A while back I interviewed for the director of marketing position with Partners in Care, the private care division of the Visiting Nurse Service of New York, and was edged out by a traditional marketing executive. My background is agency.
There should be more advertising people in marketing positions. The good ones really understand how to communicate with and motivate consumers. They don’t over-analyze. Traditional marketers who approve advertising, often try to put too much into ads, or too little, for fear of pigeon-holing themselves.
Anyway, I’m thumbing through the newspaper this week and see a Partners in Care ad. As is my way, I ask “What’s the idea?” Here’s the headline:
“Our aides provide exceptional care. Then again, we’re
exceptionally careful about how we choose them.”
The headline sits beside a picture of two smiling women: one or a certain age, the other of a certain age in reverse. The copy goes on about commitment and skill and fla fla fla. What the ad does not say is that Partners in Care is a fee service, not covered by insurance. So what is the idea of this ad? They are exceptional? They hire well? Come on. And even if that is an idea, where’s the proof? Where are the demonstrations of the idea? Where’s the consumer?
Partners is a great organization. It needs to take better care of its message.