The Challenge

Make residents aware of the world-class healthcare now available on the South Shore.

In the shadows of Boston healthcare giants, well-established but disparate regional health brands came together to form the new South Shore Health healthcare system. The problem was, no one on the South Shore knew South Shore Health.

The Insight

When it comes to healthcare, reputation trumps convenience.

Our campaign needed to encourage prospective patients to reconsider their assumptions about getting care outside of Boston by making them aware of the unparalleled expertise, prestigious partnerships and next-generation technology available at South Shore Health.

SSH Marketing direct mailer.

The Ideation

We needed to drive home the message that South Shore Health lives, breathes and practices on the South Shore.

People are willing to drive farther for quality care. So the fact that South Shore Health has convenient locations all over the South Shore wasn’t compelling enough to effectively compete with the well-known, well-respected healthcare names twenty miles down the road.

By leveraging physician bios highlighting their expertise and affiliations, as well as their personal connection to the South Shore, we elevated and validated their world-class message. This included brainstorming location-specific headlines based on local landmarks and insider activities.

Original photography using real South Shore doctors and patients conveyed expertise in an authentic, believable way.

SSH Marketing billboard with a blue sky.
Man walking by SSH Marketing transit advertisement.
SSH doctor wearing scrubs viewing multiple large screens.
Doctor and young patient sitting down.

Smarter Experience

We used our insider knowledge to surround our prospect with highly targeted messaging.

We couldn’t compete with big Boston ad budgets, so we maximized our client’s spend with an insightful, hyper-local media strategy, instead. This included direct mail drops, billboards, newspaper, social ads, and ad placements at every stop along the commuter rail from the South Shore to Boston. We also launched a strategic sponsorship of a popular local shopping center’s new event space, and a local sportsplex takeover where youth teams from all over the South Shore practice and compete every weekend (think: rafter banners, coffee sleeves, even the court assignment screens were branded South Shore Health). We surrounded our prospects where they live, work and play.

Local sponsorships connected clinicians with patients in the community in an authentic way — pediatricians reading to children during story hour, a physical therapist giving an ACL prevention talk at the local sportsplex — meeting patients where they are in their lives.

People at the SSH Marketing festival on Derby Street.
Group of people at the SSH Marketing festival on Derby Street.
SSH Marketing sign hung in Starland.

The Outcome

South Shore Health became a household name in the houses that matter.

Our hyper-local focus made an immediate and measurable impact in the communities and households of the South Shore — including millions of impressions and and a 24% lift in aided brand awareness. People in downtown Boston still might not know a lot about South Shore Health, but the people South Shore Health serves now have more confidence that they're getting convenience without compromising on quality.

Dropping Some Data

After Just 6 Months

41M+

Impressions in Market

5%

Lift in Brand Favorability

24%

Lift in Aided Brand Awareness

97%

Increase in Organic Branded Impressions

162%

Increase in Searches for "South Shore Health"

22%

Increase in Overall Website Sessions