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Listen in as the Arrogant Healthcare Marketing Bastards of Interval discuss hot topics in healthcare marketing: Applying chapter three (Breaking bad habits) from Chris’s new book, “Joe Public Doesn’t Care About Your Hospital,” marketing’s role in the London riots, and more. Show notes are after the break.

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Show Notes:

• MHSCN happy hour at Dave & Buster’s
• 2011 WHPRMS Conference
• Chris’s new book, Joe Public Doesn’t Care About Your Hospital
• Branding at the Bar at the 2011 SHSMD national conference in Phoenix, AZ

Here are the highlights from this podcast:

1. Focus Group Fixation: When will hospitals and health systems stop squandering resources on focus groups for their marketing efforts? Asking customers for opinions can be hazardous to the health of your marketing strategy and creative. The guy who hated your design will be the one who comes up with “Got Cancer?” for the oncology center campaign. The main problem is that what consumers say doesn’t correlate with how they actually behave. But once non-marketers get ahold of the results, feedback is often treated as gospel. And that leads to watered-down and ineffective marketing.

2. Designer Riots: Because upscale stores were trashed during recent riots in London, one culture critic blames designers. After all, designers are responsible for creating the look and feel of brands. “…the major role of graphic design has been to create the branding and collateral of desire,” writes Adrian Shaughnessy in provocative post, “The Politics of Desire and Looting.”

This week’s question: Which U.S. tech company that makes bazillion dollars never ever uses focus groups?