Promina Health System

Until 1994, the city of Atlanta, Georgia was without a multihospital system. Then, after fourteen local hospitals and four existing health systems merged, Promina Health System was born. But the new alliance only managed to confuse consumers. They had no knowledge of why hospitals would come together and they viewed Promina, a new name in the market, as a faceless organization that had swooped in from out of town to purchase hospitals and improve their bottom line. Realizing that other health systems were soon to follow, Promina enlisted our help.

To offset the fact that the Promina name was virtually unknown in Atlanta, we focused our creative strategy on the heritage and trusted relationships that had been formed between the individual hospitals and the consumer market. Since in reality, consumers pay little attention to health systems and equate "bigger" in this sense as a synonym for "bad", we wanted the advertising to highlight what people already knew and believed about the Promina partners. We wanted to make Promina human. The campaign, which consisted of television and print ads, talked directly to the consumer needs. One headline read, "Because the strongest, sweetest songs have yet to be sung." The copy went on to explain, "Sounds like you've got a lot to stay healthy for. That's why the Atlanta area's most-trusted physicians and hospitals created the healthier approach to healthcare – Promina Health System."  We had created a way to introduce Promina in tangible terms the market could understand.

The campaign far exceeded its goals. Unaided awareness almost doubled, increasing from 9% to 17%. Aided awareness skyrocketed from 22% to 57%.  Of the three health systems in the area, Promina was the one mentioned first, and most often.  By reaching out with their warmly human advertising, Promina had successfully solidified their relationship with their consumers. And there was nothing the competition could say or do to change their position.

Produced while at First Strategic Group.