Hospital wins ad award

The "I am Carson-Tahoe Hospital" advertising campaign has won recognition from a national health-care publication.

Carson-Tahoe Hospital's marketing department and Reno ad agency BBC Advertising received a gold medal for newspaper advertising and another for total advertising campaign.

Healthcare Marketing Report, the national newspaper of health-care marketing, was in charge of the awards, in which 3,350 entrants competed.

Carson-Tahoe also won a merit award for radio advertising and a silver award in the category for the campaign's first year.

The "I Am" campaign features real patients and has played regionally.

The first installment of the "I Am" campaign ran in 2001/2002, used hospital employees and physicians and consisted of three television spots, six print ads and three radio spots. The second installment began in October 2002 and will run through 2003. It is more ambitious and consists of eight television spots, six print ads and three radio spots.

"The patients you see in this campaign had a variety of outcomes and experiences," said Cheri Glockner, advertising project coordinator. "Everyone of them became a part of us as we worked on this campaign. Sue Smith, the 'hat lady,' recently told me that we changed her life. She even has a personalized license plate that reads IMA HAM, her signature line in her commercial.

"Bob Gross, the chef, says he still gets stopped in the grocery store and wants to know how he can be involved again. Janice Fliegler, the triplets mom, even had another baby at Carson-Tahoe since we filmed last summer."

People who participated in the award-winning "I AM" campaign also included: Jon Coats, Jack Davin, Bob Griffen, Karli Dodge, Emily Hales and LaDonna Gilbert.