case study: union memorial
Challenger Brand Issue: Repositioning as a regional destination hospital in the shadow of a giant
Union Memorial Hospital (UMH) lives in the shadow of Johns Hopkins, literally and figuratively. Yet despite that, UMH had built an expertise and reputation for its sports medicine and hand centers. These well-known centers of excellence had allowed UMH to attract a higher caliber of physician across numerous service lines. Through their expanded referral networks, UMH was quietly building their capabilities as a regional destination hospital. gkv’s job was to cause patients to give UMH a second look and to circumvent their auto-pilot behavior to go to Johns Hopkins.
Insights
To build their reputation as a destination hospital, the typical approach is to tout the doctors’ amazing prowess and world-class credentials. UMH had world-renowned experts on their staff that would have allowed them to go toe to toe with any other hospital using this strategy, including Johns Hopkins. But in the end, would patients really have seen UMH as different? gkv’s research uncovered that while the rationale attraction of a white-coated hero was powerful, the emotional attraction of real-life stories about the great distances that patients would travel to receive the care of UMH experts was even more compelling.
Challenger Brand Behavior: Emotional Connection
gkv developed a campaign that featured real patients and real stories that asked the question, "How far would you go to get your life back?" gkv's approach was flexible enough to work across departments and disciplines. Patient stories were developed for television and print around cardiology, orthopedics, women's health and oncology care. gkv's approach also extended to other mediums such as Internet, direct mail, newsletters and collateral.
Results
During the past three years, UMH has increased patient volumes by 15%. UMH's perception as a hospital that provides the best care has increased 36% and overall unaided awareness of UMH as increased 9%.