Skip to main content

"We're So Venal We Serve Only Stupid People!"

Imperious banks treat their credit card customers like dirt. Now Congress is cramming a "Credit Card Holders' Bill of Rights" down their throats. Serves 'em right.

Some mission-starved, dollar-driven NFP hospitals treat patients owing them money just as poorly. Now their tax-exempt status is under review. Serves 'em right too.

Not even the world's greatest logos and taglines can help when your "mission" is secondary to pillaging customers. And don't EVER say, like the banks are, "We've gotta pillage a FEW customers because the alternative is pillaging EVERYBODY!"

The Takeaway: Remember, brands are what your organization delivers, no more, no less. So do us all a favor. If your unstated mission is "we screw customers at every turn because that's our business model..." go ahead and say it. Who do you think you're fooling? Be honest. Quit pretending. You may even find someone who'll do business with you. Not me, but, hey, there's lots of stupid people out there.

There's a brand promise for you: "We're so venal we serve only stupid people. And we like it that way. C'mon in for your free blood pressure screening!"


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Michael Porter On Health Care Reform

Michael Porter, writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, proposes "A Strategy For Health Care Reform - Toward A Value-Based System." His proposals are fundamental, lucid and right-on, meaning they're sure to be opposed by some parties to the debate, the so-called "Yes, but..." crowd. Most important, in my opinion, is this: "... electronic medical records will enable value improvement, but only if they support integrated care and outcome measurement. Simply automating current delivery practices will be a hugely expensive exercise in futility. Among our highest near-term priorities is to finalize and then continuously update health information technology (HIT) standards that include precise data definitions (for diagnoses and treatments, for example), an architecture for aggregating data for each patient over time and across providers, and protocols for seamless communication among systems. "Finally, consumers must become much mor...
Post a Comment
Read more

Simplicity From Complexity

Health care planners typically juggle many different services and businesses, each with unique customers, competitors and prospects.  The complexity can be overwhelming.  So-called portfolio models for assessing industry attractiveness and competitive strength can be a good analytical jumping-off point, including the McKinsey-GE 9-box matrix . (Click on the "Launch Interactive" link.)
Post a Comment
Read more

5 Marketing Megatrends

Coming to a brand near you, from Adam Kleinberg at iMedia Connection, here are " 5 marketing megatrends you can't ignore ." Mass collaboration... Constant connectivity... Globalization... Pervasive distrust in big corporations... A global sense of urgency... #4 is, I think, under-appreciated in health care. Doctors and hospitals like to think of themselves as the last of the white hat-wearing good guys, and maybe they are. But trust is a funny thing - built over decades and lost overnight. Screw it up and watch the laser beam of populist rage move from Wall Street to Medical Avenue.
Post a Comment
Read more