Best in Show, Large Hospitals: Mayo Clinic
“We planned for 4,000 and had an estimated 15,000 attend our opening event,” said Sara Lee as she spoke during the ROI roundtable panel at the 2008 HealthLeaders Media Marketing Awards. “On Friday night there were streams of people. It was like a rock concert.”
The Mayo Clinic public affairs consultant was referencing the grand opening event of the Rochester, MN, campus’ Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center-an 115,000-square-foot employee health and wellness center donated by a patient and benefactor of the same name. Even before builders broke ground on the facility, hospital marketers were constructing what would become a highly successful internal marketing campaign, which won a Best in Show award among large hospitals.
Lee says the campaign had four objectives: to keep employees engaged during the 18-month construction process, to inspire a healthier lifestyle, to generate pride and excitement, and to celebrate the grand opening. They achieved this by launching a print campaign and by promoting the center with special events.
The print campaign consisted of direct mail and magazine ads that feature Mayo employees who are striving for personal wellness goals. This message coincides with CEO Glenn Forbes’ ambition to create “the healthiest work force in America.”
“What Mayo does really well is share stories. We knew that those success stories were out there, and we wanted to tell them,” says Beth Warren, director of the Healthy Living Center. “We wanted to create a sense of, ‘Yeah, I can do it, and I can do it here at Mayo.’”
Marketers also decided to use employee testimonials to stress that fitness can be possible despite a busy work schedule. “Sometimes people may think that they’ve got so many other priorities that wellness falls to the bottom of their priorities,” says Lee. “It’s basically a way of saying you need to put yourself first. Our primary value is the needs of the patient come first, which is still very true, but you have to care for yourself before you can care for others.”
Hospital employees were also invited to take hard-hat tours of the center as it was being built and visit a Web site containing updated construction information and video testimonials of employee wellness success stories. All of this hype resulted in the expectations-exceeding grand opening event, but the campaign’s accomplishments didn’t stop there.
Since the Healthy Living Center opened, membership has increased steadily by about 150 people per week. By the end of 2007, more than 14,000 members had joined-a 40% increase from the outdated 9,000-square-foot facility’s membership.
What’s more, employees are not only joining the center, but many are very active participants. Warren says an average of 3,500 people use the facility each day.
Lee says she hopes to keep employees engaged by continuously marketing the center.
“The platform kind of shifted from the opening of a building to ongoing employee health and wellness, which slides into an employee workplace wellness program,” she says. “And the HealthyLiving Center is the hub of that activity.”
As part of this effort, membership fees are incentive-based-the more employees use the facility, the less they are charged. This tactic, in addition to continued communication, has resulted in a 200% increase in utilization.
Lee says she attributes much of the campaign’s success to employees-herself included-appreciating the administration’s efforts to improve their lifestyle.
“This [campaign] just elevated my pride and my commitment to my employer for caring about me,” she said. “It’s not just the building-it’s the programs and all the support that comes with it.”
-Marianne Aiello
