Black Is The New Pink

I am stealing this line from a tee shirt I saw the other day, but it immediately came to mind when reading an article about colors in the US Today. I was amazed when it talked about people buying new iPods (for example) since they wanted a new color. Just because I get tired of my green iPod…do I really go back and buy the red one (especially in today’s economy)?

“Bleak 2008 also happens to be the holiday season when shoppers may want their gifts to be colorful. Or at least, a different color from last year’s model.”

“When you add color to a product, you stimulate the consumer’s awareness that the version they already have is obselete.”

Some of the favorite colors were:

• Blue, dark blue, dark green, and red (tomato) for men
• Purple, blue, red (tomato), and blue-purple for women

It just makes me think about healthcare communications and what is the color switch that we need. Companies have talked about obesity, diabetes, preventative care, adherence, and many other actions for years. What is it that becomes different? How do we compel the consumer to act?

• Is it a change in mode – direct mail to automated call?
• Is it a change in tone of the message – caring to pushy?
• Is it a change in message – qualitative to quantitative?
• Is it a change in source – health plan to provider?

To manage healthcare costs in the US, we have to get individuals engaged in their care. The magic bullet is how to do this.