Ads Declare Recovery Is the Name of the Game

The New York Times—February 10, 2014

A hospital that specializes in orthopedics is seeking to stand out in a crowded category with a campaign that celebrates successful surgical outcomes rather than awards or rankings on 10-best lists.

The campaign, now underway, is for Hospital for Special Surgery, which is on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and draws its patients from all over the world. That is, in fact, a central element of the campaign, expressed in the theme: “Where the world comes to get back in the game.”

The new campaign includes commercials; displays in airports; online ads; content on a section of the hospital’s website like video clips; and a presence in social media like Facebook and Twitter.

The initial ads present three patients who, the campaign declares, were able to quickly resume their regular lives as a result of the care and treatment they received at the hospital.

“We are very proud of what we do here,” says Louis A. Shapiro, president and chief executive at Hospital for Special Surgery, and those at the hospital have for many years been “communicating to the public that this was an institution of excellence.”

The campaign is scheduled to continue through April, take a break and then resume in the fall.

Read the full story at nytimes.com.