>From Mousepad to Prescription Pad
Patient penchant for information has spurred a handful of information Web sites such as drKoop.com, The Health Channel, WebMD, and OnHealth.com. And those sites are hosting health-themed promotions from some unexpected brands.
Kellogg asked OnHealth.com to help demonstrate the calcium content of Special K cereal, so the site created a calcium calculator. Viewers plug in their ag e, weight, and diet to determine their daily calcium needs. The calculator launched in early October.
Fidelity Investments wanted to pitch its financial services, so OnHealth.com is developing a series of “Fiscally Fit” calculators to figure college tuition, senior care, and other financial goals.
Ford Motor Co. sponsored OnHealth.com’s breast cancer program as an extension of its national Susan G. Komen Foundation tie-in. A promotion area on the site listed Ford-sponsored Race for the Cure events, and offered monthly e-mail reminders for breast self-exams. Ford liked the program “because we teamed up with a leading hospital [to create content] and had elements that went beyond the site,” says OnHealth vp-advertising Moira McGarvey Black. Other advertisers sponsor storefronts, with links in stories that send readers directly to an advertiser’s store.
OnHealth teamed with Yahoo for its own promos, part of a $25 million launch campaign begun in June. In October, OnHealth and Yahoo shared sponsorship of the San Francisco Race for the Cure, giving out co-branded adhesive bandage dispensers, stress balls, and information cards. A fourth-quarter Ski and Snow tie-in will give away a trip for two to Utah; players register at Yahoo’s link to OnHealth.
“We’re using promotions to fill out the brand message,” says vp-marketing Tricia Viscardi. “Street-level promotions illustrate how [our content] fits everyday lives.”
The Yahoo partnership, inked in August, will foster more promos in 2000 as OnHealth adds other marketing partners. TBWA Chiat/Day, San Francisco, handles advertising and some development of promos, which are executed in-house.
