Beyond Awareness: Extending the Brand for Growth
Children’s Hospital Colorado is using a new brand campaign to solve an unusual marketing challenge: How do you become top of mind with families who may live hundreds of miles away and may not need you until something changes in an instant?
// By Susan Dubuque //
Children’s Hospital Colorado has the kind of brand recognition most marketers would envy. Within Colorado, aided brand awareness stands at nearly 100 percent, and the health system holds more than 70 percent market share. Move beyond the state line, however, and the picture changes.
Children’s Colorado is the only top 10 children’s hospital within a 1,000-mile radius. Yet research conducted as the organization prepared for a new brand campaign revealed that many parents in the seven neighboring Mountain West states had never heard of it. That finding gave the campaign a clear purpose: Build familiarity with the organization long before a family has reason to search for specialized pediatric care.
Nicole Hebert, brand and creative director, Children’s Hospital Colorado
“Regional growth is our primary marketing objective,” explains Nicole Hebert, brand and creative director at Children’s Colorado. “We want to make sure families know that when a child needs highly specialized or complex care, there is a top 10, world-class pediatric hospital right in their own region.”
The resulting campaign, “Made for the Moments that Change Everything,” uses emotional storytelling and a predominantly digital media strategy to extend the brand across a sprawling regional market, positioning awareness as an important first step toward access.
Continue reading for important lessons on expanding your brand’s reach, aligning brand and digital around the patient journey, and creating a platform with staying power.