Transform Advertising

When I sat down to write this, I felt like I was reviewing a feature film. Because “Transforming Healthcare,” the new ad campaign from Mayo Clinic, has all the polish and post-production eye popping effects of a Hollywood thriller. I expected Brad Pitt to appear in surgical scrubs. And for that, I would have rated it, as a communication piece in 2023, with a “Rotten” score on the Rotten Tomatoes ranking.

Why Rotten? It was clear from the start that Mayo was trying to communicate a message of transformation, and they spent time and money on dramatic staging and digital splash. But the 30-second spot was like a headline with no story. Good communication needs more than a headline. At least provide me with some popcorn for my viewing time.

The closing message of “Health Care Will Never Be The Same” left me thinking, “Prove it.” I’m not the only one who wants more than just a heavily produced :30 today. Shoppers want information. Buyers want more of the story. You can’t throw around “transform healthcare” and then expect me to return to regularly scheduled programming.

“We set out to create a campaign that translates the high quality of care we provide our patients into an imaginative creative campaign, because ultimately, our goal is to inspire patient confidence when they choose Mayo Clinic as their health care provider,” said Wes Weleczki, executive creative director at Mayo Clinic. “With this campaign, we are challenging the category’s traditional approach to advertising, much like we continue to challenge traditional approaches in health care more broadly.”

Wait, there must be more to this campaign than just a flashy video. He didn’t say that to me, it came from the PR campaign Mayo executed to support this marketing effort. And when I looked more deeply into Mayo’s entire campaign, I erased my Rotten rating and stamped this one with a Certified Fresh score. Here’s why.

I visited Mayoclinic.org/possible and saw that Mayo created a complete storytelling structure for this campaign. On this website, you can watch the fancy 30-second spot again if you like, or you can scroll and find several stories that work to prove the transformational promise.

My favorite part of the campaign is the selection of patient stories. These vignettes make the campaign relatable to me, you, others who might have a need. Some of the stories are new, but not all of them (I like that they put dates on the stories, that adds credibility). That’s a good use of content which has probably already lived in the Mayo Clinic digital ecosystem. And there is more to the content mix 

Mayo spent a lot of money to produce the made-for-TV ads. And they certainly racked up a lot of people hours organizing and editing the content for the complete storytelling delivery. Few companies have the time or money to create such a content-marketing blitz. But a lot of companies could scale down this model and create a communication platform that is equally Certified Fresh.

Well done, Mayo. We’ll see if you actually do transform healthcare. But I like that you are working to transform advertising beyond a 30-second spot.