AMA unveils brand marketing campaign

Doctors are championed as everyday heroes in a new national multimedia campaign.

By Damon Adams, AMNews staff. July 4, 2005.

Chicago --Without Regina Benjamin, MD, many people in Bayou La Batre, Ala., would not have health care.

Of the 2,500 people in the Alabama town, more than half are unemployed and two-thirds live below the poverty line. Dr. Benjamin doesn't turn away patients who can't pay for medical care at her Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic. As a family physician and patient advocate, she provides care for the uninsured and fights health care bureaucracy for her patients.

She is one of the American Medical Association's everyday heroes.

That's the message of a newspaper ad featuring Dr. Benjamin, an AMA member since 1980. She and other physicians are showcased in a new three-year AMA marketing campaign designed to boost membership and champion the AMA as an advocate for patients on issues such as health care for the uninsured.

AMA leaders unveiled the national multimedia campaign at a news conference June 16 at AMA headquarters. The new brand and focus were officially introduced to physicians June 18 during the opening session of the House of Delegates Annual Meeting here.

"The AMA helps doctors help patients by uniting physicians nationwide to work on the most important professional and public health issues. Together we will play an active role in shaping the future of medicine," AMA Chief Marketing Officer Gary C. Epstein told delegates during the presentation.

Delegates were shown TV ads, which will begin airing this fall. They heard radio spots of AMA members, including outgoing AMA President John C. Nelson, MD, MPH, talking about public health issues. At press time, the radio campaign, called "AMA Doctor Visit," was scheduled to start running in late June.