North Carolina Academy of General Dentistry drills deep, fills hole with Strategic Insights

In summary Century-old North Carolina dental organization forgoes anesthesia, requests new cosmetic veneer for its graphic design.

In a bit of a belated announcement, Strategic Insights Brand Marketing is handling the graphic design, collateral and email marketing for the North Carolina Academy of General Dentistry, and has been since 2015. Founded in 1951, the Academy of General Dentistry has 37,000 members from the United States and Canada. Among the Academy’s many goals are offering greater CE opportunities, advancing important oral health initiatives, promoting camaraderie among colleagues and establishing representation within the profession.

At the request of the NCAGD, Strategic Insights overhauled the look and feel of the dated materials, including the annual newsletter and the annual meeting program, as well as some direct mail pieces and email blasts promoting the annual meeting. Initially, the NCAGD continued to print both the annual meeting program and the newsletter, but decided in 2016 that the newsletter would be better as a digital-only resource, drawing members to download and read it through an email blast.

“We’ve discussed redoing the website as well,” said creative director Bill Cokas, “but so far, there’s always been something more pressing to handle. Our plan is to re-introduce the idea of redesigning the site to better complement the other materials. At the moment it’s kind of a lone wolf, off in its own design world. We’ve already modified the content a bit and added a few pages to the site, so an all-out facelift would be the logical next step.”

Strategic Insights was also tasked with handling the event registration for the annual meeting, something it also handles for the CE group within the NCAGD, sometimes known as “Study Club.” Study Club hosts 3-5 events per year to educate members and non-members alike on new techniques and developments in dental care. Participants can earn up to 16 hours of CE credit for each course.