February 8, 1993
Differentiation. When Woman to Woman Medical Center, a Canoga Park, Calif., female group practice, wanted to promote its gynecology and family medicine services to women in the San Fernando Valley area, it hired a local advertising firm to design an advertisement that can be described as - well - straightforward.
Intended to attract female patients, the ad depicts a goofy-looking middle-aged male gynecologist under the headline, "Imagine talking to him about your period." The ad subtly plays on the fact that many women aren't comfortable talking to a male physician about gynecological issues, said Renee Miller, creative director of The Miller Group, creators of the ad. In a lighthearted way, the ad portrays "every woman's greatest fear of what her gynecologist would look like," Ms. Miller added.
Deborah Carnow, marketing director at Woman to Woman, said the ad, placed in a local newspaper in early December, generated 20 to 30 phone inquiries and 15 to 20 walk-in appointments at the clinic. And the reaction: "Mostly people got a kick out of it," she said, "although we did get a call from a nurse who was offended by it because she felt it was making fun of male doctors who weren't that attractive."
Both Ms. Miller and Ms. Carnow stressed that the ad wasn't intended to offend or exclude men or male physicians. In fact, said Ms. Carnow, Woman to Woman Medical Center boasts of having one male physician on its staff.
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