ONLINE VIDEO VIE FOR PATIENTS' MIND AND HEARTS

THE TENNESSEAN
Feb 21, 2008

Hoping to generate some word-of-mouth marketing, Saint Thomas Health Services and Vanderbilt University Medical Center have posted videos on YouTube with testimonials from patients. Douglas Vaughan, chief of cardiovascular medicine, and JENNIFER ESCALAS, an associate professor of management with Vanderbilt's graduate business school, said advertisers using mediums such as YouTube are trying to avoid the public's skepticism about traditional advertising by stimulating conversation and encouraging sharing among viewers.
"They're hoping to get people who look at it who wouldn't see it on television, so it's a broader reach," she said. "And with TiVo and everything, people aren't watching that many ads on television."