“Everyday we ask ourselves, in what new way can we talk about ourselves, call attention to ourselves, shine the spotlight on ourselves?” says senior market director Joseph Kool. “Truly, what is in it for us?”

The latest incarnation of the organization’s marketing strategy is a new ad campaign (see sample ad below) featuring their own doctors and touting the organization’s penchant for winning awards, hiring attractive staff and its overall awesomeness. The campaign has an internal component as well, featuring mirrors hung at ten-foot increments throughout the hallways so staff can admire themselves as they pass by.

“What makes this campaign so successful, other than the fact that we rock, is its uniqueness,” says Kool. “As far as we know, not many other hospitals are talking about themselves in their advertising, so our message is bound to stand out and really resonate with customers.”

Sample ad: “Look at us”

“Our name is somewhat esoteric – our offices are in a three-story office building in East St. Louis,” said clinic administrator Dan Calisher. “But our name has cache in the community, so we focused on changing the logo.”

Grassy Acres hired famed branding firm Pretension to design its new identity. The firm has gained national recognition for its “Brand Fabric Weaving Rubric” that boils organizational brands down to one simple metaphoric symbol. For example, the firm won the prestigious Golden Gloss Award for its “doves cooing” logo designed in 2007 for defense contractor Massive Dynamics. According to Calisher, however, initial concepts failed to capture the essence of the Grassy Acres brand.

“They were producing very high-end concepts, like a Euro-Brazilian version of the yin-yang symbol, or a grain of sand reflecting the face of a forest gnome,” he explained. “But we insisted the new logo be a literal interpretation of what we do. We wanted patients to know, simply by glancing at our logo, exactly how we would help them.”

The final concept – dubbed “Man lays pipe” by Pretension – won unanimous acceptance from the leadership of Grassy Acres. (A sampling of other concepts explored by Pretension are shown below.) To help launch the new logo identity, staff were given t-shirts, coffee mugs and enema tubing emblazoned with the logo, and a giant three-story banner featuring the identity was unfurled on launch day with the headline “The new face of GI.”

Alternative logos developed for Grassy Acres GI Center:

“We heard about this idea of ‘transparency’ at a national conference, and we liked the idea of airing all of our dirty laundry,” said vice president of marketing Tom Teynah. “Clearly, trying to fix all of this was out of the question. But we thought, hey, let’s go with this honesty thing.”

The hospital says it’s too early to report overall results from the campaign, but anecdotal evidence is already piling up.

“I spoke with my 65-year-old neighbor the other day, right after she waited more than 2 hours to see her primary care physician,” said Teynah. “Boy, was she pissed. She said she wished she seen the advertising earlier, so clearly it’s making an impact on people.”

Sample campaign ad: “CEO/Pricks”

“For new clients who sign up with us before July 1, we’re offering to work for free for the life of the relationship,” said STD president David Pogilvy. “The margins are low – hell, they’re zero. But tough times call for tough action.”

According to Pogilvy, the agency will provide new clients with free marketing, PR, advertising and communications work, without any costs, for as long as the client remains active. The move comes in response to the ongoing budget cuts at hospital marketing departments, which were followed by discounts on services and offers of free consulting by other advertising and marketing firms.

“Others may offer a free audit, or $10,000 in free consulting,” said Pogilvy. “But we’ve decided why limit the discount? We want STD spread everywhere.”

Asked how current paying clients might respond to the promotion, Pogilvy said he wasn’t worried.

“Sure, they could quit, and then sign on as ‘new’ to receive free work forever,” he said. “But we have true symbiotic relationships with our clients. Why look for free help when you can pay us hundreds of thousands of dollars for a truly authentic experience? Uhhh…oh s***. This is off the record, right?”

“Good thing we weren’t actually riding all those times the picture was used,” joked Steve, a former barber. “We would have put a million miles on that bike!”

Steve and Sherry’s introduction into healthcare advertising began in 1973, when Steve’s brother, Brian, snapped a shot of the couple riding a tandem bike through Hyde Park in New York. Brian happened to work at a nearby hospital and brought the picture into work the following day, showing it around the department.

“Our corporate council really loved it, and we thought, why not use this to promote our hospital,” said Brian. “Who knew it would grow to become such a classic icon?”

Over the 35+ years since, Steve and Sherry have been photographed on more than 127 different tandem bikes and used in advertising for more than 1,400 hospitals and health systems. According to Steve, what started as something fun the couple did on the side turned into a lucrative business in the 1990s.

“That’s when it really took off, thanks to the availability of cheap stock photography over the Internet,” he said. “At that point, every hospital, system, clinic, doctor or veterinarian could use our photo. And it seemed like they did!”

Now independently wealthy, Steve and Sherry plan on traveling the world before settling down in their hometown of Miami, Florida.

“We probably could have kept going for years,” Sherry said. “But it felt like it was time to move on to something new.”