UA Students Tout ‘No Drill, No Numb Lip’ Technology in Ad Campaigns for Florence Dentists

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – A Florence dental office offering the “no shot, no drill, no numb lip” benefits of laser dentistry will soon award three University of Alabama students scholarship money for the students’ efforts in developing advertising campaigns for the practice.

Each of the 39 students enrolled in two advertising copywriting classes taught by Marilyn Mancini, a UA instructor in advertising, is developing advertising campaigns for Family Dental Care. Each student is designing at least one newspaper advertisement, one direct mail piece, an Internet home page and a link to the home page, and an outdoor ad or a 60-second radio spot, that incorporates a student-selected tagline and slogan for the practice, Mancini said.

“We’re moving advertising out of the textbook,” Mancini said. “It becomes real to our students.”

On Dec. 6, each student will make an on-campus presentation of his or her campaign to the dentists in the Florence practice, Dr. Don Wilson, Dr. Bradley DeGroote and Dr. Lee Morris, as well as the group’s office manager, Kathy Cook, and Angela Bailey, owner of Signature Studios, a Florence advertising agency that works with the dentists. The class linked with the Florence dentist because Mancini and Bailey, a 1989 UA advertising and public relations graduate, know one another.

Following the presentations, Family Dental Care will award $400 to the student deemed to have the best-developed campaign, $200 for second place and $100 for third place. The winning advertising campaign will also be considered for implementation by the dental office.

When Family Dental Care began offering laser fillings about two and one-half years ago, it was one of the few offices in the nation to do so and was the first in Alabama, Bailey said. According to an article written by Wilson and published in Dental Economics in July 2001, only 0.3 percent of dental practices are using the technology.

“About 500 dental offices out of 150,000 use this technology,” Wilson said. “I have a feeling that, ultimately, it will become commonplace, but I don’t have a good grasp for how long that might take.” Wilson said his practice began using hard tissue laser technology in 1998 and, while the practice has seen dramatic growth of late, Wilson said there is potential for additional growth. Advertising campaigns, like the ones under development by the UA students should help, he said.

“For the last 18 months, we’ve averaged about 187 new patients per month,” Wilson said. “The average dental practice has about 20-25 new patients per month.” Plans are for the growing practice to add a fourth dentist next summer.

“As far as working with the students, I love The University of Alabama and would do anything to help the school,” Wilson said. “Anytime you can get 40 very creative minds working independently to come up with an advertising idea, there will probably be several good ideas generated. I think this is good for the students, but I think it’s good for us, too.”

Family Dental Care uses two types of lasers, according to the practice’s web site. The first type uses energized water droplets while the second uses pulsed light. In addition to typically avoiding shots, drills and numb lips, patients who have had laser dental work do not have to delay chewing following most dental procedures.

Mancini said she enjoys watching the students grow and become more advertising-minded during the development of their projects. “Initially, they are more interested in pleasing the professor than in solving a communication problem. But, the longer we work at it, the more they see this is real. I tell them, I’m not the authority here. You have to decide what is the angle here to reach the target audience.

“The students are learning about the industry and, as consumers, what questions to ask and, as business people, they are learning how to strategize. They’ve also really gotten into the nuances of the meaning of words.” Because of the regulations governing the dental profession, certain words are not permissible within advertisements.

Throughout the semester, students must stand in front of their classmates and present the advertising concepts they are developing. Although it was tough at first, Meghan Etheridge, a senior from Huntsville, said it is also helpful. “One thing I really like about the class is even though we’re competing against each other, our class is really supportive and everybody tries to help everyone else out with their ideas,” she said.

Ashley Tucker, a junior from Lexington S.C., said the tagline for her campaign is “creating fond memories.” “ My idea was to focus on children and how they will have a fond memory of the dentists because of this laser dentistry. They won’t have the pain of shots or of a drill,” she said.

The ad campaigns have already been wildly successful – at least in one respect. “All of us, including yours truly, want an appointment with this dentist,” Mancini said.