Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly - S11E08 - Medicine & Miracles: The Power of Hospital Marketing

Episode Date: February 26, 2022

This week, we look at powerful hospital marketing. Hospitals need marketing to generate much-needed donations. We’ll look at how one hospital uses celebrities, how another uses riveting patient stories and how one hospital threw away the rulebook and created advertising that looks like Nike commercials. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly. As you may know, we've been producing a lot of bonus episodes while under the influences on hiatus. They're called the Beatleology Interviews, where I talk to people who knew the Beatles, work with them, love them, and the authors who write about them. Well, the Beatleology Interviews have become a hit, so we are spinning it out to be a standalone podcast series. You've already heard conversations with people like actors Mark Hamill, Malcolm McDowell, and Beatles confidant Astrid Kershaw. But coming up, I talk to May Pang, who dated John Lennon in the mid-70s. I talk to double fantasy guitarist Earl Slick, Apple Records creative director John Kosh. I'll be talking to Jan Hayworth,

who designed the Sgt. Pepper album cover. Very cool. And I'll talk to singer Dion, who is one of only five people still alive who were on the Sgt. Pepper cover. And two of those people were Beatles. The stories they tell are amazing. So thank you for making this series such a success. And please, do me a favor, follow the Beatleology interviews on your podcast app. You don't even have to be a huge Beatles fan, you just have to love storytelling.

Subscribe now, and don't miss a single beat. This is an apostrophe podcast production. Your teeth look whiter than no nose. You're not you when you're hungry. You're a good hand with all teeth. You're under the influence with Terry O'Reilly. The 35th President of the United States was a man of many distinctions. But maybe one of the least known is that John F. Kennedy was administered last rites four different times in his life,

not including his 1963 assassination. A youthful JFK was elected president at the age of 43, yet battled health issues his entire life. If it weren't for the care of doctors, nurses, and hospitals, he would have never lived to see his inauguration day. When JFK was just two years old, he was diagnosed with scarlet fever on the very day his mother was giving birth to his sister, Kathleen. Fearing he might transmit the fever to his siblings, his family rushed him to the Boston City Hospital. His condition became so dire,

a priest was called in to deliver last rites. But young Kennedy pulled through, due to the diligent efforts of the hospital staff. He received treatment for six weeks, then spent another six weeks in isolation until he recovered. Years later, Kennedy enlisted in the Navy,

where he saw action in the South Pacific. Four years after returning to civilian life, JFK was visiting England when he suddenly took ill. He was diagnosed with Addison's disease in a London hospital. Addison's disease is a serious adrenal disorder where the body doesn't produce enough hormones

to balance metabolism, blood pressure, stress response, and the immune system. JFK's family insisted he be sent home, but his condition deteriorated severely while crossing the Atlantic, and a priest was summoned to perform last rites. But again, Kennedy managed to hold on until he arrived home, where doctors saved his life. The third time JFK was given last rights was during a trip across Asia with his brother Robert in 1951. While in Tokyo, JFK suffered a debilitating recurrence of his Addison's disease. His temperature surged to 41 degrees Celsius

or 106 degrees Fahrenheit. He became delirious, then comatose. Those around him didn't think he could possibly survive. A priest was called in to deliver last rites. But Robert Kennedy found a way to transport JFK to an American military hospital in Okinawa. The medical staff there was able to save his life, and the 34-year-old slowly convalesced

until he was well enough to travel back home. Then, in 1954, two years after being elected to the Senate, JFK had to undergo surgery to fuse his spinal discs. It was a risky operation, but there was a chance that if JFK didn't take the surgery, he might be confined to a wheelchair for life. After the operation, he developed a urinary tract infection that became so serious due to his Addison's disease,

his temperature spiked dangerously high, and he again slipped into a coma. He wasn't expected to last the night, and a priest was summoned to administer last rites for the fourth time in his life. News of his condition leaked, and a Kennedy death watch was reported by the press. But again, with the diligent help of doctors and nurses, JFK managed to pull through and spent five months recovering. He would be hospitalized nine more times before his inauguration. From Dallas, Texas, the flash, apparently official, President Kennedy died at 1 p.m. Central Standard Time. When he was shot on that fateful day in Dallas in 1963, President

Kennedy was rushed to Parkland Hospital. A local priest was called in to perform last rites for the fifth and final time. This was the one time doctors could not save him. But hospitals had performed miracles on John F. Kennedy throughout his short life. Hospitals perform miracles every single day. But in order to perform those miracles, hospitals need funding. Funding fuels research and discovery, equipment and beds. That funding is largely dependent on philanthropy. In order to persuade people to donate money,

hospitals have to do some very powerful marketing. And creating marketing that cuts through the clutter and helps a hospital stand out in an ocean of charities is a miracle unto itself. You're under the influence. Actor Danny Thomas was born in Michigan in 1912.

When he was in his 20s, he had one simple goal. He wanted to entertain people and earn enough money to provide for his wife and family. But work was hard to come by. He struggled. His circumstances became so desperate, he considered giving up on his dream. One night, in a Detroit church, Thomas knelt down and said a prayer to St. Jude, patron saint of lost causes. He said, show me the way and I'll build you a shrine. Slowly but surely, work started to materialize.

First, he was invited to appear on various radio shows. Then he was given his own radio show in 1942. That led to movie roles. Then in 1953, he landed a television show. It was originally called Make Room for Daddy, but was later changed to The Danny Thomas Show. It was a top ten program for 11 years. He became one of the biggest stars

in Hollywood. When his success peaked, it was time to keep his promise. He wanted to build a hospital to help children. He wanted it to be a place where parents didn't have to pay for travel, accommodation, or medical treatment, regardless of race, creed, or economic status.

But when Thomas and his wife began crisscrossing the country to fundraise, he was told over and over again that he was taking on a project that was just too big. He was asking for too much money. He was told it was an impossible dream. They said it couldn't be done. They said that it was a task which would break my heart. Eleven years later, on February 4th, 1962, the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital opened its doors in Memphis, Tennessee. We're going to begin with leukemia, and by God's grace, after defeating it, go on to other diseases. Thomas recruited fellow Hollywood celebrities like Bob Hope to use their star power in fundraising commercials.

Because building the hospital was just the beginning, he had to find a way to fund the facility's annual operation. Over its 60 year history, the star shaped St. Jude Hospital would make great strides in beating

childhood cancer. In the 1960s, their survival rate for children with cancer was just 20%. Today, it's over 80. Danny Thomas famously said that, To this day, the marketing campaign has continued to attract stars who champion that mission. From Jennifer Aniston... At St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, we're battling for kids who aren't as healthy as yours.

To Sofia Vergara... Our research has changed how the world treats leukemia, brain tumors, and sickle cell disease. To Jimmy Kimmel... Thanks to you, St. Jude is leading how the world treats and defeats childhood cancer. To the late Robin Williams. 85 cents of every dollar received at St. Jude goes to support research and...

Danny Thomas' daughter, Marlo, keeps the fundraising flames burning as it costs over $3 million a day to keep the hospital functioning. In 2021, a very difficult year for fundraising due to the pandemic, St. Jude raised $2 billion, a first for a single mission charity. Raising money is so vital, the hospital has a dedicated fundraising staff of over 1,000 people, rivaling the medical staff of 1,500.

Eighty-seven percent of donations come from individuals, not corporations. Using a mission to end childhood cancer combined with star power, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital continues to fulfill Danny Thomas' promise. There is a hospital across the border called New York Presbyterian. Founded in 1868, its presence was getting lost in a sea of competitors.

New York Presbyterian not only needed to differentiate itself, it needed to reach a new target audience, namely women 35 to 64, with an average household income of at least $100,000. Those women either didn't notice health care advertising or were skeptical of it. And this is the toughest part. Philanthropy has become a very crowded space. There are thousands of charities people can donate to.

So New York Presbyterian came up with a strategy. They felt the best way to reach their target audience was to demonstrate how much patients valued their experience with the hospital staff. And the best way to do that was to let the patients tell their own stories. So a campaign was created called Amazing Things Are Happening Here. The star of one of the commercials was a nine-year-old girl named Heather. She had a baseball-sized malignant tumor lodged among her major organs. But every hospital she went to refused to tackle the complicated operation.

Then she walked through the doors of New York Presbyterian. We went to all these hospitals. They just told us to go to different places. Then we finally found the one place, New York Presbyterian. So we went to the doctor and Dr. Cato said that he is going to try to do the surgery. He took all my organs out and put the ones that I needed back in. And I was better. And I was just so happy to be better.

The operation Heather is talking about took 23 hours. The doctor temporarily removed six major organs from her body in order to extract the tumor. That kind of storytelling is hard to ignore. Another amazing story featured a woman named Nicole. I'm not supposed to be sitting here talking to you. I'm supposed to be probably, I don't know where I would be. I'd probably be six feet under. Nicole fell six stories into an alley. She broke her neck, back, and pelvis.

She wasn't found until the next day. The doctors at New York Presbyterian and the nurses at New York Presbyterian, I don't know, they looked at me and saw something. They didn't look at me and say, oh, she's done with. I guess folks might think that this is just a job for them, but if it's a job, then you could have fooled me, because they go above and beyond the call of duty. I mean, I can't believe my heart's still beating.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, they really did put Humpty Dumpty back together again. And I thank my lucky stars for New York Presbyterian. Amazing Things Are Happening Here was a very powerful campaign. The response was powerful, too. Before the campaign, awareness of New York Presbyterian's brand hovered around 11%, compared to other hospitals that had scores of 20%. After this campaign, awareness more than doubled to 24%.

Telephone inquiries increased by 25%. Website visits shot up 40%. The response was driven by the unscripted honesty of the stories. They stood out because the hospital eliminated the hype and hyperbole

that surrounds most advertising. Don't go away. We'll be right back. Mount Sinai Hospital is directly across the street from Sick Children's Hospital in Toronto, on Hospital Row on University Avenue. What many don't know is that there is an underground tunnel that connects the two facilities. The marketing team at Sick Children's Hospital, known as Sick Kids,

thought the tunnel offered an interesting story opportunity. In a first-of-its-kind collaboration, Sick Kids and Mount Sinai partnered on a video. The premise was based on a universal truth that during holidays and special occasions, patients feel especially lonely. Children miss their family, and older patients miss their friends

or may have even outlived their friends. It's a difficult time. Shooting the video was a complex project as it starred real patients and real staff and had to work around the schedules of two working hospitals. The video begins with a 12-year-old patient named Stephanie in her hospital room at Sick Kids looking out the window. Across the street is Mount Sinai. Stephanie waves, and an elderly woman in her hospital room

across the street waves back. It's their daily routine. They don't know each other. They just meet at their windows every day. We see Stephanie being wheeled down a hall going through tests, looking worried. Later, we see her in a hospital playroom with other kids, drawing and creating valentines for Valentine's Day.

Then, Stephanie gets an idea. She draws a map of the two hospitals and the tunnel that connects them. She shows her plan to her doctor and nurses, then recruits other kids to draw special hearts and valentines. The next day, she watches out her window as her elderly friend is wheeled out of her room to go for tests. That's the cue for Stephanie and her friends to move.

We see them excitedly running to the elevator with their little backpacks, then running through the tunnel, IV poles in hand. In the next scene, the elderly patient is brought back to her room, and she can't believe what she sees.

It's filled with construction paper hearts, hearts stuck to the walls, hearts dangling from the ceiling, and one big heart signed by all the kids. When she looks out her window, seven kids are waving to her from their window across the street. Words on the screen appear that say,

Share some love this Valentine's Day. Donate at sharesomelove.ca words on the screen appear that say, Share some love this Valentine's Day. Donate at sharesomelove.ca Best part, all the donations during the month of February were shared equally between Mount Sinai and Sick Children's Hospital. There is so much powerful hospital marketing happening these days. But there is one special place that is breaking new ground. A hospital that is inspiring other hospitals. And that is Sick Children's Hospital in Toronto. Sick Kids was founded in 1875.

Like all older hospitals, Sick Kids is in need of a total transformation. To achieve that, the hospital has a massive goal. It needs to raise $1.5 billion. It was to be the largest fundraising program in Canadian health care history. Think about that for a moment. If a for-profit company needed to generate $1.5 billion, imagine what a huge undertaking that would require. Add to that the fact the hospital wasn't a for-profit business.

It didn't sell anything. It didn't manufacture widgets. To achieve that goal, the hospital needed to attract younger donors because this mission was going to take years. They also needed to attract more male donors, as the current donor pool was made up mostly of women aged 45+. So the Sick Kids marketing team sat in a room

with their advertising agency, Cosette, to hash out a new strategy. They knew they couldn't achieve transformational growth with the same old story. They stayed in that room for four straight days. But out of that room, a radical new strategy emerged. The breakthrough came from two key insights. First, most medical institutions use pity and empathy as the leverage points in their marketing. It's an understandable strategy, spawning a category called sadvertising. But SickKids needed to shatter perceptions.

It needed a completely unexpected strategy if it had any chance of hitting that fundraising goal. The second insight was this. SickKids was one of the top three pediatric hospitals in North America. It had discovered the gene responsible for cystic fibrosis. It performed the first successful cardiac surgery on a baby in utero. And it developed a new approach to early cancer detection in high-risk patients that is now being used globally.

In other words, SickKids was a winner, a category leader, an innovator, a risk-taker. All of which led to the following strategy. Position SickKids not as a charity, but as a performance brand, like Nike. The theme that came out of this strategy was dubbed Sick Kids Versus, The Greatest Challenges in Child Health. The first two-minute film Cosette created to launch the Sick Kids Versus campaign

was unlike any hospital advertising you've ever seen. It showed children suffering from cancer and children with artificial limbs and children being prepped for surgery. But instead of looking for empathy, these children looked like they were getting ready for a fight. Words on the screen said, sick isn't weak. Sick fights back. The children on the screen were putting war paint on their cheeks. There was imagery of soldiers and knights ready to do battle. There were moments with children wearing boxing gloves and capes.

As the powerful imagery flashes before your eyes, words appeared on the screen. It said, sick kids versus kidney failure and sick kids versus cystic fibrosis and versus autism and cancer and infant mortality. The film showed children going through difficult procedures. It showed distraught parents.

It showed bravery and triumph. The very last moment in the film shows a child standing in front of a live tiger. The child roars. The words on the screen? Fundthefight.ca You must watch this film. It's titled Sick Kids vs. Undeniable. It's on YouTube.

When the ad agency presented this film to the Sick Kids stakeholders, they held their breath. When the film ended, there was complete silence. Then cheers erupted through the room. This campaign didn't just set the tone. It blazed a path to that big, hairy goal

of $1.5 billion. It asked people to join the fight, to join a winning team. It was so bold, such a disruptor in the category, that it jolted people off the sidelines and has elicited a 29% increase in donations versus the previous 1-2% annual increase in 2016. In 2021, SickKids reached the 1.1 million donor mark. That's not 1.1 million dollars. That's 1.1 million donors, doubling the previous number. And those donors have given over 1.3 billion dollars. The Sick Kids

Versus campaign is such a rich and deep platform, it has led to countless iterations. It not only fuels a record number of donations, it emboldens the children. Kids who had been ashamed of their illness stood tall.

The campaign put them on a pedestal. It celebrated their resilience, stood tall. The campaign put them on a pedestal. It celebrated their resilience, their bravery. It gave them a fighting spirit. Some families even got tattoos that said things like Sick Kids vs. Sam's Cancer or vs. Laura's Cystic Fibrosis. The huge target of $1.5 billion, that monumental challenge, that moonshot, is now just months away. The impact of that campaign has been undeniable. We undeniable.

Hospital advertising is a low-interest category. Like all health organizations, hospitals sell something nobody wants, but everybody needs. It's an incredibly difficult marketing challenge. The fundraising ask has to appeal to people who are not shopping for hospitals or in need of one. And there are thousands of charities asking for donations at any given time. has to appeal to people who are not shopping for hospitals or in need of one. And there are thousands of charities asking for donations at any given time. With that as a starting point, it must seem like an insurmountable mission to raise money.

But look at what these remarkable organizations are doing and the success they are having. When you hear the prayer Danny Thomas made and the promise he kept, it reminds you how one person can make such a difference in this world. New York Presbyterian Hospital took an age-old strategy of testimonials and redefined the genre with such compelling stories that you were in awe of the lengths their staff is willing to go for their patients.

And Sick Children's Hospital threw away the playbook and dared to tell the world they were a major kick-ass brand. They didn't just win donors. They won fans. And in this day and age, that's a miracle for any brand

when you're under the influence. I'm Terry O'Reilly. And in this day and age, that's a miracle for any brand. When you're under the influence. I'm Terry O'Reilly. This episode was recorded in the Terrastream Mobile Recording Studio. Producer, Debbie O'Reilly. Sound Engineer, Jeff Devine. Research, Susan Kendall. Theme music by Ari Posner and Ian Lefevre.

If you're enjoying this episode, you might also like Cause Marketing, Season 3, Episode 3. You'll find it in our archives wherever you listen to your podcasts. Follow me on Twitter and Instagram at Terry O Influence. See you next week. Fun fact. Right now, there are over 170,000 charities in Canada.