Wander down the medicine aisle in a Boston-area supermarket this spring, and you may stumble upon a Tufts Medical Center maternity advertisement—literally. The hospital placed ads on the floor in front of the home pregnancy test kits in more than 50 local grocery stores to advertise its obstetrics service line as part of an integrated campaign to promote awareness of its routine pregnancy services.
"We are extremely well known in the market for our high risk pregnancy services, but we are less known in the local community for our routine pregnancies," says Brooke Tyson Hynes, the hospital's vice president of public affairs and communications. "We wanted people in our surrounding community to know that they could come here, that there was a very convenient, high-quality option for them for routine pregnancies."
After seeing its number of routine deliveries plateau and hearing through word of mouth that many locals assumed the academic medical center only practiced high-risk deliveries, Tyson Hynes teamed with Partners+Simons, a Boston marketing firm, to create a campaign to highlight the hospital's expertise and community hospital feel.
"Tufts is known for high-risk pregnancies but has the expertise in routine as well and delivers it all in a very personalized environment," says Jennifer Goslin, Partners+Simons' brand director. "So that became the forefront of the message that we truly wanted to deliver to the public—that we do offer these services, from routine to high-risk, and we can give you everything right around the corner from where you work and live."
Marianne Aiello is an editor with HealthLeaders Media. She may be reached at maiello@healthleadersmedia.com.