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Case Study

Planning

Centennial Medical Plaza (CMP), a campus of The Medical Center of Aurora, offers a full service emergency room and is a community-based facility. To provide promotional space for the hospital, CMP held an annual contract with The Centennial Family Fun Center and Sports Dome, as well as the Storm Soccer Fields. CMP contacted Weise Communications to revamp the hospital’s past promotional signage at all three locations. During the creative process, the scope of the project grew to include not only the site-specific areas of the Fun Center, Sports Dome, and Soccer Fields, but also billboard/outdoor, direct mail, print and web ads.

Competition among emergency rooms was growing in Denver, and Centennial Medical Plaza needed to ensure patient volume did not suffer. A unique, integrated campaign had to be developed that engaged the Centennial community in a way that placed their emergency room at the top of everyone’s minds.

Accidents happen. So, heading away from traditional hospital messaging, we decided to make a campaign of blunders, based on accidents that could very well happen in the environment in which the message was staged.

Goals

•    Grow patient volume in the ER
•    Engage the community with messaging that had not been seen for hospital emergency rooms
•    Gain public attention for the hospital via creative use of the message
•    Inform the community that the ER accepts Kaiser Permanente patients (an initiative that began at the same time as the development and launch of “Just In Case”)

Implementation

The strategy involved the delicate matter of calling attention to the fact that accidents happen. This message had to be placed in environments dedicated to fun and family, so they couldn’t be “shocking” or “heavy”. However, since the ice rink, sports dome, soccer fields and driving range were all areas where accidents could occur, we knew the message was relevant. To counteract the somber feeling usually applied to emergency room campaigns, we went for the “blunder” approach with each execution.

A bucket of golf balls tumbling over, people flipping over railings and dasher boards, and one unlucky fellow seconds away from slam dunking himself into a trash can—these were all successful attempts at making a serious matter more appealing. Finally, “Just In Case”, tied the whole campaign together as a simple and effective truth. We literally let everyone know, “'Just In Case' an accident occurs, this emergency room will take care of you.”

Site-specific, outdoor, direct mail, print and web ads were utilized for the “Just In Case” message. Centennial’s Family Fun Center, Sports Dome, and the Storm Soccer Field became ideal locations for unique, site-specific executions. The billboard, which stood across the street from the emergency room, was used to highlight the proximity of the ER. Direct mail advertising, print and digital marketing were all used throughout the campaign to strengthen the brand message and raise awareness for an even larger target market.

Results/Evaluation

•    Launched in March 2008, “Just In Case” quickly received national attention in healthcare media. Health Leaders magazine, an online and print health media publication with offices in Maryland and Tennessee, recently published an article about our unique approach to hospital messaging. The full article can be read at http://www.healthleadersmedia.com. Search for the story titled “Out of the Ordinary”. An expanded story was released in their print magazine.
•    The marketing and PR director at TMCA said in the article from HealthLeaders magazine, “We've gotten a great response. Anyone who has seen it says it’s sticking in their minds.” 
•    The marketing and PR director at TMCA has also been asked to present a webinar on “Best ER Advertising Procedures”.
•    While ER numbers dropped at the main hospital, “Just In Case” increased patient volume at Centennial Medical Plaza by almost 2% in just the first four months of its unveiling.
•    To date, ER numbers continue to incrementally climb at the Centennial ER. (Dollar revenue will not be measurable until 2009.)
•    Kaiser patients steadily come to the ER. Each day, two-to-three Kaiser patients are treated in the ER.
•    An Emergency Medical Responder for Aurora told the ER charge nurse, “The billboard outside was the first time I knew you accepted Kaiser patients."
•    All goals were met, and plans to expand “Just In Case” into a winter campaign are already underway.

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