Best of June 2024
Best of June 2024: Transformative Tales and Community Impact
In June 2024 we’re showcasing two exceptional healthcare marketing campaigns that stood out for their creativity, impact, and storytelling. This month's spotlight shines on the British Heart Foundation's “‘Til I Died” campaign and Siemens Healthineers' "Magnetic Stories.” Both campaigns demonstrate how healthcare marketing can be both personalized and emotionally resonant, driving awareness and engagement in meaningful ways. Let's dive into what made this work remarkable and the lessons we can take away.
British Heart Foundation’s “‘Til I Died”
The British Heart Foundation (BHF) launched a poignant and visually striking campaign in June that pays tribute to football fans who have passed away prematurely due to heart-related issues. This campaign features a series of murals painted across the UK, each one commemorating a local football fan that was taken too soon. These murals serve not only as a memorial but also as a stark reminder of the importance of heart health. They successfully transform a common saying about team loyalty into a powerful story about heart health.
Click image to learn more about the campaign.
What Stands Out:
Emotional Connection: The murals create a deeply emotional connection with viewers who are part of a dedicated football community. By personalizing the issue of heart health, the campaign brings the message home in a powerful way, “heart disease has taken one of your own, too young, and you or someone you love could be next.”
Public Engagement: The choice of murals as a medium ensures high visibility and public engagement. People are drawn to the artwork, which serves as a conversation starter about heart health and the work of the BHF. These portraits become members of the cityscape, leaving the pub in their jerseys, just like so many others, leading to greater reflection.
Awareness and Education: Each mural includes information about the individual it commemorates and the importance of heart health, providing both a personal story and an educational lesson, enhancing the campaign's impact.
Siemens Healthineers: “Magnetic Stories”
Siemens Healthineers’ "Magnetic Stories" campaign transforms scary MRI sounds into magical stories to help kids feel more comfortable during the daunting procedure. There’s no question that extended time in an MRI machine is a scary experience. I had a brain MRI two years ago (don’t worry, all good) and it was one of the least enjoyable experiences of my life. I can’t imagine either of my kids sliding inside and enduring the 45-minute procedure without a strong degree of abject terror and hearty resistance. But this was seemingly one of those healthcare certainties we all run up against, “It’s bad, but you just gotta deal with it.” Not an easy sell for any parent. That sentiment led the team at Siemens to work with best-selling authors to create audiobooks built around a series of established sounds used during the MRI sequence, making the scary seem like part of the story. A chugging noise becomes a train rolling down the tracks. A rapid tapping becomes a tiny, malfunctioning robot. With each sound, a new story point emerges to put kids at ease. This campaign was recently awarded a Cannes Grand-Prix Lion, gaining well-deserved mass recognition for its contributions to pushing healthcare in cool new directions.
What Stands Out:
Transformative Technology: Siemens Healthineers has turned the naturally occurring sounds of MRI machines into a storytelling tool. By crafting narratives around these sounds, they transform a potentially scary experience into a captivating journey, helping children to relax and feel more comfortable.
Empathy and Understanding: This campaign shows a deep understanding of the anxiety that medical procedures can cause in children (and their parents 😬). By addressing this fear in a creative and empathetic way, Siemens demonstrates their commitment to patient care and well-being.
Engaging Content: The stories are designed to be engaging and entertaining, capturing the imaginations of young patients. This engagement helps distract them from the procedure, reducing stress and making the overall experience more pleasant.
Positive Outcomes: By reducing anxiety, these stories can lead to smoother procedures and better outcomes. Children who are calm and cooperative are more likely to have successful scans, benefiting both the patients and the medical staff. These efforts are already seeing a positive impact in the select centers where they have been rolled out.
Key Takeaways for Healthcare Marketers
These campaigns by the British Heart Foundation and Siemens Healthineers offer valuable lessons for healthcare marketers looking to create impactful and memorable marketing efforts:
Both campaigns excel in creating deep emotional connections with their audiences. Marketers should strive to personalize their messages and make them relatable to foster a strong emotional bond with their target audience.
Innovative storytelling approaches can turn powerful prophesies and clinical protocols into positive experiences. Using storytelling techniques to convey complex medical information or transform important procedures can make them more accessible and less intimidating.
Visual and public art is unparalleled at attracting attention and sparking conversations. Finding unique ways to engage the public in physical and digital spaces can significantly enhance campaign visibility and impact.
Localizing efforts and involving the community can make campaigns more relatable and impactful. Building campaigns around community-specific themes can enhance resonance and effectiveness.
By incorporating these strategies and story approaches, healthcare marketers can create campaigns that not only capture attention but also educate, engage, and build lasting connections with their audiences. These efforts are primed to change the healthcare experience for millions of people and families, helping them better prioritize their health. By wrapping healthcare in a veil of sport and children’s storytelling, they help push the industry further and deserve all the recognition they receive.
