Healthcare – Case Study
Introducing a Medical Landmark
Houston, Texas
The Assignment
- A new 15-story, $575 million women’s hospital was being built by a nationally ranked, Houston-based children’s hospital to serve as one of the nation’s premier facilities for women’s, fetal and newborn health
- This hospital had a very strong brand in children’s care but was a newcomer to women’s health.
Carbonara Group’s Role
- To develop and implement a strategic multi-year PR and social media campaign to raise awareness and demand that would support the hospital’s successful entry into this new market.
- To establish the hospital and its providers as leading experts in women’s healthcare, both obstetrics and gynecology.
The Approach
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Placed a series of stories promoting the progress and features of the new hospital, leading up to the opening.
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Planned organized, publicized and staffed all PR efforts for the opening event including development of prime photo opportunities; a publicity stunt involving the landmark’s bridge; media tours and media opportunities in preparation for the first day of operations.
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After the grand opening, Carbonara Group focused on developing and pitching story ideas that would create consistent coverage of the new facility and its leading experts.
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We launched the Facebook page for the women’s hospital and developed informative blogs to be integrated as part of the highly visible children’s hospital blog.
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Over the next two-and-a-half years, tracked trends in women’s healthcare and garnered timely stories that continued to build the hospital’s local, regional and national reputation for expertise and thought leadership in women’s healthcare services.
The Results
- For the grand opening, Carbonara Group successfully secured media coverage across all major local news outlets, increasing the opportunities to raise awareness among the community’s women and educate them about the new hospital.
- Follow-on stories during the two-year thought leader campaign after opening included:
- 96 national hits, including NPR Shots Blog, Fox News, Oprah magazine,Today.com and American Baby magazine;
- 173 regional hits in print and broadcast media, including Texas Tribune, KBMT-TV Beaumont NBC 12,
- 293 local stories across all major local broadcast network affiliates and in the daily newspaper.
- In total, generated more than $1.5 million in earned media coverage over 2.5 years.
- First-year births and outpatient visits exceeded expectations, supported in part by successful PR and social media efforts.
