As a regional health system serving Atlanta, which has a significant population of Black women, Wellstar recognized an opportunity to better reach and serve Black mothers in the community.
The healthcare industry is undergoing rapid changes; the consumerization of healthcare in the U.S. has been widely reported as non-traditional healthcare providers (retailers) rise to meet evolving consumer demands around convenience and control to take a slice of the $4.3 trillion U.S. healthcare pie, while traditional providers fall short.
As such, in response to the changing landscape, Wellstar, a regional health system based in Atlanta, Georgia, touts "PeopleCare" as its key brand differentiator. To improve top-of-mind awareness and consideration across its Access lines of service (i.e., Primary Care and Women's Health), the emphasis focused on putting the patient in control, increasing perception of ease, convenience and expertise.
Wellstar's objective is to improve top of mind awareness and consideration across its Access lines of service (Primary Care, Women's Health), as well as increasing perception of ease, convenience and expertise among its primary target audience — mothers.
The impetus of this initiative started with insight and research that showed the complexities of the U.S. healthcare system leave consumers frustrated by a lack of agency over their healthcare. This is the case among Black adults, as only 36 percent find medical professionals a credible source for health; this is especially true for Black women — a significant portion of Atlanta's population — who are significantly less likely to turn to medical professionals for health/wellness information (only 32 percent versus 48 percent of total women and 53 percent of white women, as surveyed by Mintel).
Instead, Black women lean on recommendations from family and peers as a trusted source to navigate this landscape.
Wellstar's primary target audience were mothers between the ages of 25 to 54 in Atlanta, GA with children younger than 18 in their household. This specific campaign had a secondary focus on Black women given they make up a significant portion of the Atlanta population.
Wellstar spoke sincerely to its target audience through the channels they were already frequenting. Wellstar also partnered with the publication Scary Mommy (which has nine million unique monthly visitors) to create and design a program with motherhood-focused, health-centric content.
As part of the branded content program, Wellstar partnered with local Atlanta-based "mom-fluencer" Lakeishea Drayton-Sharpe with a following of 63,700 on Instagram to be able to spotlight a relevant Wellstar patient story by allowing her to share her own experience of Wellstar's PeopleCare commitment.
Aligning with Women's Health Month in May, the company partnered with Wellstar physicians to ensure that all content was informative and addressed patient needs.
This effort was broadcast through a multi-format approach, including on-site and on-social content, to engage and educate the audience of Atlanta moms. As the campaign progressed, paid amplification was shifted in support of the pieces of content that fostered the most consumer engagement.
Moreover, Wellstar created four bespoke pieces of content across multiple formats, including on-site and on-social, using a mix of native articles and Instagram formats that were distributed across influencer and Scary Mommy owned channels (website, social handles) in collaboration with Wellstar.
The entirety of the campaign's budget was allocated to digital channels (cross-device), as that is where research has shown the target audience spends the majority of their time spent with media. Additional research shows women are more likely to turn to social media for healthcare advice, which further validated our focus in this area.
A branded content article written by a Scary Mommy journalist ("6 Things to Keep in Mind When Looking for a Healthcare Provider for Your Child") to establish Wellstar as the ultimate authority for all healthcare needs.
Further, Lakeishea shared her experience of Wellstar being a source of security and comfort when it comes to her family's healthcare needs. Lakeishea shared how she was personally making positive changes for her and her family's healthcare through Wellstar's PeopleCare initiative, inspiring her followers to navigate motherhood and celebrate life, shared via her social handle @by_lakeisha. Lakeishea's Reel was also redistributed and geotargeted via Scary Mommy's IG handle, to its 2.6 million Instagram followers, enabling Wellstar to extend its reach even further.
Based on the insight that women don't often know what types of check-ups (e.g., a mammogram) to start getting as they age, Wellstar created a highly visual, easily digestible, custom-designed story format to educate Scary Mommy readers on how to stay up to date with their checkups, keeping Wellstar in mind to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Across the campaign, Wellstar achieved 289,000 media impressions and 537,000 page views on articles. All custom content surpassed Scary Mommy's engagement rate benchmarks; for instance, three of the four pieces of content over-delivering on views versus planned. Each content format successfully delivered against the primary KPI of awareness, organically reaching Wellstar's target audience both on-site and on-social using a multi-format approach.
The Scary Mommy native article achieved 5.16 times more the social engagement rate benchmark, and the native article featuring Lakeishea achieved 11.48 times more the social engagement rate benchmark. The Scary Mommy Card story and Instagram Reel resulted in 5.67 times higher and 1.43 times higher engagement rate benchmarks, respectively.
A marked increase in purchase intent and recommendation intent from the brand lift study demonstrated increased likelihood of visiting Wellstar among the target audience.
Exposed audiences expressed stronger agreement across nearly all brand statements, notably in "demonstrating empathy and compassion," "giving reassurance," "quick and easy to get the care patients need," and "gives me confidence in my long-term health and wellness."
