MaineHealth Marketing Exec Receives Top Award from Ad Age

The health system was also awarded during the 39th Annual Healthcare Advertising Awards.

MaineHealth chief marketing and communications officer, Terri Cannan, was awarded Brand CMO of the Year during the Ad Age Creativity Awards held in New York last week.

Kathleen Hall, corporate VP of Brand at Microsoft was an Ad Age Creative judge, shared praise for the health system's creative work. "MaineHealth did in a regional health center what no major health care provider could do nationally. [The work] was ballsy. It was smart. It was emotional. It was real."

According to a press release from the nonprofit integrated health system, the pandemic caused MaineHealth to shift their communication models, which led to the successful management of communications about the novel virus, which "accurately and empathetically [represented what was happening on the front lines of care," as well as driving vaccination efforts. Due to these efforts the health system, which has nine hospitals across the state and serves as the largest health system in northern New England, had some of the lowest COVID-19 case rates in the country and the highest vaccination rates.

Cannan has served as MaineHealth's chief marketing and communications officer since 2014, where she leads the system's overall marketing strategy, including public relations, communications, and digital. Previously, she served as vice president of marketing and communications for Maine Medical Center, the health system's 637-bed flagship hospital in Portland.

From April 2020 to April 2022, Canaan led the development of more than 15 fully-integrated campaigns, a large step away from the health system's historically one brand campaign executed per year. Messaging from the campaigns covered masking and social distancing, vaccine hesitancy, community support, frontline worker appreciation, and ways to avoid hospital patient surges. Messaging was created by Words From the Woods, a strategic advertising agency in Portland. Each campaign was fully integrated, and planned and executed by Dirigo Collective, an independent media company in Yarmouth.

Additionally, MaineHealth has several advertising campaigns that received high honors during the 39^th Annual Healthcare Advertising Awards, including gold, silver, and merit awards.

• Gold: Covid-19 Integrated Marketing Campaign category, MaineHealth’s Covid-19 Communications Campaign
• Silver: Fundraising/Development Campaign category, MaineHealth’s The Next 150 Fundraising Campaign
• Merit: Total Advertising Campaign category, MaineHealth’s Gratitude Campaign
• Merit: Television Advertising Series, MaineHealth’s Covid-19 Communications Campaign
• Merit: Vaccine Promotion category, MaineHealth’s Vaccine Campaign
• Merit: Newspaper Advertising Single category, MaineHealth’s Vaccine Print
• Merit: Magazine Advertising Series category, MaineHealth’s Cancer Care Months Print