With mounting uncertainty about the safety of healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic, central Arkansas’s largest and most respected healthcare providers came together, as wave one of the pandemic began to subside, with a joint message to Arkansans: “It is time to come back and take care of your ongoing healthcare needs.” The community answered our campaign as regular patient patterns began to be reestablished.
In an unprecedented campaign, Central Arkansas’s healthcare leaders put aside their competitive pursuits of market share and spoke with one voice. Stone Ward was called on to deliver their message and did so as a pro bono effort. Together, we created a strategy for a multi-media campaign to address the fears consumers had regarding returning to healthcare clinics or hospitals after COVID-19 and answer what research told us was the looming question, “Is it safe to receive healthcare?”
Research told us that over 72% of consumers used the internet for health information, even more during the pandemic. We themed our PSA campaign “Take Care Arkansas” utilizing internet search elements throughout the campaign that our audience would immediately recognize.
Campaign Playbook
Our media approach utilized television, outdoor advertising, public relations, social media and digital assets – all designed to grab the attention of our audience and provide answers to the most searched healthcare questions in a format they recognized. The clean, bold and informative look of our creative assets effectively stood out from typical television commercials, cluttered social media feeds and busy roadways.
The campaign was effective in that all healthcare organizations saw significant increases in patient activities from elective surgeries, to specialists and child wellness check-ins and vaccinations.
