When it became safe to resume elective surgeries after the surge of COVID-19 patients, Atlanta-based Resurgens Orthopaedics developed a marketing campaign to gear back up to full business levels.
Miranda Madar, chief marketing officer, spearheaded efforts for its "Keep Reaching" campaign that aimed to thank the community and individuals who never stopped working. The integrated campaign included broadcast and cable TV, online, streaming radio and social media efforts.
Here, Ms. Madar discusses how she developed the campaign and why it's important to keep communicating with the community.
Question: What is the story behind this campaign? What inspired you to create it and what were the important elements of making it all come together?
Miranda Madar: This is our first campaign since COVID-19 changed everything, and we wanted to begin with gratitude and say thank you to our communities and to the essential workers, including our own staff and physicians, for the work they never stopped doing.
As an essential business, Resurgens Orthopaedics remained open and committed to providing care to our patients in a safe environment. Like other companies, we implemented stringent new protocols to ensure the safety of our staff and patients, as well as to ensure the long-term success of the company.
Everyone has such a critical role to play as we try to get through this tumultuous time, and the strain and stress of these past few months can take a physical toll on the body. We know people will likely have increased pain, stiff backs, muscle aches and strains no matter what their personal situation, and yet we have witnessed incredible resilience across so many groups and we wanted to encourage this positive spirit.
We also wanted to remind our patients and potential patients that we are still here and available for their medical needs and that, while things may look different now, Resurgens Orthopaedics remains a trusted part of their community.
It is still a scary time and people need to know about our enhanced screening protocols and safety measures that are in place to protect all of us. They also need to know about the flexibility available to them, including telemedicine and easy appointment scheduling.
Reach for More has always been an authentic mission for this company as we help people to get back to doing what they love. Our new 'Keep Reaching' campaign is a natural evolution of this message.
Q: What is your strategy for launching the campaign across several different mediums? What percentage of views do you anticipate will be online vs. on TV vs. on radio? Why did you send it to so many different outlets?
MM: This is an integrated campaign with campaign elements tailored across multiple platforms designed to reach our diverse audience wherever they consume media. With more people at home under 'shelter-in-place' orders or summer breaks, television and online channels will likely get more attention as people seek out more content to spend their time with.
Q: What are the top goals of this campaign in addition to recognizing front line workers who have been working tirelessly during the pandemic? How are you measuring the success of this campaign?
MM: The 'Keep Reaching' campaign is inherently awareness and brand-driven. We are not highlighting the specific services we offer as much as we are highlighting who we are and what is important to us. We wanted to tell essential workers and everyone in the community who has risen to the occasion that we see you and we appreciate you. Resurgens has 24 locations across the Atlanta area and our doctors and staff are a trusted part of their communities. We are grateful for that trust and don't take it for granted. So, we don't measure the success of a campaign like this using data. Rather, we consider it a way of communicating our thanks and commitment to the communities we serve.
Q: How much time, effort and financial resources were invested in this campaign?
MM: The creative concept came together in a relatively short timeframe, just over a few days. We were committed to the idea of continued encouragement and gratitude and once we finalized the script, we leveraged existing footage from previous shoots and shot a few new scenes in a safe and socially distant manner — even going as far as directing via Facetime. Our production partners were a great resource and their steadfast commitment to us during this time will not be easily overlooked.