Junto ("june-toe") is sponsored by Franklin Street, a branding and full service advertising agency specializing in health and wellness. We call the blog Junto in homage to Benjamin Franklin, who created the first "Junto" brainstorming group, which established the first American public hospital.
Chipotle, the Starbucks of burritos, proves once again small things make a huge impact on a brand.
The other day at lunch, I noticed one of the soft drink dispensers was out-of-order.
Instead of Sharpie scribbled scrap of paper taped to the dispenser, Chipotle used the opportunity to reinforce its irreverent brand.
Tricia, our spring digital intern from VCU, calls it service recovery – the opportunity to make a customer even happier during a service lapse.
In hospitals, things don’t always go according to plan. And for patients and families, sometimes what they face is much bigger than the prospect of a meal without an ice-cold Dr. Pepper.
Customer service programs like Disney, Ritz-Carlton or Studer Group focus on the small things that add up. Marketing communications has its role in these programs, and the net effect is the shape of a hospital’s brand. But tackling any of those programs is no small charge.
So this is my call-to-action for hospital marketing and communications professionals: how can your organization create a better patient and family experience by paying attention to the small things, like Chipotle does?
How can you make an Emergency Services waiting room more enjoyable for families?
What are the small touches to the lobby that give patients and visitors an amazing first impression? To borrow a phrase from 2005, what can you do to provide a “Wow experience?”
Look to Chipotle for inspiration. If a burrito bar can be nimble and showcase a personality, just imagine what we can do in our hospitals.
Even without a down economy, fundraising can be a challenge. Memorial Health Care in Chattanooga, TN is embarking on an ambitious fundraising campaign to allow the brand to continue its strategic goal of being a regional destination for world-class services and to fulfill its faith-based mission of service. To support the hospital’s fundraising efforts, Franklin Street developed the strategic healthcare marketing and fundraising materials. The campaign theme, “Inspired Heroes,” comes from Memorial’s core brand of “Inspired Medicine,” acknowledging its deep faith-based roots coupled with Memorial’s innovation in healthcare.
The campaign seeks to raise community financial support for five key initiatives: a new heart center, infusion center, lung center, expanded surgical services, and a new chapel. The campaign elements include television commercials, print advertisements, and a landing page on Memorial’s website where interested donors can learn more and even donate online.
Franklin Street has had the privilege of helping its non-profit clients raise over half a billion dollars in our 25-year history through fundraising and service line marketing. There are many best practices in developing fundraising materials, but here are three lessons in success:
1. Make the campaign an opportunity for donors to give from their hearts, not just their wallets: people should feel an emotional connection to the cause and that they are part of something bigger than themselves.
2. Make the campaign welcome to everyone, regardless of the size of donation: fundraising campaigns are inclusionary efforts; everyone can make a difference.
3. Make the campaign title an anthem: in the case of Memorial, we chose “Inspired Heroes” because it harkens back to the hospital’s core brand, was simple and memorable, and elicits an emotional impact.
To view all of the commercials in the campaign, visit our YouTube Channel. To learn more about the campaign, visit www.memorial.org/hero. To see more of Franklin Street’s campaigns for Memorial, visit our website.
Franklin Street, a strategic healthcare marketing firm located in Richmond, Virginia, announces its newest teammate, Arielle Blais, who joins the firm’s production department.
Arielle is responsible for departmental workflow, communications with the firm’s vendor partners, and overall ensuring on time, on budget campaign execution for Franklin Street’s growing client base.
Despite the down economy, Franklin Street has achieved double-digit sales growth since 2010, and has grown its staff by 26% in the last 24 months. The firm credits its success to its expertise in solving complex brand challenges and identifying new revenue opportunities for hospital systems, biotech firms and other health organizations.
Arielle is a recent Virginia Commonwealth University graduate and is a welcomed new addition to the Franklin Street team.
We know women make 80% of healthcare decisions…but what about men? Don’t they count in healthcare? That was the question we asked ourselves as we developed our newest trends presentation, which debuts April 19th at the Virginia Society for Healthcare Marketing and Public Relations Spring Conference.
Kenya Gibson,Director of Client Services, will be presenting Homer Simpson, Frasier Crane, and The Fonz: A Case for Marketing Healthcare to Men
Leo Burnett’s HumanKind 2012 report suggests that gender roles are evolving, which means old stereotypes about men taking a passive role in healthcare are evolving, too. (Read our take on this trend.) Men account for 2/3rds of recession job losses, which means women in the household have taken on primary income responsibilities, leaving men in charge of shopping, cooking and healthcare. Then there are the health implications for men, such as the fact that being male increases your risk of heart disease by 17%. Given these statistics, we hope healthcare marketers embrace the opportunities for creating communications strategies for the guys.
Has your hospital made inroads in marketing its services to men? Any tips/best practices you’d like to share? Interested in seeing the trends report? We’d love to hear from you.
good point on humanity of the term. Might counter w/thinking bout patients as consumers may faciliate patient-centerdness.
I always thought customers/consumers as the real innovators in any industry. They might not make the product, but they inspire the product and innovation. Consumers elected to end CDs and get their music digitally. I look at how plentiful it is in Richmond now to get organic beef and dairy products. That wasn’t the case only a few years ago. Consumers vote with their wallets, and the same is true of healthcare.
But that word still bothers me: consumers.
It sounds so cold, detached, like the expressionless Pac Mans I tweeted about, gobbling up healthcare.
As marketers for health organizations, it’s our job to develop communications that connect, resonate, engage. It’s hard to muster the creativity and inspiration for campaigns when all we can say about these people is that they are “consumers.”
Years ago, the agency for Dell Computers brought life-sized cutouts of guys with beer bellies and Hawaiian shirts to the presentation of their ad campaign for Dell. The agency explained, “We’re not talking to consumers who are IT professionals. We’re talking to guys who like to grill out, watch sports, could stand to lose a few pounds and make IT decisions.” It helped Dell understand that their advertising had to go beyond photos of computer monitors and advertising copy full of technical specifications but lacking in emotion and a real connection with the audience.
Is that what’s wrong with so much healthcare advertising? That it feels like it was written for consumers and not moms and dads, grandmothers, aunts, uncles, cousins…Human beings, after all, with lives, passions and legitimate fears about what happens after they enter the hospital.
We know better than to use the word “consumer” in a public-facing ad, of course. My concern lies in the invention process: are we setting ourselves up to fail by continuing to use “consumer” in our lexicon?
What do you think? Should we replace “healthcare consumer” with something else? Healthcare audience, perhaps? Or prospective patients?
Our president, Will Flynn, was recently featured in a documentary on graphic design in Richmond, which directed by a VCU student, Jamie Bourne, along with Bekky Rage and Rachel Kim. Will is a VCU graphic design alum (Go Rams!), has taught at VCU, and regularly speaks to students about the communications, healthcare, and design industries.
In the documentary, Will talks about the importance of specialization: that by becoming an expert, it allows more freedom of exploration – both in design and the strategy that informs the design. Will is an advocate for specialization of your craft, whether it is design, law, or accounting. Franklin Street is a strategic marketing firm with deep expertise in the health and wellness industries. We help hospital systems, biotech firms and other health organizations overcome complex brand challenges and identify new revenue opportunities.
One of the great ironies about creativity is the freedom that comes from the discipline of focus and specialization. This is true in two different ways. First, by choosing to narrow your palette and work within a medium like oils or a form like a print advertisement, you free your creativity to expand to fill your vessel. In other words, your brain won’t toy with a sonnet when you’ve committed to a haiku.
Second, by choosing to specialize, you accrue knowledge that builds upon itself and drives inspiration, insightful strategy, and produces work that has few equals. That knowledge base you cultivate positions you as a sought-out expert – and those who seek to work with you are most likely to listen to you and abide by your expertise, which provides you even more fruitful knowledge.
We are honored to be a part of this project along with our Richmond design and advertising colleagues. A special shout out to the other firms featured in the documentary: J H I, riggs ward, and 1717 Design Group.
In our Richmond metro market, two local healthcare brands advertised during the 2011 Super Bowl.
One of the hospitals told the press in the days before the Big Game that the cost for producing the spot was very affordable – perhaps to avoid complaints from board members that the hospital was throwing its money away.
It’s exciting to have your brand be on the Super Bowl. All those eyeballs. All the potential.
But what about after those 30 seconds? (Or, in the case of Chrysler, two minutes?)
That’s when the real magic happens.
Or doesn’t, as the case may be.
Advertising is a form of branding. And branding is a form of culture, a way of illustrating the intangibles that define your organization/product/service.
Some brands are meant for the Super Bowl. (Think beer, junk food.) Instant gratification and products simple enough that the humor and outrageousness can trump the need to extol the product’s virtues.
Other brands (like healthcare) require more from the audience than a quick laugh for there to be a chain reaction of awareness, preference, usage and loyalty.
Hospitals launch ad campaigns all the time. It doesn’t matter if they launch on the Super Bowl, American Idol finale, or in the local Penny Saver. Running an ad is one thing. Building a brand and having audiences build onto the brand story is another thing altogether.
The next campaign you develop, ask yourself: after we launch the campaign, what happens next?
What’s your plan for engaging nurses, physicians and volunteers? What’s the plan for getting them to be advocates of your brand? What about your patients? These audiences make up your organization’s brand, after all.
Cobbling together money to run a TV spot is one thing.
Building, shaping and cultivating a brand of significance is something altogether different.
Here’s a smattering of commercials from the Super Bowl XLVI that our team thought hit the mark.
Clint Eastwood is an American icon. This two-minute commercial is a passionate tome that tugs heartstrings and appeals to virtues bigger than just selling cars. The response after the Super Bowl has been dramatic. Some people felt the spot was politically-motivated. Who cares. It’s brilliant.
Dogs have replaced babies as the go-to for suckering eyeballs. VW strikes back after last year’s pint-sized Darth Vader spot with an overweight pooch on a comeback. Beautiful tie-in with last year’s Star Wars’ theme.
Audi’s “Vampire Party” spot is simple, smart, and uber trendy, right down to the hashtag #SOLONGVAMPIRES.
GE has consistently held the distinction of great advertising for years. This spot features GE technicians who meet with cancer survivors who benefited from the equipment the GE technicians made. Below is the extended version.
You can’t get more ubiqiutious than the Toyota Camry. The brand turns a negative brand attribute into this smart, touching spot emphasizing the Camry connections we have.
Unfortunately, Toyota ruined all that new brand love with this spot, which feels like it was done by a different agency for a different car company for a different Super Bowl:
Acura and Honda went the nostalgia route by featuring Jerry Seinfeld and Matthew Broderick in a pair of spots that complemented one another, even if most people don’t know that Honda owns Acura (or even cares):
Everybody seems to love this Doritos’ spot, even if the premise is murder. (Hey, we’re animal lovers at Franklin Street. Just sayin’.)
Now, for the lowbrow crowd. First, Beckham:
Next, FIAT:
A team favorite was the music video by the band OK Go that featured Chevy. Snippets of this video were featured in one of Chevy’s Super Bowl commercials, so technically it was featured in the Big Game. (This video was released just after the Big Game and already has millions of views.) OK Go is getting a lot of press for its innovative music videos. With this video, you can see why the press is well-deserved.
4 Super Bowl Takeaways for Healthcare Brands:
1. Don’t be afraid of the reveal. Some of the strongest commercials played at this Super Bowl teased the product until the very end. If advertising doesn’t ask any of the viewer, then the commercial is easy to ignore/dismiss. For your healthcare advertising, talk up to your audience; she can handle complexity and intrigue.
2. Be real time. The Client Eastwood spot for Detroit auto and even Audi’s “Vampires” spot hit the American consciousness for the Twilight and True Blood phenom. In healthcare, it’s easy to get caught up in support points, technology shots and word choices that won’t upset the doctors. Put your audience first, though, and lean on what informs their world, interests and passions. If it’s vampires, so be it. You can bet your healthcare TV spot will be noticed.
3. Consensus can kill great work. Our 20+ team got together a few days after the Super Bowl to review the commercials and eat barbecue. (Yes, it’s tough work being a Franklin Streeter.) There was little consensus from the group about which spots were the best. The Clint Eastwood/Detroit spot, for example, had a polarizing effect on our group: some thought it was among the best advertising of all time, and others thought it was boring and lagged. Many healthcare organizations are consensus-driven, and advertising can bear the brunt of the consensus culture. When possible, develop a small, core team of decision-makers and run to the finish line.
4. It’s what happens after your spot airs that matters most. Most healthcare brands can’t advertise on the Super Bowl, but every ad campaign has a “launch.” What happens after your campaign first airs is largely dependent on the brand culture of your organization, and, to a lesser degree, your role as a marketer in helping to harness that culture to add to the brand conversation. Read this to learn more about the power that culture and building on the brand story can have in healthcare.
A pint-sized Darth Vader can teach us about better healthcare marketing.
VW’s Big Game commercial from last year had everyone I know laughing and talking about the spot for weeks and months afterwards.
The brand is following up with a new Star Wars-themed spot for the Big Game – the teaser already has millions of views.
It’s easy in healthcare advertising and branding to go back to the same well of storytelling, especially with the pressure from people in white coats who want to show the technology, blood and guts, or demand we promote quality scores.
What VW and its agency did so brilliantly was understand a VW owner’s life in relationship to their vehicles.
The kind of advertising that people ignore (and the advertising healthcare marketers are often forced to create) is the kind that makes the product the STAR. The advertising practically screams, PAY ATTENTION! LOOK AT ME!
This is advertising that navel gazes, advertising that is self-absorbed, boorish, tone-deaf.
What the pint-sized Vader spot did spot-on was to create a commercial around its audience and what they cared about, and inserted VW into the conversation.
As a former owner of several VWs, I can tell you I don’t know how to change the car’s oil, and still have trouble figuring out when to rotate the tires. I am sure some VW executives were appalled when they first read the TV script and realized the only feature highlighted in the entire spot was the car’s remote starting feature — a device that has been in commercial use for years by many car brands. For a prospective VW owner, though, it was just enough for the hook, to take a second look, to begin the process of saying, Maybe I should look at VW for my next car.
The fun appeal of the TV spot gave the brand the viral edge it needed. (An aside: never try to make a “viral video.” Videos go viral when people decide the content is worth sharing. That’s the story building aspect of branding.)
Here are a few pointers for helping your next healthcare advertising campaign be a success like VW’s Vader:
1. It’s all about the audience. Create ads that appeal to your prospective patients, not physicians or the C-suite. Unless it’s OB, prospective patients don’t like thinking about healthcare. (Admit it, heart surgery is a scary topic if you don’t do it every day.) Profile your audience – going beyond age, gender and income. What do they care about? What’s their day like? What are their hopes and fears? What makes them laugh? Create from that place.
2. Keep it simple. Resist the temptation to add just one more copy point in the ad. What’s the one thing you want people to remember about your healthcare brand? Develop your ad around that one thing.
3. Stay out the of hospital (if you can). The VW commercial showed the Passat only at the very end, and we never saw the interior of the car, or looked under the hood. Look for advertising solutions that avoid the standard white lab coat/spotlight on technology/nurses rushing down a crowded hall montage of healthcare advertising that’s been done a million times before. (We’ve certainly done that spot before, and it can work. But still.) Use the Force. Try a new way of connecting with your audience.
Do you have a favorite commercial that inspires you? A tale of woe from a pushy physician who knew better than you what his patients needed to know? We’d love to hear from you.
According to a study from Deloitte, 80% of people will travel outside their community for perceived higher quality of health care.
Many community hospitals are challenged with the perception that they are good for the common illnesses and broken bones, but can’t handle the major stuff.
Satilla Regional faced a similar quandary when they asked for our help in marketing their cardiac services program. Despite outperforming 75% of all hospitals nationwide in the emergency treatment of heart attacks, many locals believed they needed to go out of town for heart needs.
Using research on how and why consumers choose and evaluate healthcare providers, we developed a solution that spoke openly and honestly to Satilla’s audience. When it comes to your heart, use your head, became the campaign theme.
We featured one of Satilla’s cardiologists as a spokesperson for the campaign. Based on research we’ve conducted in markets all over the country, we knew physicians can be excellent spokespeople for hospitals, creating a halo effect for providers. Consumers feel that physicians can choose to practice medicine at many hospitals, so if they are choosing this particular hospital to practice, it must be of high quality.
We also featured testimonials of former cardiac patients and the life-saving care they received at Satilla. Television and web videos wove the softer, more emotional factors that lead to trusting Satilla for cardiac services.
We’re still tracking results for the campaign, but early numbers suggest the campaign is reaching our audiences’ hearts and minds.
What’s your take on using physicians as spokespeople? Curious about our clients’ take on STARK laws? Drop us a line — we’d love to hear from you.
