24 August 2009
Celebrity endorsement within healthcare
The growing obsession with celebrity has led to an
increase in celebrity endorsement. The healthcare industry has not
escaped this growing trend, but is there any real value in using
celebrities to market healthcare?
You only have to look at how the 'Jade Goody effect' has
positively impacted on the increase in cervical screening
statistics to see the value of celebrity. Reports indicate there
has been up to a 30% increase in women being tested for cervical
cancer and Cancer Research UK gives Goody credit for this increase
in awareness.
Kylie Minogue's breast cancer diagnosis resulted in a huge rise
in awareness about breast cancer and a reported 40% increase in
mammogram bookings. The work Stephen Fry has recently done to
de-stigmatise mental health and its associated issues is another
example of positive celebrity use within healthcare – and this
works because Fry is a credible, intelligent and well-liked figure
working in partnership with the industry's leaders.
The reach a carefully selected, credible and open celebrity can
have can be vast. This kind of awareness is priceless and simply
could not be achieved through using more traditional marketing
tools.
When Spire Healthcare was looking to raise awareness of its new
website, it turned to celebrity endorsement. The website that went
live in January 2009 is one of the most sophisticated sites in the
private hospital market.
The approach was to source a celebrity to endorse Spire and
quickly raise awareness of, and drive traffic to the new website.
Austin Healy had undergone over 200 procedures within Spire
hospitals during his rugby career and due to his appearance on
Strictly Come Dancing, was prominently in the public eye. He was
signed up to appear on a podcast on Spire's website, as well as in
a variety of targeted online and offline communications.
Debbie Colebourn, Head of Sales and Marketing at Spire said: "We
know that private healthcare patients are a discerning audience so
it was vital that we found a celebrity who was relevant to us, our
consultants and our patients and would also appeal to our target
market. Austin Healy was a natural choice having undergone numerous
procedures at our hospitals as well as being very
much in the public eye at the time. By capitalising on his personal
involvement with Spire Healthcare, the resulting coverage and
increased website traffic we have received has been
phenomenal."
Celebrity involvement can be a risky business. It can be
challenging to find a relevant celebrity, difficult to measure
success, costly and prone to uncertainty. However if it is done
well it can achieve truly remarkable outcomes.