“Hospital Marketing”, “social marketing”, “health marketing”, etc. These words brought together may appear contradictory and a long way from the terms used by current health organisations such as hospitals and other healthcare institutions, public health bodies or NGOs. However, over the last few years, the number of academic publications concerning this topic has increased and this has sparked interest from healthcare institutions, public health bodies and NGOs. For example, a few months ago, a French university hospital (CHU) created a “marketing director” position with the aim of “contributing to the development of a marketing strategy in order to propose a patient-driven health care offer”. In the same vein, an international seminar on social marketing was organised by the Institut National de Prevention et d′Education Pour la Sante (INPES) in 2010.

Nowadays, we can witness that certain health organisations are increasingly turning to the use of marketing tools: targeting of their service offering within a specific geographical area, positioning and promoting of their offers, fundraising, etc.

In keeping with this new trend, the 3rd International Health Marketing Day will ask the following question:





This integration of marketing tools raises questions regarding the scope of the activities of health organisations.

Some of the main topics that will be dealt with during this International Health Marketing Day are as follows (non-exhaustive list):

1. What kind of marketing is used by health organisations and how is it specific to them?


2. Is there a big gap between current health organisation marketing trends and what they could (should) be?


3. What are the challenges faced in enabling health organisations to fully integrate marketing tools with the aim of producing value and innovation?


4. What impact does introducing marketing strategies have on the management of health organisations?


5. Can “patient-oriented" guidance be a source of value for both patients and health organisations (hospitals and other healthcare institutions, public health bodies or NGOs)?


6. How can the effectiveness of prevention campaigns be improved?


7. Etc.

Aims of the 3^rd Health Marketing International Day:

This 3^rd Day addresses the need for a relevant reflection on the field of health marketing in order to assess the stakes and the perspectives within an ever changing context; globalisation and competition, legislation and regulation, social and societal.

Interdisciplinary in nature, this conference favours debate and exchange between researchers. It aims at creating a close interaction and dialog with professionals from the NGOs, public health institutes and health organisations during workshops oriented around current realities brought forward by the various contributors.