Turning a Tight Budget + Low Brand Awareness Into Health Care Marketing Success

Peter Hochstein

“As the health sciences have advanced, pressure to see more patients in less time has also grown. Little wonder that doctor-patient relationships often seem less personal—and consequently less satisfying—than they once were,” notes veteran copywriter and regular SHCM columnist Peter Hochstein.

“It was just this kind of society-wide malaise that provided a branding opportunity for Atrius Health, a nonprofit independent group practice that resulted from a 2004 merger of four differently named group practices. As of last August, Atrius had 28 different locations in the Greater Boston area, serving a total of 675,000 adult and pediatric patients,” he says.

While research indicated that Atrius patients had high awareness of the practice’s brand name, “they really didn’t understand what it stood for, didn’t know whether this was an organization that came in and took over their group … or what Atrius was about,” says Marci Sindell, Chief Strategy Officer and Senior Vice President of External Affairs at Atrius.

Awareness among non-patients was much lower, Sindell adds, while even many Atrius employees had fuzzy impressions of their employer. “There was some perception that Atrius was just the back office, and didn’t incorporate everyone” [who worked there], she says.

Marci Sindell, Chief Strategy Officer and Senior Vice President of External Affairs at Atrius Health

How to solve this problem? Enter CXO Communication, a Boston branding firm, which conducted market research and created a simple yet compelling tag line: “Care. About You.”

Next, Hochstein says, Proverb, a Boston advertising agency, was brought in to expand the line into an advertising campaign.

Thanks to the research, “We started our assignment with a real wind to our backs,” says Daren Bascome, Managing Director of Proverb. His brief was clear: “Highlight the advantages of Atrius and explain why they’re better and different.”

The successful campaign that followed did just that. For all the details, including the key role played by public radio, read the full story now: A Group Practice Branding Effort Builds Awareness by Addressing Its Audience Personally.

Best regards,
Matt Humphrey
President