HealthLeaders Media Marketing Awards 2007: Winning Campaigns

From animated characters that encourage healthy living to picturesque scenes that capture the simplicity of a child's dream of becoming a doctor, hospital marketing campaigns of excellence were the subject of the first HealthLeaders Media Marketing Awards in New York City in November.

Representatives from 10 winning organizations participated in roundtable discussions led by HealthLeaders Media Senior Managing Editor Gienna Shaw. In the discussions, participants were asked about both the creative and strategic work that went into each marketing initiative. Panelists also talked about the return on investment they saw from the campaigns and how they communicated that to hospital executives.

When you think of healthcare .

"We do market research every three years, and the first question I ask is, 'Name a hospital in your area,'" said Kimberly Cheuvront, PhD, assistant vice president at the 169-bed Fairmont (WV) General Hospital. "Our top-of-mind awareness was at 47 percent. Our marketing had taken a dive because of a few years of bad profits, but there was a lot to talk about at Fairmont General."

To remedy this problem, Cheuvront and her staff launched the "Talk" campaign, a series of television advertisements that emphasized the good things offered at the hospital. The award took home the Best Marketing Quality, Medium Hospital Bronze Award. Cheuvront said the campaign was an "aggressive media blitz" that showed results. At the end of 2006, a survey of area residents showed that top-of-mind awareness had increased to 60%.

Like Fairmont General, Duke Medicine in Durham, NC, needed to get into the minds of its community members. Known as a large academic medical center, the hospital seemed out of reach to many community members, said Dorothea Bonds, director of creative services and marketing communications for the system, which admitted more than 60,000 inpatients in fiscal year 2007.

The hospital's campaign, "This is Duke Medicine," tried to "enlarge our brand and speak to two messages: That Duke Medicine is in your communities, and that our physicians, while knowledgeable, are real, caring people," Bonds said. "Duke had a perception problem because of its excellence. We're seen as remote and arrogant, but that's just not the case."

Using television and print advertisements, the health system's campaign featured compassionate caregivers with the tagline "This is Duke Medicine." The campaign ran for six months, and at the end of its run, Duke used a phone survey to measure the results. "Seventy-nine percent said they could find Duke care close to their homes," Bonds said. "We believe we got our first message across."