This Red Dress Campaign Stands Out

A South Carolina medical center has cleverly managed to differentiate itself from other organizations by pairing the ubiquitous symbol used to promote women's heart health with a unique call to action in its "Just Say Know" campaign.

The red dress, a symbol of the American Heart Association's "Go Red for Women" campaign, has been everywhere over the last few weeks. The organization is responsible for the image being drilled into our minds during February, American Heart Month.  

But here's the paradox in the marketing win: The popularity of the dress makes it difficult for hospitals and health systems to incorporate the image into relevant marketing materials in a way that stands out in a sea of red ruffles.

Lexington Medical Center (LMC) in West Columbia, SC, however, has cleverly managed to do just that by pairing the dress with a play-on-words tagline and a unique call to action in its "Just Say Know" campaign.

A Local Spin on a National Effort
"Though great strides have been made with national efforts to educate women about heart disease, we recognized there was still much work to be done. We wanted a campaign that would emphasize the importance of knowledge as the key to better heart health," says Jeanne Moffett, marketing and advertising manager for the 414-bed medical center.

"The play on words using 'just say know to heart disease' seemed perfect. And by incorporating a red dress, the national symbol of heart disease in women, into the campaign, we felt people would more quickly identify with the message."

The campaign launched in mid-February with the dual goal of calling greater attention to the importance of heart health in women as well as strengthening LMC's position as a local leader in cardiac services.

When marketers began to develop the campaign creative, they considered their target audience of women aged 40–60 and carried out some informal testing with women in that demographic to determine which photographs and headlines resonated with them the most.

"We wanted simple, clean ads that conformed to the hospital's branding and style guidelines, yet we also wanted a look that would translate well to billboards, which we knew were an important element of our campaign," Moffett says. "Obviously, using the color red was important, as this tied the campaign into national efforts about women and heart disease."

An Interactive Call to Action
Campaign elements included outdoor, print, and online ads. LMC also launched a social media campaign that encouraged women to post photos of themselves participating in heart-healthy activities to complement its paid advertising.

Additionally, marketers coordinated the launch of the third in a series of television commercials about heart health called "I am a heart attack" to coincide with the "Just Say Know" campaign. The 60-second commercial highlights three individuals having a heart attack and encourages viewers to learn more about the risk factors for heart disease.

The video, which aired on local and cable networks, directed viewers to the Just Say Know microsite, where visitors are encouraged to take a heart health quiz.

"A call to action is imperative in any communications campaign, so directing people to a special microsite to learn more about heart disease was important," Moffett says. "Since people love to take quizzes and share their results on social media, developing a heart disease quiz seemed like an obvious way to drive engagement. We also used the microsite as a way for the community to request speakers about heart disease and to showcase our three television commercials about heart attacks."

The Importance of Staff Engagement
LMC invigorated staff with the campaign message by distributing l with the "Just Say Know" tagline to its entire workforce.

"Staff involvement is extremely important in a marketing campaign. When employees are engaged, you get an immediate lift that can springboard your campaign efforts and generate tremendous excitement," Moffett says. "Having employees wear red dress pins puts our message in front of thousands of patients every day, year-round."

LMC also enhanced the campaign message throughout its campus, hanging banners on street lights, erecting a large sign on the front lawn, and fabricating T-shirts for employees to wear at the hospital's heart fair and other heart month activities.

It didn't take long for the campaign to gain traction with the community. In the first two weeks the TV spot earned 25,000 unique views, the majority of which were received organically through Facebook. After the initial social success, LMC used paid advertising to sustain the campaign's momentum.

Marketers believe the campaign was a hit with the community because of its clever-yet-simple message.

"The 'Just Say Know' theme is easy to remember and creates a bit of intrigue when people first see it," Moffett says. "We plan to continue the campaign for several months and foresee a potentially long shelf life for it. There are many risk factors for heart disease that deserve attention, and we can use these ads to effectively provide ongoing education about this critical health issue."