Campaign Spotlight: Pediatric Ads Overshadow the Competition

Most marketers will tell you that they don't want anything to cast a shadow over their advertising, but MetroWest Medical Center embraced shadows and made them the focal point of its latest integrated marketing campaign.

The 424-bed health system, based in Framingham, MA, launched the campaign to promote that it began providing comprehensive expert pediatric care in July, thanks to partnering with physicians from Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts Medical Center in Boston.

The campaign includes print, radio, transit, and outdoor ads.

The marketers decided the best way to visually express this new collaboration was by featuring standard images of the doctors in their white coats, but with one change—the physician's shadows portray their younger selves enjoying childlike activities such as hula-hooping, jump roping, and playing hockey.

"The campaign was created to announce and promote the partnership, and we thought the shadow idea was a powerful visual to promote the concept," says Stephanie Guidetti, director of marketing at MetroWest.

The cheeky taglines, such as "When you're committed to kids, it just shows," drive the message of the advertising home. You can view all of the ads on the MetroWest site.