BY: RHODA WEISS
Ms. Weiss is a Santa Monica, CA-based health care consultant
and speaker.
Although people are usually familiar with the names of their community hospitals,
they are often less aware of the clinical strengths and capabilities of these
local facilities.
The five-hospital Scripps system in San Diego County, CA, met this challenge
with a simple, cost-effective campaign that told a very human story of why physicians
and consumers should choose Scripps.
"We went 'back to basics' and envisioned a compelling campaign highlighting
our clinical excellence as told through extraordinary patient care and experiences
at Scripps," explained Christine Clay, marketing manager, Scripps Health. "The
messages were built on the quality of our physicians, nurses, staff, and facilities
while featuring real patients telling their stories. Our goal was to evoke strong,
positive emotions and touch people in our communities on a very personal level."
To identify the most appropriate communications messages, a committee of Scripps
employees representing a variety of areas met weekly for a month to critique
previous messages, evaluate marketing efforts at other hospitals and health
systems, identify Scripps' desired positioning, and brainstorm appropriate tactics.
The committee decided on these objectives:
- Tout the Scripps name and prestige associated with it
- Increase the number of community members choosing Scripps during the fall
open enrollment season for health plans
- Deliver a clear, classic message that staff and the community could embrace
and understand
To tailor the campaign messages, the committee relied on recent National Research
Corporation consumer surveys, which demonstrated that San Diegans preferred
Scripps, particularly in the event of a serious illness such as heart disease
and cancer.
"Two truisms from several marketing research sources deeply influenced our
plans," said Marg Stark, marketing communications specialist. "Namely, we targeted
women over age 30, those all-important decision makers. And we recognized the
critical role that personal recommendations from friends and family members
play in helping consumers choose their doctors."
In addition, Scripps staff studied referral data from the toll-free internal
consumer call center for physician referrals and health information. They identified
upcoming community and business health fairs for participation by health education
staff as an opportunity to showcase Scripps, its physicians, staff, and related
entities. And the marketing, public relations, finance, and managed care departments
worked together to learn more about payers, contracting, reimbursement, and
other issues critical to success in open enrollment communications.
One of the biggest challenges was to create a successful campaign at a cost
that was 50 percent lower than previous years. To achieve this, Scripps brought
the communications campaign in-house with assistance from a lower priced outside
consultant. Scripps thereby received the 15 percent media buying discount, which
traditionally goes to advertising agencies.
The marketing and communications team agreed on campaign actions to meet all
three objectives. They first introduced a new advertising tag line, "World-renowned
health care for you and your family."
"Several years ago, Scripps Health eliminated its 'serving the community'
motto and stopped using a tag line in its promotions," says Clay. "The new tag
line was universally accepted because it captured the essence of Scripps."
The belief that "world-renowned" differentiated Scripps from its peers shaped
the entire campaign. To create the campaign, staff searched for patients whose
lives were saved because they came to Scripps and received extraordinary or
revolutionary care. For the radio spots, classical music was chosen for the
background, and radio shows and advertising vehicles that were not in keeping
with the image Scripps wished to portray were avoided. Copy in the ads included
statements such as, "We were fighting a disease no one could diagnose. Scripps
did" and "When my heart failed, Scripps didn't. They saved my life."
To increase the number of consumers choosing Scripps hospitals and physicians
during open enrollment, staff also created the new slogan, "Choose wisely. Choose
well. Choose Scripps."
"This slogan gave us a much needed call to action in our ads and a directive
for consumers during open enrollment," said Stark. "Including the word 'choice'
in many of the headlines kept us on message. 'Choose wisely' also gave us a
natural transition from the testimonial into the nuts and bolts of the ad, which
included our affiliated physician groups, hospitals, toll-free referral number,
and website address." As an incentive for consumers to call the referral line,
Scripps offered free first-aid guides.
Advertising mediums were also selected wisely. Early on, the committee decided
not to pursue television because of its high costs and production challenges,
even though Scripps and other area hospitals had used it previously. The team
believed strongly that radio and outdoor advertising (billboards, mall kiosk
signs, etc.) together with newspaper ads would provide the broadest possible
exposure for its limited budget.
Additionally, Scripps participated in more than 40 local employer health fairs
and several community events. During these events, Scripps staff offered free
health screenings at a striking exhibit that included photographs of patients
featured in the campaign, along with the new slogan and tag line. "We also turned
our employees into open enrollment ambassadors. This was accomplished by asking
them, in our internal newsletters and posters, to encourage friends and neighbors
to choose Scripps. We also gave out internal flyers on the campaign, e-mailed
staff, and wrote articles about it in our internal newsletter. Finally, we handed
out more than 5,000 license plate frames bearing our slogan," said Clay.
One of the campaign's greatest strengths was in the use of patient testimonials.
In Scripps' case, these lifesaving examples brought home the importance of choosing
the right doctor — the crucial message of any open enrollment effort.
"We believed that a personal recommendation of Scripps from a real San Diegan
as opposed to a model would carry more weight with consumers," said Clay. Of
equal importance was the continued enthusiasm of the different departments featured
in the ads and the pride of all Scripps employees in the new messages.
By all accounts, the open enrollment campaign was a tremendous success. "The
organization has embraced the new tag line," says Clay. "Calls to our toll-free
referral center continually increased during the course of the four-month campaign,
and website hits more than doubled in the first month and rose steadily during
the campaign. Our referral specialists reported that they were able to offer
referral advice and general Scripps information to callers whose main purpose
was to get the free first-aid guide. We are now beginning to track the actual
increase in affiliated lives, the use of Scripps services, and our return on
investment."
Another signal in the campaign's success is that the Scripps Human Resources
Department is now developing a nurse recruitment campaign around the advertising
slogan, "Choose Wisely. Choose Well. Choose Scripps."
For further information, contact Rhoda
Weiss at 310-393-5183 .
Copyright © 2002 by the Catholic Health Association of the United States
For reprint permission, contact Betty Crosby or call (314) 253-3477.