Inaugural M2W®-HC™ conference a rousing success

Breakthrough conference is first to address marketing healthcare to women
Speaker Mary Lou Quinlan wins Apple of Our Eye Award

 

Washington, D.C. – December 8, 2009 — After making its impressive debut, attendees gave high praise to the speakers, the setting and the networking opportunities at M2W®-HC™…The Conference for Marketing Healthcare to Women.

 

Those in attendance November 5 & 6, 2009 at the beautiful conference venue, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, almost unanimously cited “the right mix of sales, regulation and resource insights,” “focused content and higher level of experiences shared” and “excellent, top-notch speakers” in post-event surveys.

 

The conference featured 39 speakers, panelists and workshop leaders from top healthcare and pharma brands and agencies, as well as nationally recognized marketing-to-women experts who offered their insights in the lucrative women’s healthcare market.

 

“Never before has there been a gathering of people from the healthcare arena that focused exclusively on marketing healthcare to women,” said Nan McCann, President of PME Enterprises, LLC, producer of M2W®-HC™. “These are people who are most accustomed to attending industry association meetings where the topic of marketing is almost never addressed, let alone marketing to women, who make 90% of all consumer healthcare decisions.”

 

“Response to this first M2W®-HC™ has been tremendous,” she added, “Already this year’s attendees are making plans to come back and many want to play enhanced roles in the 2010 conference. They have taken ownership of this event and in two brief-but-power-packed days have become a community of healthcare marketers engaged with one another and with a program that focuses on what they do! It is a truly exciting outcome. ”

 

Hot topics included new strategies (social media and online content), new insight (connecting with black women and boomers) and innovative ideas (partnerships and health literacy). Conversations continued during networking events as brand marketers discussed new ways to make their products and services more relevant to female consumers.

 

Among the many highlights:

• Opening keynote by Dr. Nancy Snyderman, Chief Medical Editor, NBC News.

• Closing keynote by Dr. Barry Sears, Chairman, MedWell, Inc. and author of The Zone.

 

Also, attendees selected Mary Lou Quinlan, Founder/CEO of Just Ask A Woman, a strategic marketing consultancy to over 90 blue chip brands since 1999, as the winner of the “Apple of Our Eye” best speaker award. Quinlan, whose 30-year career includes roles as ad director for Avon, CEO of a major NY advertising agency, CBS Early Show correspondent and MORE magazine columnist, is the author of Just Ask a Woman: Cracking the Code of What Women Want and How They Buy and What She’s Not Telling You: Why Women Hide the Whole Truth and What Marketers Can Do About It which was released the week of the conference.

 

Quinlan’s Presentation, “The Half Truths of Healthcare: What Women Aren’t Telling You and What You Can Do About It,” drew unanimous praise from attendees, including these comments from exit surveys: “Fantastic speaker” … “Wonderful. Could have listened to her for another hour” … “Unbelievable! Can't wait to read the book.”

 

Mary Lou will receive an engraved crystal apple from the glass makers at Simon Pearce.

For two information-packed days, attendees were treated to insights from some of the world’s top healthcare marketers, including:

 

• Amber Benson, VP, Strategy, imc2 Health and Wellness:
“Regardless if you choose to participate in social media, your patients will choose to participate. The conversation will happen with or without you.”

 

• Stephanie Ouyoumjian, SVP, Director of Strategy, Publicis:
“You need to be on a mission to create contagious ideas that change the conversations among women.”

 

• Leslie Schrader, SVP, Director, Consumer Health & Wellness Practice, Ketchum
“A tough economy actually makes health & wellness an even bigger priority for women, they are just pursuing it differently.”

 

• Roxanne Bernstein, Senior Brand Manager, Kraft Foods Inc.
“Women are looking for simple ways to stay healthy. Frame communication around a simple idea.”

 

• Pepper Miller, President, Hunter Miller Group:
“Black women are different from and similar to each other in meaningful ways. Brands must understand this in order to reach and connect with the black community.”

 

• Laurie Berger, VP/Editor-in-Chief, LifeScript.com:
“Finding emotional support online is everything. Until we connect with someone else, we feel like we are the only one on earth.”

 

Associate Sponsors of M2W®-HC™ were Aetna, Draftfcb, Ketchum, KickSkirt, LifeScript.com, M2W® E-ssentials, Paramount Market Publishing, Pink Tank, Publicis and Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness; Hospitality Sponsors were The Hunter Miller Group, NBC Universal and WomanWise; Affiliate Sponsors were the National Woman’s Health Resource Center, WomenHeart, Look Good – Feel Better, Go Red for Women and The Center for Medicine in the Public Interest; imc2 Health & Wellness was a Workshop Sponsor; Pharmacy Health Network, Women’s HealthCARE Television Network, Carolina Pad and Zeno Group were Showcase Sponsors; SNiPPiES was the Video Journalism Resource.

 

For information about next year’s M2W®-HC™ and other marketing to women conferences, visit www.m2w-hc.com.