The Christ Hospital

For more than a decade, Christ Hospital was the region’s most preferred hospital. So how do you tell a story about clinical excellence without sounding like every other hospital? You give people a reason to believe in something they can't see. A little like a fairy tale.

Long Live You.

Long Live You wasn't just about living longer. It was about more life in your life.

I brought this idea to life with a little imagination and unexpected visuals of people doing ordinary things in extraordinary ways. A piggyback ride isn't a big deal, unless you're 85. Reading your way through a huge library. Swimming laps at 94. These were little moments that said something much bigger about what better health makes possible.

Happily ever after was really about what comes after. After surgery. After an illness. After the hospital. The campaign celebrated the lives waiting on the other side, with :30 television spots and long-form, documentary-style digital stories featuring patients and their stories of recovery and possibility.

The campaign was selected as the winner by both the hospital marketing team and our team. We were moving toward production when the hospitals higher-ups decided not to move forward with it.

The concern? The campaign made Christ Hospital look like a geriatric hospital.

Even with children and middle-aged parents featured in other executions, that perception had taken hold.

And there's the power of advertising. You can build an entire campaign around an idea, but sometimes one impression becomes the idea people remember. It's a reminder that what we put into people's heads matters. Because once a perception takes hold, it's not always easy to change.