MSHA commercial focuses on "real people, real experiences"

By Jennifer Lassiter
Star staff
jlassiter@starhq.com

   Mountain States Health Alliance (MSHA) teamed up with BVK Media on Monday to begin filming a commercial promoting quality patient care and service from the people who truly know, their patients.
   Gary Mueller, the creative director for BVK who has 15 years of film experience and has been working with MSHA for four years, worked closely with MSHA team members to piece together "spots" which include real talent.
   Talent, as they say in the film business, means actors or actresses who are featured in a production. MSHA and BVK felt the best way to send their message would be with people who have experience with MSHA, their team members and physicians. Mueller said, "The most affective advertising uses real people."
   The first year BVK worked with MSHA they filmed a series of "quick messages". These messages were centered around and included staff members. According to Ed Herbert, Vice President of MSHA, it was a way to say "thank-you" to the team members for their work.
   The big focus this year will be on Strategic Service Units which include health, cancer, women and ortho-nuerology.
   Two of the scenes will focus on women who are battling heart disease, which is the number one killer of women in the United States. Heart disease is commonly overlooked by women, and through this commercial, MSHA hopes to raise awareness and send a positive message of effective patient care.
   Herbert, said, "We don't use models; we don't use actresses; we use patients because they have a story to tell, and it really comes through in the commercials."
   Scenes of the commercial will include a cancer patient who is writing a letter to her kids about her diagnosis and a mother who is experiecing menopause with her two grown daughters. According to Mueller, they will be compelling spots which show that MSHA really cares about their patients.
   "There are two types of advertising," said Mueller. "One that pumps your chest up and one that is inspirational, and we are inspirational." Mueller hopes his work with MSHA will inspire people to get a heart assessment and ask more health care questions.
   The commercial will be a 30 second clip, airing sometime after Labor Day.