2011 Silver Best direct response print advertising including inserts

Client The Royal Marsden

What is wonderful about this work? We generated a threefold increase in visits to The Royal Marsden website; an expected 5% conversion rate means we’ll acquire the additional 375 patients needed to hit the NHS income target of £412,000.

What details of the strategy make this a winning entry? Radiotherapy can be an essential part of cancer treatment, but not all patients who should receive it do so. Patients have a choice about where they are treated, so they can ask to be referred to The Royal Marsden. We had to: challenge the myths surrounding radiotherapy (seen by 44% of patients as gruelling, and frightening by 40%); raise awareness of The Royal Marsden as a specialist cancer centre (with a focus on radiotherapy); empower patients to talk about whether radiotherapy is appropriate for them; encourage them to choose The Royal Marsden; and deliver on our brand promise: “Treatment that’s personal.” We identified the expert patient, who actively seeks information and has the confidence to ask challenging questions. We delivered technical, compelling information in a way that felt human and reassuring, giving our audience enough information to feel confident and empowered to talk to their GP or consultant.

How did creativity bring the strategy to life? In a first for this sector, we created a press campaign to run in the main news of ‘serious’ dailies’. The campaign would have to be disruptive, informative, emotive and persuasive. ‘My radiotherapy’ uses real people’s stories; each execution highlights a particular aspect of radiotherapy at The Royal Marsden, in the patients’ own words (and handwriting). Their introduction is supported by in-depth technical information. It’s candid without being shocking, emotional but not cloying, technical but not clinical. The press was supported by targeted digital display ads and PPC. ‘My Radiotherapy’ was a perfect articulation of The Royal Marsden’s brand promise because it drilled down into a specific area of expertise, also laying the foundation for future campaigns on other areas (e.g. surgery, diagnostics, chemotherapy).

Results We needed a 10% uplift in patients (3,554 in 2009/2010). We saw an additional 7,500 visitors to our radiotherapy pages – with an expected 5% conversion rate, we hope to acquire 375 patients. 317 visitors had already accessed the referral pages 20 days after going live. We generated an uplift of 43% in site visits: over 3,000 visitors in the first week. Traffic more than trebled to all radiotherapy-specific pages, with a seven times increase to the radiotherapy services pages and a 58% increase to referral pages.

Team Mark Davison, Richard Dunn, Paul Snoxell, Andy Todd, Richard Worrow, Ross Newton, Pierpaolo Proh, Will Saunders.