Case Studies

Goals

• HCA Spring Branch Medical Center (SBMC) contracted Ward Creative Communications to bring affluent, insured Memorial-area residents, particularly female healthcare decision-makers, across the Katy Freeway in Houston to the hospital to overcome a long-standing mental barrier that prevented the hospital from pulling these residents “across the railroad tracks” to the hospital and medical professionals.

Strategy

• Ward Creative reached the target audience both directly and indirectly by executing two seminar events that would draw them to the then-HCA-owned hospital.
  
  
• The agency chose to tie into national concerns of childcare by having the client host a free, bilingual nanny seminar that addressed the concerns of affluent mothers entrusting their children to the care of nannies, many of whom spoke limited English. The seminar allowed participants to interact with family practitioners and tour the facility, thereby overcoming false perceptions about quality of care.
  
  
• The agency also developed Babysitter Olympics, a fun, role-playing teen event geared to foster discussion and interaction with physicians about the business of babysitting. The strategy of the event was to help influence the target audience indirectly through their children’s experience. The event, which tied into the increased media attention for the Barcelona Summer Olympics, incorporated games such as a ‘Diaper-A-Thon’ and a life-size game board. Participants took home babysitter certificates and information on discussion topics and addressed general safety guidelines.

Results

• The Nanny Seminar gained an incredible response with more than 200 childcare providers and mothers (the family’s primary healthcare decision maker) attending, and was repeated due to high demand. Turnout for the Babysitter Olympics was double the number of teenage girls anticipated – exceeding more than 100 participants.
  
  
• In a short questionnaire, more than 90 percent of the mothers of babysitter Olympians indicated they were not aware of the nearby facility and its services prior to the event invitation delivered by direct mail. An unexpected outcome, within a week of the seminar 60 appointments were made to see physicians for various reasons by the girls, their families or related family members.
  
  
• Referral physicians, whose names had been distributed to attendees at the first seminar, reported the majority of attendees who had visited them afterward had never been to the hospital before this event.
  
  
• Media placements from the seminar spanned from local to national media, with a feature in Continental Airlines’ in-flight magazine PROFILES. Creneau Media, publisher of upscale neighborhood magazines with high-income demographics, ran a three-part series based on the seminar in VILLAGES, TANGLEWOOD and BELLAIRE magazines.