Small-Town Clinic Emphasizes Personal Care

Images of stethoscopes, smiling nurses, and thoughtful doctors littered the table in one of Monroe (WI) Clinic's conference rooms. The marketing team was unveiling a rebranding campaign to clinic administrators and they brought clippings of their competitors' cliché ads to show how different their new campaign really was in their market.

Monroe decided to create a rebranding campaign when marketers realized its current messaging, which emphasized its innovation, was better suited for one of their competitors.

"It wasn't a position in the market we could really own, so we just needed to embrace what we do well," says Liz Carroll, director of marketing and community relations. "We have a great multi-specialty clinic and hospital system located in a small town of about 10,000 people. Rather than try to convince our community that we were just like those big city doctors, instead we opted to talk about how 'around here' we were just a little bit different."

The campaign launched in May and ads for different service lines will run in a rotation over the next few years. It includes, print, outdoor, radio, and Web elements.

"Our main message for all of the ads is that we know people around here, and practice the kind of healthcare they need just a little bit better because we're their friends and neighbors," Carroll says. "The campaign also features people from the community rather than pictures of our doctors and our technology."

The clinic has already heard a great deal of positive feedback from patients, employees, and community members, Carroll says.

"The ads are so appealing and compelling and made people feel it was a fit for our market," she says. "We heard, 'Finally, they're showing everyday people in their ads.' There's a sense of small town nostalgia."