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OAKLAND - Choose your ad agency as if your reputation depends on it.
That doesn't approach the drama of UPMC Health System's longtime slogan - "Choose your hospital as if your life depended on it." But it is the reality for UPMC, which last week said it is changing its advertising strategy and dropping MARC USA, based on the South Side, as its agency of record.
Just about every advertising agency in the region is clamoring for a chunk of the account. UPMC is the top spender among area hospitals and the second-biggest spender among insurers.
It spent close to $5 million in 2001, according to VoiceTrak, a New York-based media monitoring company tracking national advertising data. That includes $3.97 million, almost 40 percent of the $10 million spent by all the region's hospitals combined, and $922,253 spent by its insurance arm, UPMC Health Plan. All told, insurers spent $7.8 million here in 2001, led by UPMC's rival Highmark Inc.'s $4.7 million.
UPMC is viewed as...