City of Hope Hospital

B2C & B2B l Stronger Value Prop & Engaging Campaign Help Increase Patient Appointments ⇧ +25% YOY

Christopher Vickers Brand, Content & MarCom Team Player, Strategist, Writer, Mentor, Leader

Background

In the battle for patients, tens of millions per year in corporate and private donation, and high-performance healthcare talent, City of Hope — a world-class biomedical research, teaching hospital and treatment center for cancer, diabetes and other life-threatening diseases — was losing ground to local and national competitors.

My Role: Coach Player I was strategic lead responsible for supervising and coaching direct reports and colleagues, supporting and leading a large cross-functional team, guiding and developing research, analysis, insight and strategy, and nurturing and supervising development, production, implementation, measurement, reporting and optimization across multiple channels.

Research, Analysis & Insight

To better understand City of Hopes’ challenges we analyzed the category, competitors, customers and the Company, including its products, services, performance, key personnel and brands. 

Then we dug further, taking a classic Segmentation / Targeting / Positioning (STP) approach: Segmentation to divide the market into distinct customer groups based on demographics, psychographics and behaviors, allowing for a more accurate and thorough understanding of customer needs, perceptions and motivations; Targeting to select the most attractive segment(s) on which to focus; and Positioning to confirm the ideal product classification and craft a value proposition to maximize relevance, distinction and attraction.

Segmentation research revealed five potential segments, including: 

Kommah McDowell,

Breast Cancer Survivor

• Working-age women 35-55, diagnosed with early-onset breast or colorectal cancer

• Lower-income adults 35+, in southern California

• Older adults 65+, with multiple comorbidities 

• Pediatric, adolescent, and young adult cancer patients & survivors 

• Affluent professionals 35-65, seeking cutting-edge cancer care

Research showed key patient needs and motivations included "compassionate care” and “science and innovation” across all segments. 

But most were unaware of City of Hope’s science and innovation, including life-saving bone marrow and islet cell transplants, cancer and diabetes drug breakthroughs, clinical trial participation, new treatment protocols (e.g., CAR T cell immunotherapy) and translational research, accelerating innovative treatment from bench to bedside. 

Research also showed that, across all segments there was a strong correlation between patient consideration, donation intent, medical community (prospective employee) interest and “scientific innovation and breakthroughs” — with which City of Hope had decades of experience and expertise.

Targeting  Given the similarity between patient needs and motivations, and based on COH’s non-profit mission, budget, comprehensive service line (for dozens of different cancers and other serious illnesses) and national and international growth goals, it was determined that — rather than focus on select segments — we would integrate segmentation data and learnings into our brand strategy and service line communications. And we would use targeted media to reach all three of City of Hope’s key target audiences including: 

Dr. Yuman Fong, M.D.

Surgical Oncologist

• Patients - including their families and caregivers seeking effective, compassionate treatment and care

• Donors - including high-net-worth individuals and managers in charge of corporate and foundation giving, in key DMAs (including LA, SF, Chicago and NYC) who were motivated by results-driven scientific innovation

• Medical Community - including referring physicians, and top-tier research scientists, medical and teaching doctors, nurses and other key medical personnel (i.e. potential COH employees)

Positioning - In order to change perceptions and achieve patient enrollment, donation and employee recruitment goals, it was critical that our new campaign maintain the brands' attributes for compassionate treatment and care while elevating scientific discovery and innovation.

The creative team sought to blend the way patients ‘cured’ of cancer feel  —  "It was a miracle" — with “soul” i.e., compassionate care, and scientific innovation.

The team developed a powerful new brand positioning which doubled as its strap line: 

“The Miracle of Science with Soul”

Based on City of Hope’s differential advantage — where cutting-edge science meets deeply human care — the new brand positioning elevated City of Hope’s relevance to each audience.

Jim Murphy,

Esophageal Cancer Survivor

To ensure the new positioning resonated internally we shared it with key personnel and department heads — including the Board, the Chief Medical and Scientific Officers, and HR and Philanthropy leaders — to ensure relevance and alignment. 

Development, Production & Implementation

With approval, the creative team developed concepts for a new brand campaign. Three were copy-tested to determine the best performer based on measures including message clarity, emotional impact, persuasion, recall and brand perception. 

The strongest campaign concept blended the emotional testimonials of real City of Hope cancer survivors with the testimonials of COH research and medical doctors responsible for their diagnosis, treatment and “cure” — blending “soul” (the positive emotional patient experience) with “science” (effective medical proof). 

We developed and executed an integrated campaign employing a variety of channels including: 

• Paid Media 

• Local - including broadcast and digital video, audio, display, social and DOOH, primarily in the southern California hospital catchment

• Regional U.S. - including display to reach potential patients, donors and medical professionals via The LA Times, New York Times and Chicago Tribune, and DOOH in the DMAs near / next to competitor locations

• Owned Media - including the COH website, email and social media channels

• Earned Media - our PR team developed and implemented a targeted PR campaign, including working with publishers to supplement and complement our paid media campaign

• Content Marketing - I lead our cross-functional team through the development and implementation of a content marketing strategy focused on COH cancer survivors and their families, friends and caregivers to increase online donations. We developed and refined five personas and journey maps for each, and an annual editorial calendar. We implemented, measured and optimized our plan via the COH site, email and social media all through the Oracle marketing automation (and CRM) platform Eloqua

Dr. Stephen J. Forman, M.D. Hematologist-Oncologist

Measurement, Reporting and Optimization

In the highly competitive healthcare market of southern California, our campaign generated results across brand and business metrics, including: 

Brand Growth

• 5% Increase in Brand Awareness in southern California, a meaningful lift in a mature, saturated market

• Key brand equity growth via brand tracking studies, including: 

• 41% Increase in “Leader in the Fight Against Cancer”

• 30% Increase in “Cutting-edge Science and Research”

• 38% Increase in “Place that Saves Lives”

• 10% increase in intent to donate

Business Growth

• 25% increase in appointments

• 17% increase in outpatient appointments

• 8% increase in inpatient appointments

• 23% increase in online donations, YOY

Senior leadership — including the Board and our Chief Medical and Scientific Officers — deemed our campaign a success, attributing growth in patient acquisition, donations and employee recruitment to our efforts. 

Company City of Hope + Agencies