Close your eyes for a second and think about the last health advertisement you saw.
A specific image or slogan might’ve come to mind. Maybe you couldn’t remember the last one you saw because you’ve seen so many that they all meshed together, that’s OK. Digital marketing experts estimate that Americans get exposed to 4,000 to 10,000 per day.
You most likely don’t think about it every time you see one of these ads. They don’t always stand out, and we often skip over them if they don’t relate to us. Companies put in so much effort to create advertisements that will stand out and grab viewers’ attention.
There are different tactics that marketers use to do this. In competitive industries, it’s so important to focus on the effectiveness of ads because they help generate new clients. But you already know that.
So how can healthcare companies successfully market and grab attention over the thousands of other companies that web users see in a day?
Here are some highly effective health advertisements and a breakdown of the tactics they used.
Table of Contents
Color Psychology
One of the first techniques that designers keep in mind when creating advertisements is color psychology. Color affects our feelings and using certain ones in combination with each other affects our mood and perception. People can perceive a message and gather meaning from colors alone which often stand out first.
For example, green symbolizes nature and health while evoking calmness. It attracts people’s attention because it’s pleasant to look at. Alaska Regional Hospital (ARH) used this technique in one of their ads.
The purpose of this was to show that while ARH may be smaller than other hospitals, it has superior care. The green stands out over the rest of the image which is a blend of grays, black, and white. This adds a clear focal point that draws the reader’s attention while highlighting the main message in the image.
Focal Point
The concept of using a focal point is pretty simple.
The artist uses design principles such as color, size, or direction to emphasize a specific element known as the focal point. While there are usually other elements on the ad as well, the focal point can tell the main message on its own.
This image from Carle accurately uses a focal point. The message here is to show the company’s achievement as a top organization. The image on this page is the pyramid, but the focus is on the top of the pyramid. There’s an emphasis on the top because it uses a dramatically different color. With this at the top of the page, it holds the message of Carle being in the top 100 hospitals.
There’s also space to break up the top of the pyramid from the rest of the shape. Not only does this make the viewer focus on it more, but it continues to visually explain the message. Through the spacing, we better realize the “breakthrough” message as Carle made a breakthrough in medicine.
Typographic Composition
Typography is another way to boost the appearance of an ad to make it more noticeable. Text can function as an image so that numbers or words tell a message. The typographic composition is an intentional application of the text to tell the story. Designers skillfully used this through various principles like direction, size, shape, or space.
This picture from the Cooper University Health System achieves this using size and color. It was part of Cooper’s “Numbers” campaign to show the efficiencies of the practice. The large red text captures viewers so that they’ll then read the small blurb below. This explains the bold statistic to describe Cooper’s success.
Association
The idea behind this technique is to use visuals to create associations with overarching themes. This could be an association with nostalgia, places, ideas, personal experiences, or cultural values. For this to be effective, the organization must understand the intended audience.
Children’s Hospital Colorado created a campaign that achieves this. The ad uses actual experiences that parents deal with. These images of real-life situations cover most of the ad, then they include a tagline with how the hospital is there to help.
A partnership between Lawrence General Hospital and Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts Medical Center used the same concept. They had images of typical child behavior and activities with taglines that parents could relate to. Below each image, it then includes a call to action for parents that is relevant to these experiences and a child’s pediatric care.
If you haven’t noticed by now, most advertisements combine multiple techniques.
Remember my example from ARH earlier in this blog post? Well, it also uses association with its inclusion of an apple. People associate this fruit with good health because of the phrase, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” Because of this association, it makes it even more noticeable and effective in getting its message across.
Symbolism
This is the visual representation of something familiar to communicate a message. Organizations use metaphors and similes, showing one thing to represent another. It’s like the association technique because the consumer connects the visuals to something else that they understand.
The Children’s Hospital campaign used this with metaphors such as the child’s nostrils also being marble storage. This example is a more obvious symbol since the image states these comparisons.
Consonant Skincare uses the technique in one of its campaigns. The company used different textured surfaces to describe skin complexion. It attracts consumers who resonate with these problems because they understand the comparison. The campaign also uses a verbal simile to further push the message statement.
But other companies use more subtle symbols, such as this ad from Patil Hospital & Lata Patil Clinic. The goal of this image is to warn people about the dangers of self-medicating. Instead of showing pills within the packaging, they’ve replaced them with bullets to emphasize how dangerous this practice is.
Emotional Appeal
This is one of the most effective techniques in advertising and one of the most popular within the healthcare industry.
Companies target people’s feelings to draw a reaction and response. If you think of an ad that uses this technique, you might picture a commercial of sad children that asks for donations to solve poverty. Or maybe you think of the ASPCA commercials when Sarah McLachlan sings “Arms of an Angel” over videos of dogs to gain help against animal cruelty.
These commercials are effective because they weigh on people’s hearts so they’ll feel inclined to act.
Ads can target many different emotions such as sadness, sympathy, hope, or nostalgia. Home Instead Senior Care uses emotional appeal in their campaign which uses the tagline, “You can’t always be there. But we can.”
The ads use examples of potential accidents that are real risks for the elderly. This makes people consider their loved ones’ safety when they aren’t around. But the organization tells the viewers that it can make sure these accidents don’t happen. When consumers think about these risks, they’ll then weigh them against the benefit of having this company help.
Humor
Another emotion that companies will try to produce is happiness. This can come from humor. People love a good laugh, especially young people surrounded by meme culture. When they see funny images, they’ll often send them to others through various social media channels.
Because of this, healthcare organizations can benefit from including humor. Since people share images they find amusement in, funny advertisements have the chance to reach even more people.
This dentistry ad is successful with humor. We read the caption because we don’t understand the point of the picture and wonder about the missing tooth. The caption is set up as a question first and then the punchline.
Once we read the caption, we take a second look at the picture and realize its truth. Popular social media meme accounts have reposted this picture, so it effectively reaches more people.
Conclusion
When coming up with an ad campaign, there are many directions your healthcare organization can take.
Design techniques can make images stand out so people notice them. Different tactics can keep viewers’ attention and make them understand the message, and some work better than others. For instance, humor about self-medicating could contradict the message that it’s dangerous, thus confusing the consumers who view it.
Determining what the main message should be and which audience to target helps marketers decide which technique to use. Experimenting with different tactics helps companies find what works best so they know how to make ads that gain customers.
