For the eighth consecutive year, Marion General Hospital has received awards for its excellence in medical marketing. This year, the hospital received a Gold Award (first place) and a Silver Award (second place) in the Aster Awards competition, which attracts thousands of entries nationwide.
A Marion General Hospital ad that appeared in a Marion Star tabloid section on babies took the Gold Award, and the hospital’s 2011 calendar, “Discovering Your Path to Healthy Living,” was awarded the Silver Award. In addition, the 2011 calendar also earned a Silver Award in the 28th annual Healthcare Advertising Awards competition.
The annual hospital calendar, which has earned a number of Aster Awards throughout the years, this year features monthly illustrations of many ways to improve your health, including information about Marion General’s Heart Services, featured in February. Each page of the calendar includes a tip reinforcing the importance of handwashing in maintaining good health.
Entries in the marketing competitions are placed in categories according to the size of their organization, thus allowing healthcare organizations and advertising agencies to compete against similarly sized competitors from across the nation.
Once again, sharing in the success with Marion General are three agencies that contributed to the overall design and creation of these pieces. They are Karen Ruth Media Consultants, Grant McAllister of designNET, both of Marion, and David Groff Illustration of Delaware.
According to Phyllis S. Butterworth, director of development for the Marion General Hospital Foundation (and former director of Marion General’s public relations and marketing department), continued recognition of the hospital’s marketing efforts is always rewarding, especially for marketing with an educational message about the benefits of wellness and a healthy lifestyle.
“This year’s calendar again used colorful and whimsical illustration to relay important messages about taking care of yourself, as well as the importance of handwashing,” said Butterworth. “This year, public response to our annual calendar was greater than ever, making it one of the best marketing tools we use to communicate how Marion General Hospital helps residents of our community discover their own personal path to healthy living. We are especially proud of these awards, as they are recognition from national marketing and communications experts.”
The Aster Awards is a national program sponsored by Creative Images, Inc., the publishers of Marketing Healthcare Today magazine. The Healthcare Advertising Awards are sponsored by the Healthcare Marketing Report, a national monthly newspaper of healthcare marketing.
