Hrv
17 Jan 2011.
media: #campaign #outdoor #print client: #Udruga Zdravo novorođenče sector: #non-profit

St Peter’s Maternity Centre

A fund raising campaign for the reconstruction of the Pathological Pregnancy Department of the St Peter’s Clinic

PROBLEM

Clinic for gynaecology and obstetrics is the biggest and the oldest institution of its kind in Croatia. It was founded in 1921 and since than it has been the leading health, professional, scientific and educational centre in the country, also highly regarded abroad.

According to the official data, of a total of 40,000 childbirths a year, as much as 8,000 pregnancies are of a high risk for both mother and child. In the Petrova Clinic as much as 5,000 babies are born without any problems. Yet, 20% of all deliveries are preceded by high-risk pregnancies which endanger both mother and baby; such cases are taken care of in the Pathological Pregnancy Department II, which is also the reference centre for the whole country. Every year, more than 1000 women from all around Croatia are continuously being taken care of at the Department.*

Pathological Pregnancy Department looks after expectant mothers who, because of possible health problems and maintenance of pregnancy, are in need of incessant supervision and care. Pregnant women are hospitalised regardless the weeks of pregnancy, and the most frequent reasons for hospitalization are: gestational diabetes, hypertension, imminent abortion, premature delivery, infections, fetal malformations, coagulation disorders and autoimmune illnesses.

With timely interventions, the professional team of doctors tries to sustain pregnancies without complications and ensure that mothers give birth to live and healthy babies. In the efforts to sustain their pregnancy, women can spend up to 7 months in the hospital under the continuous doctors’ surveillance.

Conditions in which mothers spend their hospital days undoubtedly influence the course of pregnancy as well as its final outcome.

The data received from the hospital have shown that the percentage of high-risk pregnancies is much higher than we would expect, and so is the number of women who spend their pregnancies in the hospital, under the constant doctors’ control. But the conditions in which the most renowned clinic for obstetrics in the country operates come as an even bigger shock.

The Pathological Pregnancy Department II has not been renewed since the foundation of the clinic, in the long-past 1921. The work conditions at the department are extremely poor, with minimal levels of hygiene and an extremely low quality of a prolonged hospital stay. The key deficiencies of the Pathological Pregnancy Department II are: dislocation of the toilet block (what is more, in the present circumstances more than 20 women use one toilet), lack of space and rooms and inadequate space organisation (on average, more than 10 expectant mothers “live” continuously in one room), rooms without air-conditioning (the lack of an air-conditioning system aggravates even more the present minimal hygienic conditions), run-down state and lack of the basic medical equipment (beds, tables, room dividers)**

We were faced with an especially demanding challenge to stand out in the multitude of other humanitarian actions which were happening, as we had assumed, at the same time. That is to say, in December of 2006 there were several humanitarian actions being held: the Humanitarian Action of the Ana Rukavina Trust, the central humanitarian actions of supermarket chains, such as Every kuna for one more smile, Let’s help with our hearts, Five minutes to midnight for 5+, the Christmas humanitarian action of the Croatian Caritas – For 1000 joys… The period before Christmas is the appropriate time to raise money, because it is the time when people are more aware of the importance of family gatherings, giving presents and caring for one another.

*Source – the Client

**Source UPI -2M

 

CAMPAIGN GOALS

The business goal was to raise 3,5 million HRK, given that the architectural firm had assessed that amount of money was necessary for the renovation of the Pathological Pregnancy Department II, which included improvement of the minimal hygienic and spatial conditions for the long-term hospital stay of expectant mothers and the creation of basic physical, hygienic and spatial preconditions for successful outcomes of high-risk pregnancies.

In that respect, the goals were:

–        To win support or active participation of big media companies (TV, press) which would consequently ensure the visibility of the whole action and free advertising space in the media.

–       To attract big companies (at least two) which would be recognized nationwide as active participants and donators and which would, thanks to their engagement and authority, attract other companies into the action;

–       To win free advertising space which included other media besides TV and print (outdoor, radio);

–        To attract media attention in order to contribute as much as possible to the visibility of the action, through publicity;

–        To encourage citizens to donate money.

 

 

TARGET AUDIENCE

Considering the fact that we didn’t have the budget to finance the advertising space in the media, we were well aware that the campaign could be effective only if we got free advertising space.

Partnership with the influential companies was very important to us, thus we hoped their engagement and authority would attract other companies to involve actively into the action and donate funds. We targeted also the general public because the Pathological Pregnancy Department II is the high-risk pregnancies reference centre for the whole country and as such, it indirectly involves every Croatian citizen.

Primary target group (Preparatory phase):

– Media companies (TV, print,) with the aim of ensuring free advertising space in the media;

– The leading companies which could donate financial means and owing to their engagement and authority, attract other companies to actively take part in the action and donate funds;

– Other media companies (outdoor, radio), with the aim of winning additional free advertising space;

Secondary target group (Implementation phase):

– The general public, considering the fact that the Pathological Pregnancy Department II is the high-risk pregnancies reference centre for the whole country and in such a way, it indirectly involves every Croatian citizen;

– The business public, considering the fact that they could help the action by donating significant amount of money.

 

COMMUNICATION STRATEGY

Our aim was to enter into partnership with important business subjects of the Croatian economy which could, owing to their engagement and authority, attract other companies to take part in the action. We also needed support from media companies, since we didn’t have the budget to finance the advertising space. With the partnership we were planning to obtain the following necessities, in order to ensure the success of our action:

1. A free humanitarian phone which would enable the citizens to donate money by making a phone call. It was necessary to address the company which could ensure the free humanitarian phone and in that way donate money (T-Com)

2. Free advertising space on TV and in the print media which includes free organizing of TV events (EPH, HRT). In order to communicate, we needed the traditional media channels which have the biggest influence on our secondary target group – that is why our goal were TV and print media companies. We needed a TV event because, owing to our past experience, we knew we would not be able to raise substantial funds unless we motivated the citizens to participate in the humanitarian action through interactive happening. We needed a TV event to motivate other companies with the aim of raising additional funds.

The companies’ additional motive to participate was the free visibility they would get at the event. That is why we based the concept of the TV event on an all-evening TV program, whose base was the call-centre in the studio of the big TV network through which the viewers, by dialling the humanitarian phone number, could talk with persons from the public and political life, and in such a way donate the money for the renewal of the hospital department.

Simultaneously, the program was aired with thematic guests and topics, and the humanitarian phone number was all the time shown on the screen. Free advertising space was also very important to continuously present and communicate the activities related to the campaign and to speak out about the problems of conditions in which expectant mothers with high-risk pregnancies spend their hospital days.

3. Money donations for the action – in order to raise significant donations, we searched for a strong and authoritative company which annually participates in one humanitarian action and donates significant funds to it. We were hoping we would be the ones they would recognise as their humanitarian action of the year. We turned to Zagrebačka banka (The Bank of Zagreb), because it is one of the leading banks in Croatia and we knew that company chooses one humanitarian action to sponsor every year.

To all mentioned companies we sent a direct letter, in which we explained the present condition of the Pathological Pregnancy Department in the St. Peter’s Hospital and invited them to take part in the action.

To ensure the biggest impact possible on our secondary target group, it was necessary to search for more free advertising space from the relevant radio stations and outdoor companies.

We used PR in terms of presenting and continuously communicating activities connected to the campaign and breaking silence of problems of the conditions in which high-risk pregnancies are maintained, with the aim of publicizing the action widely. We contacted famous mothers who gave birth to their children at the St. Peter’s Hospital, and who were willing to speak in public about their experience of staying in that hospital. We planned to organize press conferences along with the potential partners of the action and with their financial support.

Since we also wanted to approach young population, we felt we needed to make a web page through which the young population could learn more about the present situation in the Pathology Pregnancy Department II of the St. Peter’s Hospital.

Regarding the media strategy, we could not influence the positioning of adverts or the frequency of their publishing because we got the advertising space for free, so the media companies alone decided when and how often they would publish the adverts for the humanitarian campaign. But we were very eager to achieve the emission of the TV event in the prime-time period, because we were well aware that is the tool which could ensure us the most financial means from the citizens and the general business public.

Considering the main goal of the action, collecting of financial means and familiarizing the public with the conditions in which expectant mothers spend their hospital days at the Pathology Pregnancy Department II, it was necessary to come up with a creative solution which would motivate the public on the emotional level and have an impact strong enough to win sympathies and encourage the public to get involved in the action.

The main message of the campaign had to be catchy and emotional. What is more, it had to be applicable to all media. Since it was the question of a humanitarian action, we were not able to predict which free media channel could open in the future.

 

CREATIVE STRATEGY

In order to make the action of raising funds very recognizable to the public, it was indispensable to think out a memorable and unique name which will catch ears and become a popular catchphrase unmistakeably connected to the action. With combining the name of the hospital, well known to the public for decades, the notion of “labour of a child” and the invitation to act to help the department by “labouring” together, we came up with the name

Petrova trudionica (Peter’s labour room)

– It is an informal pun which invites us to put some joint efforts and help mothers-to-be to surmount the difficulties of pregnancies.

Every society in its essence is extremely protective towards children. That is why the basic idea of the campaign evolved from a simple statement:

The baby feels what the mother feels.

A pregnancy is a period in which lives of the mother and the child are interwoven. The child depends on the mother’s organism – through it the baby eats, gets energy, in it he or she grows. Every change in the mother’s organism automatically means a change for the baby, and every threat to the mother’s life and health is also a threat to the baby. That is why the life of a woman in the period of pregnancy is twice as precious.

What a mother represents to a baby, a hospital should represent to a mother – a secure, protected place where she will receive all care and attention she needs in those moments.

A poor state of the hospital strongly affects mothers who stay at it, and through them it also affects unborn babies. We wanted to portray this simple truth in a very plastic manner to literally show the cause-and-effect connection of the hospital-mother-baby relation. Extremely bad and run-down state of the department needed to be shown through its entire problem – it affects mothers in the same way a bad condition of a mother affects the baby in her womb.

 

RESULTS

3,900,000 HRK were raised, which surpassed the original campaign goal. There were 355,372 calls from citizens, i.e. 1,550,158,00 HRK were raised through telephone calls, with which the goal of encouraging citizens to donate money funds was fully accomplished. In the action, the leading media companies, EPH and HTV, as well as big companies such as Zagrebačka banka participated as partners. Today, the Pathology Pregnancy Department is renovated.
The campaign has won Effie Silver for marketing efficiency.

 

Bruketa&ŽinićOM / Moe Minkara, Tonka Lujanac (Creative Directors), Tonka Lujanac, Goga Golik, Ana Belić, Petar Popović (Art Directors), Ivana Pamuković (Designer), Tanja Škorić, Daniel Vuković, Ivan Čepelak, Ivan Čadež (Copywriters), Ivanka Mabić (Account Director), Marko Ostrež (DTP), Radovan Radičević (DTP), Vesna Đurašin (Production Manager)

Premisa (PR)

Healthy Newborn Association (Client)

2007/2008

Media
campaign
outdoor
print
sector
non-profit
Client
Udruga Zdravo novorođenče
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