Carroll Hospice advertising campaign scored in top 5% of nationwide entries
Devaney & Associates, a full-service advertising, marketing, and public relations agency, received a 2017 Gold Aster Award for an advertising campaign created for Carroll Hospice – the non-profit affiliate of Carroll Hospital which provides end-of-life care and support services in Carroll, Baltimore, and Frederick Counties. One of the largest national competitions of its kind, The Aster Awards is hosted by Marketing Healthcare Today Magazine and Creative Images, Inc. This elite program recognized outstanding healthcare professionals for excellence in their advertising/marketing efforts for the calendar year 2016.
Using real Carroll Hospice patient stories, Devaney & Associates created an eight-week awareness and education-based advertising campaign that incorporated print, digital and broadcast media. The goals of the campaign were to increase awareness of the personalized and life-affirming experience Carroll Hospice provides, increase admissions, and increase the number of days a patient spends in hospice. At the conclusion of the campaign, Carroll Hospice website visits increased 84%, and patient days were up 47% for June-December 2016 over the previous year. Facebook advertising drove a 150% increase in followers and generated dozens of stories from families aided by Carroll Hospice.
“We knew going in that Carroll Hospice didn’t have the budget for a big traditional TV campaign, as other hospice care organizations do. This forced us to be creative with our media strategy,” said Diane Devaney, president, Devaney & Associates. “Through emotionally powerful creative and smart, hyperlocal media tactics, we were able to achieve impressive double- and triple-digit results on a very small, non-profit-sized budget.”
The 2017 Aster Awards received nearly 3,000 entries from across the United States as well as several foreign countries. All entries were reviewed by a panel of industry experts and scored on multiple criteria with a possibility of 100 total points. Participants’ entries competed against similar-sized organizations in their specific groups and categories.
Gold Awards were issued for entries that received top marks from judges placing them in the top 5% of the nation for advertising excellence. Judging criteria included creativity, layout and design, functionality, message effectiveness, production quality and overall appeal.
This year, Devaney & Associates celebrates its 20th year as the agency of record for Carroll Hospital and its affiliates.
