Being the go-getters that we are at BG, we never shy away from a challenge. So when San Diego Hospice and the Institute for Palliative Medicine (SDHIPM for short) approached us to help them with an integrated local outreach campaign, we jumped at the chance not only to help an incredible organization, but also to learn about an industry that none of us had much experience with.

Despite being far and away the leader in non-profit hospice care and palliative medicine in CA, SDH faced numerous challenges in attracting people to its service:

• Public sensitivity about the very topic of hospice
• Widespread misconceptions (that even we ourselves held) of hospices as somber places where terminally-ill people go to give up and die
• Increasingly aggressive competition from for-profit hospice providers in the local market
• Niche target audience

Our reeducation began almost from day 1, when we paid a site visit to SDHIPM’s Hillcrest care facility. With Melissa De La Calzada, Associate Director of Marketing and Communications, as our capable guide, we learned so much about the benefits of what SDH actually provides, and the truly inspiring stories that result. We came to understand that far from being the “death-house” that people tend to imagine, hospice is not a place, but a philosophy that focuses on alleviating physical, spiritual and mental pain, to allow people to live life to the fullest.

With this fundamental understanding, we set to work developing a strategy for reaching our target audience of both the terminally-ill and the people (typically family and friends) who are caring for them. Recognizing the sensitivity of our topic, BG’s creative team came through beautifully, with the simple, yet warm “It’s Time” campaign, that conveyed the compassion, understanding and most importantly, support that SDHIPM offers to caregivers as well as those in need of care. The message played out over an integrated, locally-focused media plan encompassing behaviorally-targeted online advertising, email outreach, custom landing pages, and even Twitter, Facebook and their very own blog, that would maximize coverage, but also minimize the exposure of our message to people outside of our target market. Below are some examples of the creative:

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Thus, the end result of countless hours of research, consideration and careful honing of creative is a campaign that is making a tangible impact on SDHIPM’s patient intake, not to mention a powerful learning experience for all of us in a new industry that few advertisers would think to take on.