Community Competition Drives Heart Assessment Participation

When Clarian West Medical Center ran the first ad campaign promoting its new online heart disease risk assessment tool, just 54 people in the target market completed an evaluation. So marketers at the Indianapolis, IN, organization created an integrated campaign that played to the community's hometown pride.

"Previous attempts to drive people to the online heart evaluation through asymptomatic messaging had not been successful in this particular market," marketers wrote on the entry form for the 2009 HealthLeaders Media Marketing Awards, where they took home a platinum award. "Through our understanding of the target market, we determined that creating a community-focused campaign would give us the best opportunity to achieve our goal."

The campaign encouraged people from four towns in the target market to participate through a town-pride challenge. Each time someone complete an online evaluation, a point would be added to their town.

Since the campaign ran during basketball season, marketers used a scoreboard and the towns' high school colors to keep tally. Print ads were updated throughout the week with the towns' current score to encourage more community participation. The campaign also included direct mail, outdoor, and online elements.

"We also partnered with local schools and community events to create an interactive movement to participate in the 'Who Has the Most Heart' campaign," marketers wrote. "T-shirts saying "I love [town name]" were passed out at the events along with educational collateral pieces."

In the three months of the campaign, 372 online evaluations were completed in the target market—a 590% increase from the previous campaign.