A campaign by Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center to raise stroke awareness didn't cost much, but thanks to striking visuals, has netted more than 9 million impressions.
"Which beekeeper closet correct answer the pie?"
No, I'm not losing the fight with autocorrect (Though it does resemble the texts I've been receiving from my mother). The above text was actually featured in a newspaper teaser ad for Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center's recent stroke campaign.
The Richmond, VA, medical center decided to participate in the National Stroke Association's awareness campaign for in May for Stroke Month because of its region's unique demographics.
Virginia is inside of the "stroke belt," a region in the southeastern US that public health authorities have recognized for having an unusually high incidence of stroke and other episodes caused by cardiovascular disease. Additionally, 54% of Richmond's population are African American—a demographic that has a 2.5 times greater risk of stroke than the Caucasian population.
"All of these factors contributed to the decision to participate in the national campaign for Stroke Month by supporting awareness of the signs and symptoms of stroke," says Cynthia Schmidt, chief of marketing for VCU.
"Since stroke is not a service that you can drive business to, we saw this very much as a public service campaign with the primary goal of public health education."
Big Impact on a Small Budget
VCU, working with Richmond-based creative agency ND&P, started crafting a campaign geared at greater-Richmond residents over age 35, with a particular focus on African Americans.
The medical center couldn't allocate much funding toward the campaign, so marketers had to get creative to build an effective effort on a small budget. They were able to stretch their dollars by using some elements provided in the American College of Emergency Services Stroke Awareness campaign's toolkit. For example, marketers used mages of an African American male and Caucasian female with asymmetrical facial features and the message, "If someone looks like this, it could be a stroke."
"From there we added a second message: 'If someone sounds like this, it could be a stroke,'" says Chereen Baramki, associate creative director for ND&P. "For these components of the campaign we employed one of the stroke symptoms—'word salad'—speech made up of a mish-mash of words that don't make sense."
In addition to newspapers, marketers placed ads in magazines, outdoor boards, and radio, where they used actress Daphne Maxwell Reid as voice talent. They also created a simple splash page that provided information about the FAST mnemonic device and served as a response mechanism for the outdoor boards.
"The word salad print ad teasers are absolutely arresting. At first glance the reader will think, 'What is this? Is it a mistake?' The reader is then prompted to turn to the last page to get the answer to these questions," Baramki says. "Daphne Maxwell Reid is a well-known actress among older consumers and the fact that she is African American gives her message added credibility with our target audience."
All campaign materials were created with the approved VCU Medical brand look, with bold type and the corporate colors of gold and black.
Positive Public Response
The campaign certainly piqued the community's interest, garnering more than 9 million impressions to date.
Marketers also believe the campaign has helped to raise awareness of its extensive stroke service line among the local medical community. The medical center runs the region's only stroke center rated Gold Level by the American Stroke Association and treats the most complex stroke cases, including hemorrhagic strokes. About one-third of VCU's stroke patients are transferred from another hospital.
"When a stroke occurs the decision is typically to take the person to the closest hospital—often this decision is made by emergency response personnel rather than the consumer," Schmidt says.
"In cases where a referral provider or first responder has a choice of which hospitals to refer or transport a stroke patient to, we wanted VCU Medical Center to come to mind as the preferred destination based on expertise and experience."