A New Jersey Hospital with a Century-Old Reputation for Delivering Babies Builds Awareness with Storks and a Cabbage Patch
by Peter Hochstein
You may think of the remote control that operates your TV as a useful device. Peter Connolly, executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Saint Peter’s Healthcare System in New Brunswick, NJ, regards it a landmine.
“Probably the most powerful tool out there is the remote control,” Connolly says, clearly respectful of the damage it can inflict on advertisers. “I’ve seen many studies that say most people watch TV with the remote control in their hands. Our commercials are designed for that.”
There’s no voice-over narration until the end of this spot for the Saint Peter’s Healthcare System Gianna Center. Viewers watch babies popping out of cabbages most of the time. An announcer merely reads aloud some of the supers. The spot provides numbers to call for information or appointments and a website URL.
He’s talking about two separate but very similar advertising campaigns, one for birthing services, another for fertility services, that hew to Catholic doctrine and avoid in vitro fertilization.