GE’S RESPONSE: WE ACTUALLY MEANT
TO MANIPULATE SOMEONE ELSE
GE’s spokespeople, of course, are so exceedingly nice that my
conspiracy theory is equal parts diffused and emboldened by
the time we wrap up with the pleasantries. They’ve connected
me with Barbara Del Prince, global marketing manager for
GE’s Women’s Health Ultrasound, who talks all things baby
Essentially, this branding allows doctors to sell GE ultrasound
machines and other medical equipment to other doctors.
That logo serves as an endorsement just like the swoosh on
a Tiger Woods Nike golf ball. But what about my wife and
I, and all the other couples out there, seeing a pregnancy
for the first time? Wasn’t there some beneficial halo effect,
stemming from ultrasounds and reaching across the greater
GE brand, at play?
with such an approachable clinical proficiency that I think
if she weren’t representing a $2 billion a year business and
GE’s largest product in health care, she’d make a hell of a
doula.
“I definitely see the benefits of that,” Del Prince finally
concedes. “[But] I don’t know that its actively anything we’ve
sought after.”
Of course, she’s more than agile at answering my big
question. The typed GE that sits beside the baby is actually
a functional tool on the ultrasound screen, she explains. It’s
like a cursor for the ultrasound probe that signals its position
to the doctor. And that’s why it’s right next to the image, so
a doctor can reference the probe’s position in relation to the
fetus.
INTENTIONAL OR NOT, MY BABY IS STILL
BRANDED
But remember what Dr Chatterjee told me--that the typed
GE probably doesn’t matter as much as the clearer GE logo
in the corner. When I point out that the main GE logo in the
corner is the largest added component on the ultrasound-larger than any piece of diagnostic information on the
page--Del Prince just laughs. “Is it?” she asks, mid-chuckle.
The tacit implication seems to be that GE is at least a bit
guilty-as-charged for the subtle self-promotion. But that selfpromotion is less for winning over parents than for winning
over doctors, Del Prince insists.
“It comes in handy during trade-show presentations, because
a lot of times, as other physicians are going to the experts,
learning what they do, they want to see what tech they were
using,” Del Prince says. “This way they aren’t stopping a
physician every five feet.”
And that is the big answer we’ll never know, whether there’s
a Jack Donaghy within GE plucking at our heart strings to
truly love their international brand, or whether the GE probe
cursor and the larger accompanying logo was nothing more
than an impulsive decision of one of GE’s 200+ ultrasound
developers on staff, something that an employee could point
to if a middle manager asked why Siemens had one more
logo on their ultrasound than GE.
“I don’t know if GE is doing this purposefully, if this is a
deliberate attempt to influence new parents,” Chatterjee
tells me, “but the way it looks to me, when I look at this
ultrasound, is that even if they don’t intend it, even if it’s
a coincidence, it can act toward driving brand preferences
toward GE products.”
So ultimately, as thousands of new parents make their own
voyages to the moon each day, the GE brand is stamping
itself into their mushy hearts along the way. That is, so long
as those new parents don’t spot the tactic ... so long as those
new parents aren’t reading this article right now.