American Heart Association Signs on Ascend Integrated Media as Exclusive Exhibit Sales Rep for Annual Meeting

March 22, 2012

With its deep background in working with medical and pharma association sand trade shows, Ascend Integrated Media was a natural fit for the American Heart Association when it needed an exclusive exhibit sales representative for its Scientific Sessions 2012 Annual Meeting.

The meeting is scheduled Nov. 3-7 at the Los Angeles Convention Center and is expected to attract more than 22,000 attendees.

“We selected Ascend to be our exclusive partner for exhibitor sales because of the expertise and tenure of their sales team,” said Laura Gossett, senior manager, exhibits for American Heart Association.

She added, “Combined, the sales team members have more than 60 years of sales and marketing support experience in the health care industry. We feel this extension of our current partnership will allow us to strategically focus on showcasing the value of exhibiting at Scientific Sessions and the direct impact it has to our mission and 2020 Impact Goal. The AHA’s 2020 Impact Goal is to improve the cardiovascular health of all Americans by 20 percent, while reducing deaths from cardiovascular diseases and stroke by 20 percent.”

American Heart Association has been a client of Ascend’s for more than 20 years, according to Ascend CEO Cam Bishop.

He added Ascend has approximately 30 medical/healthcare association clients altogether, including American Academy of Dermatology, American Thoracic Society and American College of Cardiology.

A team of 58 work on these events, and many more, developing event specific and custom media work in print, digital and mobile, according to Bishop.

“Selling exhibits for this prestigious meeting is a natural extension of our 20-plus-year relationship with AHA,” said Barbara Kay, Ascend’s president.

Ascend currently sells advertising and promotional opportunities for Scientific Sessions, the International Stroke Conference and various specialty conferences for AHA.


The Scientific Sessions typically feature more than 1,000 faculty, presenting more than 4,000 abstracts in seven Cores and 14 Clinical Tracks.

The meeting attracts attendees from around the world and is covered by more than 300 media outlets, with more than 4 billion media impressions.

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