• Related Work

Wesley Medical Center

Challenge

Wesley Medical Center, a leader in Wichita for cardiac care and female health services, is a local presenting sponsor of the American Heart Association’s “Go Red” campaign. The hospital enlisted Associated to help differentiate the hospital from other “Go Red” partners, increase “Go Red for Women” event participation in early February (American Heart Month) and showcase Wesley’s female cardiac care expertise and the caring nature of its employees.

Key Insight

To maximize its partnership with the American Heart Association, Wesley needed to somehow make “Go Red” its own. By locally branding the campaign and outreach effort, Wesley could stand out from other partners, sponsors and opportunists and could showcase their involvement with “Go Red” in the context of its larger, year-round expertise in female cardiac care.

Strategy

Associated formulated an integrated campaign for Wesley that incorporated signage, “red washing” (red signage, lighting and presence) at Wesley facilities, business partnerships, traditional media advertising, event presence, public relations support materials, social media, an event-specific website and a thematic video featuring Wesley employees to encourage Wichitans to “Turn Red” as a way of promoting women’s heart health.

Using a unique “Turn Red” phrase rather than the traditional “Go Red” differentiated Wesley’s efforts from other local sponsors and participants (as well as nationally) and was directional in its intent – using the verb “turn” as a way to encourage people to change their behavior. It would also serve to engage people with better heart health — specifically for women, for whom incident and death rates rival males with far less attention.

Results

Wesley garnered 45 media mentions with local TV, radio and print outlets, 400 unique views of the “TurnRed” video and 500 Facebook “likers” for Go Red Wichita in just three weeks, as well as a 34% increase in local business “red washing” over the previous year. More important, the hospital saw a 62% increase in participation in Wesley “Go Red” events and a 40% increase in awareness for Wesley as the local leader for women’s cardiac care among polled event participants. The effort even merited a signature martini at a local wine bar.