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The 5 Best Healthcare Marketing Ads of 2019

The 5 Best Healthcare Marketing Ads of 2019

Katie Sorce

photo of doctor outdoors in front of palm trees

Our favorite digital healthcare marketing campaigns of the year

When healthcare marketing starts to look similar and say the same things, organizations need to be creative and even a little edgy to stand out from the crowd. Here are my five favorite attention-grabbing ads of 2019 that can serve as inspiration for your next campaign.

The Hospital for Sick Children – SickKids vs. The Greatest Challenges in Child Health

SickKids, a children’s research hospital in Toronto, launched its ambitious “SickKids vs. The Greatest Challenges in Child Health” campaign back in 2016 and it’s still going strong. Its current campaign drives to a landing page seeking 100 monthly donors to help “build the new SickKids.” The videos are extremely dramatic and emotional, featuring children and doctors fighting for their lives. The current iteration shows children, doctors and families throughout the hospital with a children’s choir singing Johnny Cash’s “Hurt,” ending each spot on the lyric “I will find a way.”

Sutter Health – A Thousand Things

This video series and campaign explains that there is so much more to Sutter Health than may meet the eye; in fact, “It’s a thousand things big and small.” I love how this video plays into the emotional aspect of healthcare, that when you’re sick it’s the little things that make all the difference—like a handwritten card from a nurse. The “big” things are important too, like a transplant surgery that saved six lives. To tie back into the local connection, Sutter shows evocative scenery from Sacramento and the Bay Area.

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Northeast Georgia Medical Center – Choose NGMC

Northeast Georgia Medical Center created a variety of videos to highlight some of the reasons people should “Choose NGMC.” What I like most about the campaign is the clean, simple landing page. The header video fills in the phrase “Choose [ Blank ]” with words such as trust, home and healing. Prominent buttons above the fold allow users to search providers, services or locations. Beneath, you can watch the main campaign video, which subsequently autoplays the other videos expanding on the theme of choice.

Adventist Health – Inspired By You

Another emotional campaign, Adventist Health’s “Inspired by You” video series uses realistic imagery of people from all ages and walks of life, those who inspire the doctors and nurses at Adventist. Using a combination of slow-motion video and still imagery—and very few shots of doctors, hospitals or medical equipment—the comes off as genuine and stands out from competing healthcare ads focused on location (i.e., the hospital). Though I suspect much of the footage is stock, they do add a nice personal touch by featuring a real provider at the end, and including their name in the title of the spot.

Arnot Health – It’s What We Do

This campaign is near and dear to my heart, not just because my agency worked on this project, but because I think it’s a great example of how advertising can have a positive impact in a community. Arnot Health, a three-hospital system located in rural upstate New York, rebranded this year and debuted the new tagline, “It’s what we do.” A series of TV spots doctors, nurses and other hardworking “local heroes,” including childcare teachers, local small business owners and firefighters. Instead of solely elevating the image of the doctor, Arnot Health leveled the playing field to celebrate all the unsung local heroes that make the region so special. The spots received praise from community members and resulted in increased net income for the hospital system within the first two months of the campaign.

Katie Sorce is a marketing coordinator for Smith & Jones. She contributes to research and strategy projects, manages social media and digital marketing accounts, and assists with content creation, account management, finance and operations. Smith & Jones is the healthcare marketing agency that specializes in branding and targeted service line marketing for hospitals, health systems and other care providers. Learn more at smithandjones.com.