Multimedia Campaign Showcases Hospital Transformation

One of the oldest children’s hospitals in the nation is launching a major re-branding campaign this month to celebrate its 110^th anniversary and the opening of a new hospital.

The campaign for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles features the tagline “We Treat Kids Better” and features a colorful butterfly that symbolizes the transformation of the prestigious hospital.  The multi-media campaign will feature the butterfly and tagline on billboards, print ads and online social network sites. Radio ads will also be part of the mix for the year-long campaign that will feature the opening of a new $636 million facility this summer on the hospital’s campus at the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Vermont Avenue in Los Angeles.

“We want to give Children’s Hospital Los Angeles a much bigger presence in the community to make sure our message is heard,” said CEO Richard Cordova. “The best care for your child is right here in your backyard.”

The new campaign will also make a long-overdue change to the hospital’s name. When Children’s Hospital Los Angeles first opened in 1901, a defective typewriter key left out the apostrophe in the word Children’s and the hospital’s name has been spelled with Childrens up until this month.

“We’re very passionate about our branding so the apostrophe has remained absent all these years,” said Children’s Hospital Los Angeles spokeswoman Lyndsay LaGree. “But with the rebranding campaign, the decision was finally made to correct it.”

The centerpiece of the campaign is the new 317-bed hospital, which is scheduled to open in July. The hospital will feature amenities that help families stay with children while they’re being treated and 85% of the rooms will be private.

“The most significant change is that the new hospital has mostly private rooms which is something we don’t currently have,” said DeAnn Marshall, vice president and chief marketing officer for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. “So now most of the rooms have accommodations for parents to sleep over with their children.”

She said the campaign will also highlight the fact the hospital is ranked among the top 10 children’s hospitals in the nation, according to the 2010 Honor Roll compiled by U.S. News & World Report. “We’re the only children’s hospital on the West Coast with that designation and it’s something we haven’t publicized before,’ said Marshall. “So that will be a big part of our campaign.”