Now to Next Takes Clients from Great to Even Better

reputation score in the region*
visits to the online experience
visitors from organic search traffic

*NRC Sep-Nov ’18 Personalized Question

Every hospital wants to earn the top accolades and tell the world that they are the best. But best is an endpoint. We wanted to illustrate how Northwestern Medicine’s excellence, innovation and access to better care come together to form a continuous pursuit towards excellence.

The Big Idea

The Better campaign showcases the leadership, innovation and patient-centric thinking that is Northwestern Medicine. This campaign highlights Northwestern Medicine as an evolving healthcare system, providing care to over 100 locations throughout the region. And to ensure that consumers from across the region can find relevant Northwestern Medicine content, we developed integrated media strategies for multiple channels including search, social, Google platforms and a redesigned user-centric health system site with optimized content that showcases all that Northwestern Medicine has to offer.

Recognizing that a patient in need of healthcare is in a highly vulnerable state and wholly reliant on hospital staff for a complex range of emotional and physical needs, the Better campaign strikes the right balance between “high tech” and “high touch”. By leveraging compelling, differentiating claims and proof points in the context of inspiring patient scenarios and stories, it bridges the rational and emotional realities of the healthcare experience and makes a promise of better outcomes. And it makes this promise credible by demonstrating that Northwestern Medicine is always curious, always pushing in its relentless quest.

As the Northwestern Medicine system grew, the need for an overarching digital strategy became evident. We developed a multi-year strategy focused on engaging consumers in their healthcare decision journey, resulting in improved visibility for Northwestern Medicine and all that it offers. To launch this digital initiative we developed a consolidated, user-centric web experience.

To extend the campaign, and cast a wide net for engagement, we improved the discoverability on content and location information. We developed a plan for a centralized database that could be updated to pull in and push out consistent, robust information and distribute this information for increased visibility and accuracy in search.

Why it Worked

In order to break down all that Northwestern Medicine does across the region, we created a 5-pillar foundation of Better – grounded in research, technology, people, reputation, and access. This presents Northwestern Medicine as an evolving, expanding, integrated academic health system, offering a patient-first experience. Bolstered by creative work that simultaneously highlights the relatable, human impact of Northwestern Medicine and their many accolades and achievements, we anchored our approach in a multi-tier digital strategy to connect with consumers no matter where they are in their healthcare journey. And by continuously monitoring key metrics – Northwestern Medicine visibility, consumer awareness, preference and actions taken – that deliver on key performance indicators and validate the approach, all of the work is able to keep getting, well, better.

The Big Idea

Why it Worked

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