Mayo Clinic bids for Dallas patients in new ad campaign
Gordon Walker, chairman of the Strategy and Entrepreneurship Department in SMU's Cox School of Business, talks about the Mayo Clinic seeking patients in Dallas through advertising.
By GARY JACOBSON
Staff Writer
In a new marketing campaign, the world-famous Mayo Clinic is advertising for patients in Dallas, more than 900 miles from Mayo’s home in Minnesota.
The campaign, launched this summer, has caught the attention of North Texas health care providers, though publicly, they play down any competitive threat. They say that the services Mayo offers are available in Dallas and that doctors practicing here are among the best anywhere.
In 2010, according to the clinic, about 1,000 patients from the Dallas area sought treatment at Mayo facilities, either in Rochester, Minn., or satellite centers in Scottsdale, Ariz., and Jacksonville, Fla. . . .
Gordon Walker, chairman of the strategy and entrepreneurship department at Southern Methodist University’s Cox School of Business, said 1,000 patients a year, or even 2,000, shouldn’t pose a competitive concern to North Texas providers.
Yet, Walker emphasized the upscale appeal of Mayo, which he said has one of the strongest brands in the world.
“There’s a kind of cachet,” Walker said. “If you’ve been to the Mayo Clinic, that’s a topic for cocktail conversation. … You’re branding yourself.”
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