Humanizing Robotic Surgery Sets Michigan Facility Apart from the Competition

Back in 2008, Saginaw, Michigan-based Covenant HealthCare saw an opportunity to “own the robotic surgery market in the region,” says Larry Daly, Director of Planning and Business Development at Covenant HealthCare. The specific focus was da Vinci Surgical System robots, high-tech devices increasingly used in minimally invasive surgery.

“Our strategy was to purchase the latest model and attract the surgeons to our program—and to have them help build surgical interest in robotics,” Daly says. But how best to market the program?

Daly says an initial advertising campaign, created by Covenant’s advertising agency, Brogan and Partners of Birmingham, Michigan, helped build confidence among doctors that Covenant HealthCare was seriously committed to building a robotic center.

But the advertising breakthrough really began after the growing robotic surgical center acquired a second robot. That’s when Covenant and Brogan decided to launch a more consumer-focused campaign that would point out what patients can gain from robotic surgery.

In most advertising for robotic surgery, Daly says, “Typically what you see is surgeons with folded arms looking at you with confidence. Or you see the machine just standing there. Or you see the surgeon with his head buried” in a rigid viewing hood.

To avoid this and answer the question for consumers, “What’s in it for me?” Brogan came up with a set of images that went in an unexpected direction.

See some of the images and learn more about the campaign including media mix, budget, and results, in our new article from Peter Hochstein, Hospital Leapfrogs Competitor’s Robotic Surgery Technology, Advertising Campaigns Leverage the Differentiation and Drive Dramatic Growth.

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