The 2008 HealthLeaders Media Marketing Awards were held at the Art Institute of Chicago on Wednesday, Oct. 15. In addition to celebrating all of the award winners, attendees participated in speaker Gary Adamson’s very interactive presentation, and a heard lively roundtable discussion on campaign ROI.

Order additional awards here.

Stay tuned — articles detailing Gary’s presentation, the roundtable discussion, and each of the three Best-in-Show winners will soon be posted.

In the meantime, read more about what happened at the event here.

Recap of the 2008 Marketing Awards Event

The 2008 HealthLeaders Media Marketing Awards was held at the Art Institute of Chicago on October 15. The one-day event featured a presentation by Starizon Chief Experience Officer Gary Adamson’s, honored the 82 award winners, and showcased a roundtable discussion on achieving return on investment (ROI).

In the spirit of his patient-centered care ethos, Adamson turned his speech into an individualized experience for each member of the audience. Starizon, which Adamson cofounded in 1999, aims to help organizations improve business by creating customized brand experiences. He stressed that creating unique and genuine experiences for patients is the key to any health organization’s success.

“When you customize an experience for a person so much that it changes them, you’re in the transformation business,” he said. “We have the opportunity to put together a set of experiences for a patient and their family that they can’t help but be changed. It’s a much different bar than what we’ve set for ourselves.”

After Adamson’s session the award winners were highlighted in a slideshow presentation, and the awards were given out to those in attendance. Platinum, gold, silver, and distinction honors were awarded for small, medium, and large hospitals in each of the 10 categories.

Following the awards ceremony, one representative from each of the four most-notable ROI-achieving winners spoke in a roundtable discussion and explained how they set, reached, and sometimes exceeded their investment goals.

Alicia Argiz-Lyons, corporate director of public relations at Shriners International Headquarters, Sara Bakken Lee, public affairs consultant at Mayo Clinic, Jane Fielding Ellis, vice president of marketing, public relations, and community health at Holy Name Hospital, and Gayle Sweitzer, director of marketing, acute care, and service lines at Community Health Network each shared their successes.

Finally, the three Best-in-Show winners-one for small, medium, and large hospital campaigns-were honored. The large hospital award went to The Mayo Clinic for its “Grand Opening of the Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center” campaign. The medium hospital award went to Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital for its “40 Specialties” campaign. And the small hospital award went to the Clarian West Medical Center for its “Clarian West Breast Care and Research Center” campaign.

More coverage of the Marketing Awards event and winners will be featured in the January edition of HealthLeaders magazine.