How St. Jude Wows Kids with Cancer While Promoting its Mission

The latest collaboration between St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and Expedia puts a new spin on the term "medical tourism," giving kids who cannot travel the adventures of their dreams.

The travel site Expedia, a long-standing partner of St. Jude, has teamed with the hospital to create “Dream Adventures”—a program that paired pediatric cancer patients with Expedia staffers for 360-degree tours of various exotic locations from the comfort of a temporary installation in St. Jude’s Memphis, TN, facility.

The adventures, filmed using a special all-seeing camera and projected on four screens constructed around the patients’ wheelchairs, were tailored to fit each child’s interest. Picture a young girl clutching toy ponies to her chest while watching wild horses roam the planes in Argentina, a little boy getting up-close-and-personal with an archeologist uncovering dinosaur fossils, and an older patient named Hannah whispering, “Oh my goodness” as she stepped into the cube that virtually transported her on a scuba-diving trip.

What’s more, the staff members chosen to serve as personal tour guides each had their own experiences with cancer, just like the patients they were leading. Oh, and the adventures occurred in real-time, allowing the children to ask questions, direct their guides, and “touch” the scenery.

Did I mention that these guides were all captured on film? Before continuing on please watch this video about the making of “Dream Adventures,” then meet us back here. (Psst, it probably wouldn’t hurt to have some tissues handy.)

Powerful stuff, right?

The videos are a home-run in eliciting emotions, striking a perfect balance between telling the patients’ stories and connecting with Expedia’s mission. While the campaign is a great fit for the travel company, it’s also perfectly in-line with St. Jude’s brand image.

Patients Above All Else

In recent years, St. Jude has saturated the airwaves with fundraising-focused TV spots featuring celebrity spokespeople including Marlo Thomas and Jennifer Aniston. As a result, the organization has high brand awareness among consumers. Ask any passerby on the street what St. Jude’s mission is and odds are they’ll say, “saving children.”

St. Jude’s marketing department could teach a master course in the value of defining a clear mission and consistently communicating it through advertising. And the “Dream Adventures” effort seamlessly dovetails with that strategy.

While on the surface the hospital’s traditional 30-second spots and the “Dream Adventure” videos don’t have much in common, they both focus on the same thing: St. Jude patients.

Because while Jennifer Aniston’s voice is what makes you look up from your phone during your favorite show’s commercial break, it’s the young patient sitting next to her who truly garners your attention. If the ad inspires you to donate to the hospital, it’s because you formed a connection with that little boy or girl even in that brief amount of time they were on your screen.

That’s why partnering with Expedia to create “Dream Adventure” videos was such a smart choice for St. Jude. The videos capitalize on that same connection they’ve been creating in their advertising for years, and take it even further.

If viewers’ hearts ached for the child getting hugged by a celebrity during a commercial, imagine how they’ll feel when they get to the end of Hannah’s video, having watched the smile spread across her face as she virtually lived out her dream of scuba diving, and see that it’s dedicated to her memory.

When the commercial ends your show comes back on and you continue with your day, but after watching a video like Hannah’s, chances are you’re spurred into action, whether that be sharing the video on social media, telling your friends, or donating to St. Jude.

By focusing on Hannah and the other patients, the videos further what St. Jude is known for—putting its patients above all else. That ethos shone through even in the making of the Expedia videos.

“One of the great things about St. Jude is that they’re very conscious of how they handle their patients,” Jessica Eichner, Expedia’s senior brand marketing manager, told AdAge. “They’re very protective in a good way and helped us to find who would enjoy it, who was feeling well enough, and whose families would be on board.”

A Creative Call-to-Action

Another reason the collaboration was a good fit for St. Jude is the unique slant Expedia was able to put on the hospital’s tried-and-true fundraising strategy.

Typically, St. Jude commercials asks viewers to call a phone number or visit their website to donate, but the “Dream Adventures” effort drives viewers to a landing page where they can learn more about St. Jude and watch each video from the campaign.

The really cool part of the landing page lies in the call-to-action on the right, which invites users to log-in to their Expedia accounts and donate to St. Jude using their loyalty points.

“Expedia is leveraging the campaign to encourage its customers to donate their Expedia+ rewards points directly to the hospital,” states an Expedia press release. “The Expedia+ rewards program confers points to travelers based on each flight, hotel, car [rental] or activity they book across Expedia channels. Typically, Expedia+ points can be redeemed for travel. Now, Expedia+ points can be converted to a monetary value.”

That’s right—now, users of one of the world’s largest travel sites can donate to St. Jude without dipping into their bank accounts. And, if there are others out there like me—a long-time Expedia user who had no idea I was even earning points—people can donate to a good cause without feeling like they’ve given away anything at all.

At the end of the day, the “Dream Adventures” effort has helped St. Jude likely reach a new audience, promote its mission, highlight patient stories, and boost donations in a creative way that masterfully integrates into its finely tuned brand identity.

That accomplishment, like the videos, is pretty powerful.