What happened?
Florida Hospital in Orlando, Florida, has succeeded in generating a great deal of publicity for its Audiology Department by capitalizing on the uniqueness and innovation of the Songbird Disposable Hearing Aid.

How did they do it?
Media relations staff member Samantha O’Lenick drafted a press release based on Songbird Hearing’s product information. She added human interest to her release by including the personal story of a Songbird user. Samantha sent the press release to several local newspapers and television stations.

Samantha also worked to get TV coverage by organizing a one-day opportunity for local TV stations. First, she sent the stations a media alert, inviting them to come to the hospital and film an audiologist and three patients who were pre-selected for this opportunity. (They had previously been fit with a Songbird Hearing Aid off camera .)

Samantha followed up on her media alert with phone calls to the TV stations explaining that the hospital had a new piece of technology available to help hearing loss patients.

On the day of the media event, the three patients and an audiologist on the hospital’s staff were fit on camera with the Songbird Hearing Aid. B roll (or canned, ready-to-use) footage previously taped at the hospital was also available for the affiliate stations to use in their stories. Florida Hospital in Orlando, Florida, has succeeded in generating a great deal of publicity for its Audiology Department by capitalizing on the uniqueness and innovation of the Songbird Disposable Hearing Aid.

Results:
Several newspapers covered the story, including the Orlando Sentinel and local community papers. In addition, all the major networks’ local affiliates (ABC, NBC and CBS) attended the media day and ran stories. In addition, Innex, which does health stories for NBC affiliates across the nation, also picked up the story and included it on the Innex Web site. The Innex piece will be televised in January.

Lessons Learned:
“The press has been extremely interested in the Songbird Hearing Aid, and that interest translated into a terrific opportunity to get some publicity for Florida Hospital’s Audiology Department.”