, with one major storyline the controversy of a live-tweeted surgery.

Dr. Bailey, the mouthy, ambitious doctor is tweeting her surgeries as a teaching tool for 3,000 residents who are following. Dr. Webber, the old-school hospital chief, is officially against the idea, with plenty of objections—what if the patient dies, and she is broadcasting that to the world. Why publish something on a site designed for gossip?

Spoiler alert: Bailey runs into a problem with the surgery, and another hospital suggests a solution via Twitter. Another hospital that is nearby tweets that they have the equipment to help solve the problem. Twitter saves the day. Dr. Webber ends up helping answer residents’ questions while they are waiting for the equipment to arrive.

The lesson? While the Grey’s Anatomy version was a little contrived, the overarching message is something I couldn’t agree with more. Time to jump on board, you old-school fogies! Social media is more than just a way to gossip. At the beginning of the episode, Dr. Webber is telling Dr. Bailey that she can’t tweet her surgeries, and she explains that if he used it, he would understand. I am consistantly shocked at the amount of people who dismiss using social media tools (for personal use, but especially business use) without even trying them first. And if they do try social media and find it just isn’t for them, I am amazed at people who decide it isn’t a good way for their business to reach anyone. Social media tools can be put to good use—if we only take the time to think of how we can possibly use them!

Now I’ve gotta go, since I have to call my husband and let him know we are famous. Afterall, we helped write Grey’s Anatomy last week!

When you break our job as creatives down into specific functions, one of the most valuable things we do is to take things people see everyday and look at them differently. So when Wired magazine published the results of three designers who were commissioned to team up with physicians at the Dartmouth Medical School Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice to re-imagine lab reports, I must admit I swooned a little.

You’ve probably had labs done on your blood at one point in your life. But there is a good chance you’ve never seen the results (in many states it’s illegal for a lab to send results to a patient). But even if you had, you probably couldn’t understand them on your own. They’re largely indecipherable to a lay person, filled with abbreviations and numbers that reveal the secrets of your blood only to those few in-the-know. I think that is terrible. Lab results don’t have to be intimidating. Confusing lab reports are a wasted opportunity to provide an important and informative tool to patients.

These lab report re-imaginings are inspirational, not only from a design standpoint, but for the future of our own healthcare.

1. The Basic Workup

To put it simply, the basic workup checks for everything to make sure you don’t have anything. It’s a large dragnet that rounds up all the usual suspects so that a doctor can focus on specific areas if there are any concerns.

The Basic Workup (Before)

The Basic Workup (After)

Results redesign: Mucca Design

2. The Heart Disease Test (CRP Test)

The CRP blood test measures vascular inflammation, and it’s a strong indicator of future cardiovascular problems. It is key to recommending what type of medical treatment you need and what you can do on your own to change your life. In other words, it’s really important — too bad you probably can’t understand it.

Heart Disease Test (Before)

Heart Disease Test (After)

Results redesign: David McCandless

3. The Prostate Test (PSA Test)

A PSA Test measures the amount of Prostate-specific antigen (a protein cooked up by the prostate gland) in your blood. PSA is sometimes called a biological marker or a tumor marker, though there is some controversy over this.

The Prostate Test (Before)

The Prostate Test (After)

Results redesign: Jung + Wenig

When it comes to healthcare and real estate marketing, I’m not sure which tool is most misunderstood by clients:  apps or social media.  Yes, both are glitzy and get a lot of press.  And yes, both are now being “demanded” by those in the C-suite who understand these tools the least.  But just because they’re the hot topics right now, marketers shouldn’t jump in head first into these projects like a teenager in love.  While at least some form of social media can play a role in marketing almost every business (if used correctly, and that’s where social media is misunderstood), dedicated apps aimed at consumers, on the other hand, have little to offer most local businesses no matter how you look at them.  In fact, I argue that before creating an app for your business, you really must create and fine tune a mobile website.    Here’s why:

Who needs this app?

Apps are only available on certain smartphones, yet mobile websites are accessiblefrom any web-enabled phone.  While both user bases are growing, the mobile website market is much larger and easier to reach since everyone in it can immediately access your mobile website without downloading any special tool. Your app isn’t so ubiquitous.  In fact, your app is meant for the local market that knows you and that’s it, whereas your mobile website can be seen at a moment’s notice by out of town visitors who simply enter your url into their browsers.

Now think about how infrequently your local market actually needs you (thus, needs your app) and you’ll see that most potential customers or patients won’t bother dropping your app onto their devices simply because they won’t remember to use it. Sure, if you’re a grocery store, someone may use your app to keep track of their shopping list.  Plus, your app can use the phone’s built-in technology (like scanning bar codes to populate the list) to give more value than a mobile website.  That’s a good app, simply because people can use it often and it has benefits that a mobile site cannot offer.  But if you’re not needed often, and you cannot use the phone’s advanced features in a way that benefits your customers/patients, you really have no need for an app, do you?  If so, let me know.  I haven’t seen one yet.

Then there’s the fact that there are over 100,000 apps available for download.  In retail terms, you will need to find ways to stand out on the store shelf — or market your app all on your own.  This is not easy.  In other words, it’s not worth the trouble.

Why take on WebMD's app?

But the biggest reason NOT to create an app is that most businesses have absolutely nothing to offer in one that cannot be handled by a mobile website (which, as mentioned, has a larger audience that can automatically be redirected to the mobile site from your server).  I’ve seen hospitals with apps that promote their Emergency Room and Immediate Care Center wait times.  Big deal.  A mobile site can do that.  I’ve seen a hospital with an app that allows you to input symptoms to see what’s wrong.  What a waste.  Virtually the same information can be found on WebMD’s app — and their mobile website.  Not only does WebMD have a more powerful brand, but they also pay to update the information.  Who is going to do that at this hospital?

I’ve seen builders with apps designed to help users find the home that’s right for them.  Why?  There are dozens of apps that do the same thing, only with thousands of listings rather than a handful.  The builder is better off getting his home listed on another company’s app — an app that is not dedicated to the client.

The question any business should ask is “why would anyone want to download my app?”  If you could come up with a good answer that doesn’t already exist, then you might have something.  I bet you can’t.  On the other hand, there’s absolutely no reason not to have a mobile website.

But don’t rule out dedicated apps in the future.  As smartphone technology gets more advanced, there WILL be uses.  Augmented reality might have value to guide people through your hospital, or to help people easily get information on homes they pass on your streets.  Right now, though, the technology doesn’t allow you to be so targeted.

And don’t forget that you do not have to create apps to market your products and services to just consumers.  Right now, apps may have more value to your dedicated network of employees, vendors and supporters.  For hospitals, a dedicated app might have value if it connects staff physicians to you and each other.  Indeed, they use you often, so the need might be there.  But how can you help them with an app?  What can your app provide to your physician groups?

Or a builder with many communities may create an app that pulls construction info on each home for their vendors in order to keep everyone on the same page.  Sure, the home buyer might be offered the app to keep track of your progress — and this is a marketable use.  But as before, I wonder why this cannot be handled by a mobile website.

So don’t get sucked into the app craze right now.  In most cases, it’s just not right for you and will only waste your time and money.  Instead, think mobile website.  You’ll get a much better return on the investment.

Harris Interactive just released the results from research they conducted for Buddy Media that studied the most effective tactics for reaching local market customers.  Are you surprised that having Fans on Facebook is low on the list?  I’m not.  Fans of a business either work at the company, or are looking for sales and coupons.  In general, advertising to Fans is like advertising to those who are already in your “store”.  Yes, you need to do it — they are part of your social network and play an important role as Brand Ambassadors.  But the point is that you shouldn’t expect to get too many fresh new customers via your Facebook wall unless you’re allowing your fans to forward coupons and promotions.

The study concluded that the most influential tactic used to reach the local market was putting local content on your website or blog.  In fact, 69% of Brand Managers thought this tactic was effective, 62% believed print advertising was effective, and 59% believed that hosting an event was effective.  What’s important to note here is that the only tactic that does not cost much money at all is posting local content.

So what does posting local content have to do with selling your product to a local market?  Well, not much, directly.  Writing about an upcoming charity race is not going to lead people into your business.  What it does do, however, is give your business (your brand) a local personality.  It tells readers you’re an active part of their community.  It gives them confidence in your reputation, and that you treat people well.  And it provides readers with a virtual introduction to what you do and how you can help them, either now or in the future.

So when it comes to promoting yourself via social media and on the web, don’t just think in terms of pushing your products or services.  Think about your market’s desire to see you as one of them, serving their needs and their neighbor’s needs in any way you can help.