Division B - Printed Tools of Public Relations
Category 4 - Brochure - Four Color
Dattoli Cancer Center Brochure
Ginya Carnahan, APR, CPRC; Brian Lowe; LeBlanc Studios

Award of Distinction


Research/Situation Analysis: The Dattoli Cancer Center & Brachytherapy Research Institute attracts patients from all over the world for non-surgical treatment of prostate cancer. Intake surveys indicate that potential patients learn about the Center from 1. former patients (37%), 2. the Internet (35%), 3. advertising (23%, includes brochures) and 4. other sources (5%). After an initial phone contact, potential patients are sent a package containing a brochure and videotape/dvd. The original brochure, published in 2001, had become outdated after the purchase of advanced technology and revisions to the treatment protocol. By 2006, a revised brochure was needed.

Objectives: Create and distribute 300 copies of an educational tool to: 1. offer potential patients understanding and compassion, and to introduce the four principal members of the Dattoli team, 2. share the stories of four diverse former patients, 3. reveal the highly technical commitment of the Center by featuring three technologies,
4. answer the 30 most common questions voiced by men newly diagnosed with the disease, 5. compare and contrast four common treatments options, and 6. help men determine whether this Center and its specific approach is the appropriate one for him, thereby attracting 150 new patients in the first six months.

Implementation: A photography/marketing firm was chosen to design our brochure, with input from the marketing director. Creating a printed piece that is at once warm and comforting while conveying complicated technology and addressing life-altering health issues is a challenge. We decided to wrap the technical material inside the stories of a few diverse patients. Four former patients were selected by the marketing director to share their stories – an older “captain of industry,” an African American professor, a pilot and an American living abroad. The “technology, tools and team” center-fold is presented as the core of the brochure, as it is certainly the core of Center’s success. A lift-out section of “Answers to Frequently Asked Questions” (including comparisons of treatment options) was designed to make revisions easy and cost effective. A matte-finish stock was chosen to make the copy easy to read, while all photographs were spot-laminated giving them exceptional clarity, underscoring the high-tech nature of the Center. A circle motif was selected as the main design element, recalling the circular nature of our logo, and the rotating head of our radiation equipment.

Evaluation: Brochures have been in use for 5 months. During this time, approximately 400 copies have been requested and mailed, with another 100 distributed through health fairs and by former patients. To date, 187 men have chosen this Center for their treatment, after receiving the brochure. First-day orientation surveys reveal that all men who elect to be treated here have had an introduction to the key staff members from seeing their photographs, demonstrate adequate knowledge of our leading-edge technology, and have made the decision to be treated here based on understanding the protocol as described in the brochure. New patients routinely compliment the brochure, and frequently ask for additional copies to share with other men “back home.”

Budget: Total cost of 2,500 brochures and 8-page folio insert, design, photography, die-cut, spot lamination, proofs and printing was $23,679.50 – $9.47 each. Treatment cost for the average patient is in excess of $45,000.00.