Case History: Atlantic Health – Creating National Brand Awareness
It May Not Be Brain Surgery, but the Brain Surgeons Trusted Us
While it's not quite as specialized as brain surgery itself, elevating brand awareness for one of the country’s premiere neuroscience facilities does require a great deal of specialized expertise. So when the real brain surgeons at Atlantic Health System’s Neuroscience Institute in Summit, NJ made the decision to embark on a national branding initiative, there was only one logical partner – R&J Public Relations.
The public relations branding campaign was built around the “Virtual Stroke Center CD-ROM,” a revolutionary new tool developed by the Neuroscience Institute to raise awareness of the fact that stroke is the third leading cause of death among Americans, and despite being easily preventable, continues to claim more victims with each passing year. AHS planned to make this incredibly informative and educational tool available to every man, woman and child in the country for a nominal shipping and handling charge.
Using this as a catalyst, R&J developed a plan for a national PR initiative designed
to highlight the Institute’s considerable resources and expertise, and elevate the status of the brand in the mind of constituents nationwide. Enlisting the Institute’s own world-renowned neurosurgeon and Medical Director, Dr. Richard Hodosh as the official spokesman for the campaign, R&J set out to make a major splash with the launch of the Virtual Stroke Center CD-ROM.
R&J’s strategy was to deliver a multi-faceted, multi-media program to be executed in three distinct phases, with the goal of utilizing the availability of the CD-ROM to present AHS as a leader in stroke education, prevention and treatment.
Phase I called for a major press announcement and a Satellite Media Tour from the annual International Stroke Conference in San Antonio, Texas. Not only did we successfully break the news within the medical community, we succeeded in booking numerous live interviews for Dr. Hodosh on morning news programs across the country on the day of the announcement. The satellite media tour generated major placements and live interview appearances on 31 stations in 26 of the top 50 markets nationally.
Phase II was centered around National Stroke Awareness Month. To ensure maximum national news penetration, R&J created and distributed both a Video News Release (VNR) and an Audio News Release (ANR) for national distribution. These were backed by a nationally distributed, syndicated Matte Release, with widespread Internet distribution, ensuring an all-out integrated multi-media blitz. Placements on key Internet sites including WebMD, Yahoo, CBS Marketwatch and HealthWeb worked to successfully position Atlantic Health across all media—television, radio, print and Internet.
Finally, Phase III was designed to elevate the brand among members of Atlantic Health’s own community -- the families and future patients who would use and have direct access to the services provided by Atlantic. Within this community, R&J’s program not only increased awareness about the warning signs and symptoms of stroke but more importantly, successfully positioned this “Center of Excellence” as the preeminent health care facility of its kind in the area.
The final results are impressive. Well over 150 million media impressions were generated through the campaign, and Atlantic’s Neuroscience Institute is now mentioned among the top internationally renowned centers of its kind. Referrals to the center are up, the institute’s accomplished medical staff has been called upon to present at numerous high profile conferences and meetings, and the profile of the Atlantic Health Care System as a whole has been substantially elevated.
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