Keeping Score: How One Medical Center’s Sponsorship of a Sports Team Scored a Touchdown with Its Population Health Efforts

May 26, 2017

// By Lisa D. Ellis //

Some of the latest headlines from top academic medical centers today seem more fitting for ESPN than for a health care brand. This is thanks to the fact that a growing number of organizations are signing increasingly complex and integrated agreements with NFL, MLB, and NBA teams. Just these past few months, landmark partnerships have been announced at Henry Ford Health (Detroit Pistons), Emory (Atlanta Hawks), Baylor, Scott & White (Dallas Cowboys), and more arrangements like these are in the pipeline.

Yet in a world where marketing budgets are leaner than ever and ROI is under increasing scrutiny, this raises the question of how major medical centers and networks can justify the major marketing investments spent to align with these powerful sports teams.

The Convergence of Health Care and Sports

Jeff Sofka, founder and principal at Bendigo

Jeff Sofka, founder and principal at Bendigo

The answer is that working with sports teams can really pay off in spades if the relationship is developed correctly, according to Jeff Sofka, a marketing specialist whose agency Bendigo specializes in the “convergence of health care and sports”—with some pretty impressive scores.

Sofka explains that he has served as a senior marketing leader for both the National Football League and he has also supported marketing efforts at Hackensack University Medical Center, now part of Hackensack Meridian Health. His experiences working in both sectors have provided him with a firsthand understanding of how sports and health care can come together around common ground to ultimately benefit all parties involved.

In fact, Sofka recently had the chance to put the intersection between health care and sports teams to work for Hackensack Meridian Health to increase the health network’s commitment to furthering population health locally.

To this end, Sofka saw how sponsorship agreements with the New York Giants, New York Red Bulls, and the PGA’s Barclays Golf Tournament could help carry the ball forward in the right direction for Hackensack and could engage community members more deeply to take better care of themselves.

“While the idea of working with sports teams was not a new one for Hackensack Meridian Health, the approach was changing as health care progressed,” he says.

Mark Sparta, chief operating officer at Hackensack University Medical Center and EVP of population health for Hackensack Meridian Health

Mark Sparta, chief operating officer at Hackensack University Medical Center and EVP of population health for Hackensack Meridian Health

Mark Sparta, chief operating officer at Hackensack University Medical Center and EVP of population health for Hackensack Meridian Health, agrees with this assessment, adding that the time was right to build on the existing relationship Hackensack University Medical Center already had with the Giants.

“We had teamed up with the Giants for community health programs for years, but the new ACA landscape sparked a much bolder approach. We wanted to break new ground and actually change people’s lives,” Sparta says.

The efforts fully came together in 2014, when they found a world-class operator and opened the doors to HackensackUMC Fitness & Wellness Powered by the Giants, a 112,000-square-foot facility combining the best of a world-class fitness center, a medical arts complex, and a community center.

“We took an integrated approach between the brands and the appropriate fitness amenities and medical services,” says Michael Stevens, chief marketing officer of the Giants. “It’s the only building that has the Giants name on it except for our offices, and we trusted Hackensack and Fitness & Wellness to get it right.” The building houses fitness and medical facilities side by side. The fitness center is operated by a third-party owner, Fitness & Wellness of Maywood, LLC, while Hackensack runs the medical side, including Mammography, Physical Therapy, Corporate Health, Behavioral Health, and preventive care programs that thrive outside the hospital environment in a more community-themed setting.

Fitness Center

Building on Connections

Sofka’s agency Bendigo, which now at Hackensack Meridian Health focuses exclusively on sports marketing, has played a key role in ensuring the health network uses the new fitness facility to further its marketing objectives, as well. “Connecting our brand with the Giants and the authenticity they bring in the Center is the perfect extension of the hospital’s overall sponsorship—with our outreach to special populations, patients in recovery, and at-risk individuals who want to stay out of the hospital—was a win-win for everyone,” says Jim Blazar, Hackensack Meridian Health’s chief strategy officer. “The high-traffic location and marketing efforts promoting the facility are the best activation possible for our goals. More importantly, we are making good on our efforts to change people’s lives for the better, and building relationships beyond what traditional hospital advertising might deliver,” he adds.

Billboard

A Game Plan for Health

Sofka was able to deploy a range of assets to market the facility, including using its hospital spokesperson, legendary Giants quarterback Phil Simms, now in his 60s, who is known for his commitment to health, to lead a special “GamePlan for Health” campaign inspiring fans to stay well through fitness, immunizations, and regular checkups. Phil Simms’ positive message reinforces
the partnerships working together for the health and well-being of the community.

Phil Simms

“The Fitness & Wellness Center is the ultimate destination for folks in our primary service area to stay in shape and to connect with our doctors and preventative health programs,” Blazar points out. The program has a targeted digital and direct marketing budget, which has resulted in keeping the facility busy seven days a week. It’s not just the local fitness crowd that makes up its nearly 9,000 memberships. Also included in the group that takes advantage of the broad range of fitness programming offered at the facility is local corporate memberships, patients in oncology, diabetes, cardiac step-down programs, a host of people with chronic illnesses, as well as the physicians and employees of the hospital.

Bringing the Community Together

In addition to its role as a fitness center and a medical facility, HackensackUMC Fitness & Wellness Powered by the Giants has become an important gathering place. “The center is an accepting safe haven of activity, where everyone, despite age or physical condition, is welcome to come and enhance their quality of life.  We offer an active calendar of events catering to the entire community,” says Leslie Adelman Banks of Fitness & Wellness Professional Services, LLC. “On any given day, we may have healthy-cooking classes, biometric screenings, health fairs offering a myriad of health information, a variety of medical screenings and physical activity, holiday celebrations, or Giants players coming in to meet the kids and talk about fitness and exercise,” Banks says, adding, “We strive to better the health of the community we serve, while closely working with Hackensack Meridian Health to offer a more comprehensive wellness experience.”

In fact, the excitement generated by the Giants brand has a special effect on the youth in the area, according to Sofka. “The hospital was able to relocate the ‘Healthy Futures’ program at the center. This teaches healthy life skills to kids fighting childhood obesity. The Giants-branded environment, turf field, pools, and healthy-cooking studio makes the program fun for the kids, and helps keep their attendance up and energy high,” he says.

Making Health Care More Accessible for All

The core mission of the center is to bend the cost curve of health care to make it more accessible for all. By keeping people healthy, delivering care outside the hospital, bringing preventive care to the community, and battling chronic diseases like diabetes, Hackensack Meridian Health’s efforts are making a real difference for residents who live in the service community. The numbers speak for themselves, according to Sparta. “Our mammography screenings have increased nearly 25 percent and physical therapy visits have grown by 30 percent, simply by moving these key services out into the community where they are more accessible.  Generally speaking, folks only want to travel to the hospital when they are sick and prefer seeking non-acute services in the community where they live and work.”

And the results aren’t limited to patients in the community, but also benefit the staff as well, who are also encouraged to take advantage of the services available.

“Sometimes health care workers seem to be taking care of everyone but themselves, so we created a strong incentive program to inspire them to join and seek a healthier lifestyle,” Sparta says. “With more than 1,000 team members as members, we are seeing a healthier workforce reflected in our self-insured employee health care costs. Healthier team members are happier, more productive, and are an inspiration to their families and communities,” Sparta stresses.

An Added Benefit

As a pure sports marketing endeavor, Sofka believes the project has created the Hackensack Meridian Health’s most impactful marketing asset. “The facility is located on Route 17 in one of the most heavily trafficked areas in New Jersey, so the media value of the signage and messaging on the massive building alone would be worth millions if you had to purchase it,” he says. “But more importantly, the support of the Giants and Hackensack brands, the hundreds of members working out, and the thousands of drivers who see them through the windows as they drive by every day, along with the deep connection formed with over 9,000 paying members, makes this a dream scenario from a marketing perspective,” Sofka says.

“I work out there myself, and see thousands of folks at every age and fitness level doing the same,” he points out, adding that this is such a visual example of how marketing can pay off, both by reaching more customers and also by encouraging them to make healthy choices that will ultimately bring them many health benefits.

Helping Your Organization Get in the Game

The Hackensack/Giants success story is just one example of how teams and health care leaders are joining forces to benefit their communities on a 365-day basis. For some it may be a simple branding exercise—the naming of a practice facility, or even stadium naming rights like Children’s Mercy Park (MLS’s Sporting Kansas City) and Providence Park (MLS’s Portland Timbers). The future is likely to include more integrated programs that blend health care like Orthopedics and PT with sports teams to ensure the partnerships are driving higher volumes and margins than branding alone would accomplish.

Lisa D. Ellis is the editor of Strategic Health Care Marketing. She is a journalist and content development specialist who helps hospitals and other health care providers and organizations shape strategic messages and communicate them to their target audiences. You can reach her at editor@strategicHCmarketing.com.