The "Brand" New NHS

In stumbling upon an article published back in June about brand perception in the NHS we thought it was extremely topical especially in light of last weekend’s Government cut protests. Many were out in force chanting and waving placards adverse to NHS cuts and reforms amongst other issues.

Images such as this one of a lady in the crowd, who is obviously worried about reforms affecting the ability of our health service to proficiently function, were very poignant.

Results in the article in Marketing Week ‘Why brand perception is important – especially for the NHS’ reported that sadly satisfaction with the NHS has fallen from 70% in 2010 to just 58%. This can have major impacts on how people actually experience their NHS.

Working with both public and private sector bodies over the years we have found that if a brand is recognised with positive connotations then it usually has a knock on effect to the way they actually experience its services.

This creates an interesting situation when it comes to the brand identity of individual CCGs. As a growing number of CCGs are receiving authorisation it is vital that their communities get behind them and support them. The CCG boards primarily need to be respected, trusted and above all satisfy people’s needs.

Small changes such as positive interaction with the public through campaigns, easy to use and maintain websites or consistent messages to the public through PR, social media and printed material can make all the difference. Having done this for many NHS clients, as well as even helping to manage some internal communications to ensure consistency, has definitely seen positive outcomes. A brand is more than a visual matter. It is judged on all kind of factors, not least by behaviour and finding creative and powerful ways to engage and interact with your customers.

A great example of interaction between the public and their health service is when we worked on the behalf of NHS Hull to create the campaign 'Blokes Jokes'.

This was a project aimed to reach men aged 45 and over living in areas of deprivation, who on the whole, rarely discuss health issues or seek medical advice possibly because of the aforementioned reasons. After extensive research we came up with the idea ‘Blokes Jokes’ using two local comedians who wrote and performed materials that were entertaining and, most importantly, communicated serious health messages in a fun, informal way. Taking this approach on the road and performing it in different venues across Hull ensured the campaign messages received over 90% audience recall following the events and even saw clear evidence of changing behaviours.

This is but one example of “brand NHS Hull” taking bold steps to push boundaries and challenge convention.

Now, we’re not talking about total reconstruction surgery but, we believe as CCGs come into being, maybe a few minor procedures could make all the difference in getting the public onside.

 

Time to Change?

Our recent CCG Communications Tweets about eskimosoup’s latest award nominations got us thinking…

We thought we would give you a little run down of why we (and hopefully the judging panel) think our Time to Change Hull campaign with NHS Hull is one of the front-runners to get the gong for Best Website at this year’s Association for Healthcare Communications and Marketing Awards.

www.1in4ofus.co.uk is an interactive website that acts as a central hub in this social marketing campaign aimed at increasing awareness and reducing stigmas around mental health in the city. The campaign has been running since May 2012 and is set to continue until March 2013. It is part of an integrated project of PR, events, signage advertising and print distribution and it is this central website which is used to provide further information or signpost visitors to relevant services and support groups. Additionally the channels of promotion through social media in particular enable the website to become an interactive promotional tool as well as a source of information. This has been a huge success so far with the site receiving 600 unique visitors per month – a figure which is set to increase as the campaign ramps up. 

Top 10 Features

Identity – The domain name www.1in4ofus.co.uk is simple and represents the inclusive nature of the tool, i.e. 1 in 4 of us will experience mental health problems rather than “them” or “people”. 

Look and Feel – The website design is easily recognised and is very bright, positive and has touches of humour. 

Misdirection – Using four different people in a range of situations helps to show mental health can affect everyone but by using a misdirection method whereby many users would incorrectly assume it is “crazy looking” Billy who suffers from mental health problems it makes people think and challenges assumptions. This is an approach we have received overwhelming support for in focus groups. 

 

 

1 in 4 representations – This being a local campaign we wanted to ensure that people in the city would get behind the campaign and appreciate the scale of the issue. Using easily recognisable scenarios such as “a lift carrying EIGHT people. TWO might need to talk” gets the point across but applying the formula to more familiar things such as the capacity of the KC Stadium (Hull City’s football ground) ensures the campaign hits closer to home.

Social Media Integration – A unique feature of the site is applying the 1 in 4 message to social media. For every Facebook, Twitter or YouTube follower the campaign receives we have used a formula to divide them by four to reinforce the key awareness message.

The BIG Picture – In order to help promote the viral nature of the website we developed an application that enables users to interact with the campaign and upload their own photos to become part of the 1 in 4 representations. For Facebook users this can be done automatically which would take a very long winded explanation of how we have done it but, to be brief, let’s just say it is very clever!

Multimedia Content – The website also hosts videos to support the campaign many of which have been locally produced and feature people from Hull discussing the issue – many with humorous yet poignant content throughout.

Activities and Events – Using yet more specialist techniques the website has been fully integrated with the Google Map system in a super slick module that not only shows upcoming events but locates where they are for you. This is a key part of campaign interaction.

Recognising Campaign Partners and Support Services – The campaign has gained the support of key public, private and voluntary sector organisations. These are recognised in a rotating footer on our website as well as provide links to many of the leading local and national organisations within the field of mental health. Targeting employers is another key part of the campaign and as such we have included a section called “Your Organisation” that offers practical advice for both employers and employees and shows how they can get involved.

Photo Gallery – Within the campaign there is a lot of community activity so we have, therefore, included a gallery to which event photography or campaign resources are uploaded.

Please feel free to have a play around with all the many fun and informative functions of the website at: www.1in4ofus.co.uk. We are very proud of it and we hope you like it too!

Throat cancer campaign wins award

The NHS is always looking for new ways to tackle behavioural change amongst patients so when eskimosoup were asked to deliver a campaign aimed at catching treatable stages of throat cancer we knew we had to be innovative. 

So striking and effective was the campaign (our role was one of several key partners delivering the work) that it has just won a national award for its ability to increase awareness of the signs of Laryngeal cancer and encourage those with symptoms to seek medical advice. 

The ‘Throat wrecked? Get it checked’ message and its striking visuals was a powerful way to communicate the message that a croaky or changing voice for three weeks or more could be a symptom of a life-threatening tumour. The campaign was commissioned by the North East Yorkshire and Humber Clinical Alliance (NEYHCA), and targeted wards with the highest incidence of throat cancer and in particular targeted men aged over 50 and their key influencers through a range of media and techniques to catch the attention of a hard-to-reach target audience. 

Launch events at a number of local football stadiums as part of pre-match entertainment was an ideal way to directly speak to the age group and gender concerned as well as raising general awareness. Hard-hitting and memorable posters displaying large images of a toad’s mouth onto a human face as well as radio advertising, social media marketing, leaflet distribution and a dedicated website were also used to spread the message and achieve behaviour change. 

Winning first prize for the Consumer and Partnership award at the National Cancer Intelligence Network Conference saw the campaign beating more than 100 other entries. More importantly the campaign worked and evaluation shows that the right people have as a result of the campaign visited their GP and become more proactive when it comes to looking after their own health or that of their family and friends.