95 Years of Innovation: Celebrating a Near Century of Excellence at MMS
When it comes to healthcare marketing solutions, modern tools such as email, social media, and state-of-the-art databases may be some of the first elements that come to mind. That’s why it may be a surprise to know that MMS has been helping healthcare marketers improve the ROI of their campaigns for almost 100 years — long before these solutions even existed.
In fact, MMS is a franchise of the American Medical Association (AMA) and the original Database Licensee, with our relationship dating back to 1906. Although technology has evolved throughout our history, one thing hasn’t changed: our dedication to people, who are the heartbeat of every initiative in healthcare marketing.
Let’s Celebrate Together
As MMS celebrates 95 years in business, this milestone isn’t just about us – it’s about you too. This blog will look back and explore how our success story is your success story. Fittingly, it all begins on the cusp of a decade famously known for celebration: the Roaring ‘20s.
A Tale of Two Companies
In 1918, the Mason Addressing Co. was busy providing direct mail for medical accounts near St. Louis, and it was the first company to subscribe to the American Medical Association physician list directory service. This unique relationship continues to this day with MMS and enables hospital marketers to create, identify, and reach all physicians and deliver their digital marketing messages to these providers. During this time, a man named Fred Jungbluth purchased Mason Addressing Co. Nearly 10 years later, he purchased another company named Medical Mailing Service. In 1929, Jungbluth merged both companies under the “Medical Mailing Service” moniker.
Fast-Forward to the Floppy Disk Era
In 1973, Nixon was president, sticky notes were on the cusp of being invented and Medical Mailing Service was going strong. With decades of experience now under its belt, the decision was made to sell the mailing aspect of the company’s business and switch over to data and data processing. To make the change complete, the company’s name changed to Medical Marketing Service and the name “MMS” was born.
Exploring the Digital Frontier
From 1973 to 1984, MMS worked with several medical associations such as AANA, ADHA, ACS, ACOG and others to put together computerized membership lists. The company improved the turnaround time of list count selections in 1985 by partnering with NAPR, and this formed the basis for the current 24/7 self-service Names Online Without Waiting (NOWW) system.
By 1996, all of MMS’ data had been transferred to a PC-based platform which allowed all customers to access its data.
Opportunity Knocks — and Sometimes It Strikes
One year later, a two-week UPS strike delayed the delivery of MMS’ printed labels. This led MMS to convert 40% of its customers to an electronic data delivery system. The following year, MMS added email marketing to its services with the launch of the Med-E-Mail Broadcast Service. This is the largest and most comprehensive email database built upon the foundation of the AMA Physician Masterfile, which consists of all the licensed physicians in the United States.
Here Today, Ready For Tomorrow
Since that momentous leap in 1997, MMS has grown into a leading provider of digital marketing solutions for healthcare professionals, including recruiters, medical associations, the pharmaceutical industry, hospital marketers, continuing medical education, and others.
500 million sends later, our email and direct mail marketing services include everything from email automation to analytics to measuring campaign success.
Today, no other healthcare marketing service provider offers the unique MMS combination of great data and great email marketing expertise, delivered together with a focus on making it easier to achieve the results and ROI you want.
Future Forward
And that brings us back to you. As we approach our centennial, our sights are set on pioneering the future and exceeding your expectations. Making your job easier and your campaigns more successful. Exploring more opportunities and providing more possibilities — all backed by nearly a century of expertise that will help us lead the industry, so your campaigns can lead the way.
Here’s to another 95 years of innovation and to what’s most important to everyone at MMS: your lasting success.
Contact us today and see what we can do for you … now and in years to come.