Authenticity Awarded in Healthcare Marketing
Today in the New York Times, there is a story about how hospitals are moving toward the use of real, unvarnished stories about patients in their advertising.
We couldn’t agree more.
And it seems like our colleagues feel the same way, which is why we’re the fortunate recipients of several healthcare marketing awards.
Great hospitals have great stories to tell
We’re fortunate to work with great clients like Riverside Methodist Hospital that have allowed us to tell their stories in a real, human and emotional way. And we think that our storytelling approach is critical in a society that is overwhelming us with marketing messages.
The Riverside innovation campaign, created by Fahlgren, features three real-life people who’ve benefited from a relationship with the hospital.
The first is Bill Doherty from County Clare, Ireland, whose leg was saved because of a breakthrough vascular procedure; the second was Sarah Lancaster from Westerville, Ohio who recovered rapidly from a near devastating stroke and the final story included William Gray, MD, a New York physician collaborating on the latest in cardiovascular research with Riverside. Not only did we create television spots, but we also featured expanded patient and physician stories on videos posted on Riverside’s YouTube channel.
Crafting a bestseller
The campaign won a Gold Aster Award for the total advertising campaign among hospitals with 500+ beds. The 2009 Aster Awards consisted of approximately 3,000 entries from across America. Participant entries competed against similar-sized organizations in their category. Entries must have scored at least in the top 85% to receive an award. Judging criteria included creativity, layout and design, functionality, message effectiveness, production quality and overall appeal.
The total campaign also won a Bronze Healthcare Marketing Award and an Award of Merit for the television spots. Much like the Aster Awards, the 2009 Healthcare Marketing Awards received over 3,600 entries in this year’s competition.
Finally, the internal innovation campaign for Riverside associates and physicians won a PRism award from the Central Ohio Chapter of Public Relations Society of America.
At the end of the day, however, what’s really important to us is that our work is getting measureable results for Riverside. To us, this makes the story a genuine bestseller.
If you want help telling your healthcare brand story, give us a call.