Products and presentations thereof. New and novel services and their promotions.

When we emerged from our last print ad review (our printable name for our collective "sitting-on-the-floor-to-discuss-and -cull-from-thousands-of-print-ads-sent-by-our-clipping-service-and -getting-absolutely-filthy-in-the-process"), we had seen something strikingly interesting. We had found hospitals offering a wide range of programs--from all sorts of psychiatric services ... to headache management ... to special women's events ... to impotence treatment and much more--in volume we had not seen before. The variety of new programs, as demonstrated by print advertisements, is truly remarkable. Our plan, then, became to investigate the print ads and their response, with special emphasis on the programs that are the foundation for the ads. We found hospitals listening to their communities, then developing programs that match institutional resources to consumer needs. In most cases, the ad campaigns followed careful research and considerable institutional soul-searching. Also, in most cases, when research and consideration followed study but preceded ad development, the campaigns worked. We hope that you enjoy seeing, and learning from, what your colleagues (and maybe your competition) are doing.