Monday, August 14, 2017

Find-a-Dentist tool and 'Your teeth are amazing!': New marketing efforts by the American Dental Association (ADA)

Many American Dental Association dentist members have reported that their practices aren’t busy enough, and that they have the capacity to fill empty chair time. The truth is, they’re right. Research from the ADA Health Policy Institute reported a steady decline in adult patients. From 2006 to 2012, the number of adult patients declined by 7%. Yet the US population has grown by 5%, and the number of dentists has increased by 9%.

Why aren’t people going to the dentist? For more than 19 million people, the barrier is their busy lives. In 2016, the ADA conducted its first consumer research project to identify the reasons why adults do or do not visit the dentist regularly. The results showed that with busy jobs, family obligations, and many other activities, dental visits get moved further down the list.

Armed with this information, the ADA Council on Communications presented a resolution to the 2016 House of Delegates to address this issue. The result is a three-year, $18 million national digital campaign designed to encourage adults to schedule their dental appointments. The House voted overwhelmingly to support member businesses by helping them get more patients through this initiative.

Slogan: “Your teeth are amazing!”

To help dental practices bring in more business and to educate patients about the importance of seeing their dentist regularly, the ADA worked with advertising agency GMMB to create the campaign. This ad creative informs consumers, “Your teeth are amazing!” and that an ADA dentist can help keep them that way. Part of the strategy behind the ad creative is to encourage people to take care of their mouths, without making people feel guilty about missing appointments. Because who likes to be lectured?

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