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Out of the Ordinary

 |  By HealthLeaders Media Staff  
   August 06, 2008

Thinking that much of healthcare advertising tends to look the same, Amy Speagle, marketing & public relations director for The Medical Center of Aurora (CO) & Centennial Medical Plaza, looked to Weise Communications in Denver to create something out of the ordinary.

"I am a firm believer that you need to stand out in the crowd," Speagle says. Along with standing out, there was also the challenge of generating awareness about Centennial Medical Plaza's ER and a newly formed relationship with Kaiser Permanente's patients.

The medical center sponsors a local family sports center so the creative team headed over to look for some inspiration.

And they found it—the trip turned out to be a catalyst for creativity.

While visiting the sports center, Travis Parker a copywriter for Weise, wondered, "What if a hockey puck flew through the glass?"

That thought led to the idea of showing sports-related mishaps in the ads, says Tracy Weise, account supervisor for the campaign and president of Weise. "Everyone loves bloopers—so we asked ourselves, what kind of things could happen here that we could portray?"

The team placed ads in each area of the sports center that corresponded to the sport played in that area. For example, an ad in the hockey rink shows a player falling over the boards. All you see are the player's legs with the campaign message, "Just in Case," and the facility's logo on the rink's boards.

Another ad, placed at the soccer field, shows the image of a player diving for a ball over a real trash can. And at the driving range, a bucket of balls can be seen overhead with actual balls appearing as if they're falling down over visitors at the range.

"Hopefully, the underlying message is that healthcare doesn't have to be scary," says Speagle. "I firmly believe the message needs to be clean, short, and people need to get it right away. I think, anecdotally, we've gotten a great response. Anyone who has seen it says it's sticking in their minds—which is important."


Kandace McLaughlin is an editor with HealthLeaders magazine. Send her Campaign Spotlight ideas at kmclaughlin@healthleadersmedia.com If you are a marketer submitting a campaign on behalf of your facility or client, please ensure you have permission before doing so.

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