You are the director of marketing for a regional hospital. The board of directors at your hospital has studied the 2011 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report Early Childhood Obesity Prevention Policies. The alarming statistics quoted in the IOM report stated that "almost 10 percent of infants and toddlers carry excess weight for their length, and slightly more than 20 percent of children between the ages of two and five already are overweight or obese" (IOM, 2011, pg. 1). A survey conducted among the pediatricians who admit patients to the hospital validated that area children under the age of 5 years follow or exceed the national trend of being overweight or obese.

The board is very concerned about childhood obesity rates for the children in the hospital's marketing area. At the last meeting, the board directed the marketing department determine the demand for childhood obesity programs and to review the IOM report and propose a marketing campaign to provide information to parents and guardians concerning ways to prevent children from birth to 5 years of age from becoming overweight.

Prepare a demand-analysis briefing for the board of directors. The demand-analysis briefing should be no longer than 2 pages. You will need to do some research to understand the nature of the broader demand questions, but you should focus your analysis on clearly explaining the demand problem to the board. Be sure to define the healthcare demand problem in the scenario.

Here is an outline:

Define the service (1-2 paragraphs). Explain exactly what the service is, when it should be delivered, and what signals quality to the consumer of the service.

Define the demand (2-3 paragraphs). Who are the consumers for this service? Where are they to be found? Are there any consumer characteristics that impact demand for the service? What are they? How sensitive is the consumer to price (price elasticity)?

Define the direction of demand (1-2 paragraphs). What are we trying to do with the demand--increase it, decrease it, or manage it in other ways? When you analyze the direction of the demand, be sure to consider not only what benefits the consumer, but also the organizational strategy of your focus provider and how the provider can stay financially viable.

Demand management recommendations (1-2 paragraphs). List the steps you recommend. What should management do? Support your recommendations with a clear summary of your previous analysis.

Write a 2- to 3-page marketing campaign to discuss the following marketing issues:

Do you think the hospital needs to complete more marketing research before embarking on the campaign?

What advertising media would you suggest to be used during the campaign?

What products or services could the hospital offer to assist in reducing the number of infants and toddlers who are overweight?

Do you expect to generate any revenue for the hospital from the campaign?

How long will the campaign last? How long would you continue to measure the effectiveness of the campaign?