A Mower Healthcare Campaign Reaps Big Rewards

Mower was the agency of choice to launch a campaign that would recruit and also train longterm care providers quotOur client Iroquois Healthcare Association an Albany New Yorkbased association of upstate hospitals was designated as a workforce investment organization and received special New York State fundingquot Steenstra explainedThe recruitment campaign named Caring is Your Calling supported a new brand called Caring Geneamp174 And a grant from New York State helped bankroll it quotThe funding was allocated because of the severe shortage of longterm care providers especially at the entry caregiver level certified nursing assistants home health aides and personal care assistantsquot she said quotThere is a dire shortage with an aging population not just in New York State but across the countryquotMower started by conducting some primary research among the target audience quotWe talked to longterm caregivers who are very successful very happy very good at what they do and teased out what their motivation wasquot Steenstra recalledThe agency wanted to know what led them into the field What gets them out of bed in the morning Why do they love it knowing how hard it is quotIt39s such a demanding careerquot she said quotIt39s very physical It39s not very glamorous It certainly doesn39t pay very well especially in the beginning although there is a career ladderquotMower discovered a behavioral gem in the research findings quotThere are some people that have this desire to care for othersquot Steenstra explained quotThey want to be helpful They39re nurturing They just want to help people and so for them there39s no other job that would be as fulfilling money aside difficulties asidequotLongterm care nursing homes assisted living and so on is an area of healthcare where a caregiver can really build a relationship with the patient and the residentquot she continued quotIt39s not like at a hospital where you39re in and out or primary care where you39re in and out Caregivers really get to know the residents or the people that they39re caring for in their homesquotWith that insight Mower developed the Caring Geneamp174 brand and that became the centerpiece for a statewide multimedia campaign that included quotradio television out of home digital the full spectrum of media to target that audience of primarily 18 to 34 year olds and even more 18 to 24s who were just starting their careers maybe just coming out of high schoolquot Steenstra addedThe initiative had three phases Phase one was launched about a year before the pandemic with several different iterations of TV spots and other assets Once COVID hit the message had to be recrafted as a calltoaction quotThere was this whole other reason to get involved in healthcarequot Steenstra said quotWe would have been tone deaf if we had just continued with the current campaign That39s when we pivoted and launched the Caring Is Your Calling messagingquotMower took a cue from the World War II icon Rosie the Riveter and messaging on vintage posters that were meant to rally civilians into action quotThe whole look and feel of that second phase of the campaign was much more urgentquot Steenstra noted quotWe had a new TV spot all new creative which was really in the moment and talked about becoming a healthcare heroquot This second version of the campaign performed very wellAt that point quotwe had two years and two different campaigns worth of data and insight on how they performed especially on social channels like Facebook Instagram Snapchat Redditquot she recalled quotWe were able to see what was resonatingquotMower recognized some attributes of the target audience They were into pop culture A lot of them were into hiphop They were playing games online So in the third iteration of the campaign Mower pivoted to a very different approach The third iteration became the quotDance CampaignquotThe agency created a series of eight different videos featuring groups of caregivers in different dance scenarios Some were like flash mob dances with a spontaneous feeling Others took more of a storytelling approach someone dancing their way from a dull boring kind of retail job or fastfood job into a more fulfilling caregiver roleThe third phase of the campaign really took off leading to almost 21 million total website visits 143000 job search tool interactions and almost 2300 job applications quotWe never had so many comments shares likes and people posting things and really engaging with a paid adquot Steenstra said quotWe got the psychographic finely tuned in that third iteration Also we were still in the height of COVID and people started to realize how critical these healthcare providers arequotThe campaign was also recognized by the marketing industry winning the prestigious Grand Prix award in The Drum B2B Awards in 2021 two gold and six other awards during the 2021 Healthcare Advertising Awards and four gold and five other 2021 ANA B2 awardsThe rewards were clearly multifold for both Mower and its client Iroquois Healthcare Association Patients and residents who ultimately benefited from the increased caregiver ranks certainly felt the results tooClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet

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A Mower Healthcare Campaign Reaps Big Rewards

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Charlene Weisler

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A Mower Healthcare Campaign Reaps Big Rewards

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