The Story

There was a time when the term “academic medical center” — an organization that brings together clinical care, advanced research, and medical education — conjured up a parade of medical students at your bedside and a less-than-stellar patient experience. Indeed, UW Medicine, the only academic medical system in the region, avoided using those words to describe themselves. However, new research showed that academic medical centers had better health outcomes and improved perceptions on the part of consumers. The marketing challenge was how do you begin to associate UW Medicine with the benefits of being an academic medical system, but without using those exact, cumbersome words.

The Solution
Our recommendation included developing a tag line. “A Higher Degree of Healthcare,” to subtly get across the idea of the superiority of an academically based organization. We then developed a series of digital ads and landing pages to serve as the proof points of that “higher degree” — amazing stories about the advanced research and procedures taking place at UW Medicine.

The Results
In the most recent consumer research, the aggregated perception scores of UW Medicine hospitals outrank all other competitors for quality of clinical care, use of technology, and innovative clinical care.