University of Maryland Medical Center wants its patients to know they are not alone.
The university and its agency of record, Trahan, Burden & Charles, launched two new television spots on Feb. 12 designed to demonstrate the personal connection the medical center strives to forge with patients.
“It?s a medical center where high touch meets high tech,” said Tom Hollerbach, president at TBC. “The center has all this great technology that makes them excellent at what they do, but they are also personally involved with all their patients.”
The spots are titled Now What and show the stories of two people dealing with the beginning of a health care decision. One shows a basketball coach experiencing symptoms of a heart attack and asking himself “So now what?,” while the other shows the reaction of awoman on her cell phone when she is told her mother has cancer. Both spots direct viewers to the UMMC Web site, where they can view stories of real-life patients? experiences at the center.
“[Medical emergencies] is a scary thing. If there is an opportunity to find out what other people?s experiences were, and it?s a positive experience that you can learn from, everyone comes out ahead,” Hollerbach said.
“The concept made sense to us,” said Alison Brown, senior vice president of Business Development at UMMC. “We knew that the patient testimonials on our Web site were one of the most frequently visited parts of our site. People are interested in hearing a real story. Linking that with a creative TV ad that helped to drive people to the Center was a great idea.”
The micro-sites feature cardiac and cancer patients speaking about their experience at UMMC. Interviews with family members as well as medical team members are also available. The TV spots will run throughout Maryland for an unspecified amount of time.
“It?s been important for the University of Maryland to be leaders of the community, how they position themselves and what they articulate,” Hollerbach said. “This aspect, which is emotional, is something new in this industry and I think that by being new and being relevant, it will be very effective.”
Contact the Agency
» TBC Public Relations
» 900 S. Wolfe St., Baltimore
» 410-347-7500
» tbc.us
