Sheppard Pratt Baltimore Washington Campus

Generating Awareness and Excitement for a New Beacon of Mental Healthcare

Sheppard Pratt is the nation’s largest nonprofit mental healthcare provider, and they recently completed construction on a state-of-the-art new mental health facility near 1-95 and BWI that’s accessible to regional and national patients. The challenge? Breaking through preconceived notions of what mental health “looks like” to spread the word and build excitement for the new campus, while introducing a new image of compassionate care in a space designed to promote dignity and compassion.

The Strategy

The opening of the Baltimore/Washington campus provided Sheppard Pratt with a unique opportunity. As it has done throughout its 150-year history, it is setting the standard of excellence in mental health care. With a humanistic, therapeutic design—patient rooms face wooded areas or interior courtyards, ensuring privacy and capitalizing on the healing power of nature—the new hospital shatters the mental health facility stereotype. We saw that the hospital could be a metaphor for where mental health is going, and destigmatize mental health treatment along the way. And opening in the midst of a pandemic, the hospital provided its patients and the region even more than unparalleled expertise: it provided hope.

The “Hope is Here” campaign encapsulated the positive emotional component of the Baltimore/Washington campus with a dual meaning: Sheppard Pratt is where people can find help, and a new facility is here to provide compassionate care. 

Media

Campaign tactics and channels included: 

  • Facebook retargeting and prospecting
  • Local news placements 
  • Geo-fencing
  • Digital Audio
  • Digital Billboards
  • Underwriting radio spots on WYPR, the local NPR station 
  • Light pole banners
  • Magazine spreads
  • Community center signage
  • Custom Logo Gobo Spotlight

Branding

The visual treatment positioned the new facility as a place of light, order, and calm, consistent with the space’s soft, warm color palettes. By utilizing some of the colors, layout, and the mandala graphic from Sheppard Pratt’s previous media campaign, the campaign provided brand continuity while introducing a bold, exciting new chapter for the organization.

Green
Light Green
Sky
4.4
The campaign search engine marketing CTR; the healthcare industry benchmark is 1.8%.

With mental health services needed now more than ever, I’m proud of the role our team played in building local awareness of the new Baltimore/Washington campus and its accessibility to everyone in the area.

Jill Sprague
Associate Director of Media

The Result

Across all platforms, the campaign performed at or above healthcare industry benchmarks 

Leveraging the campaign’s success, ”Hope is Here” became the branding for the grand opening event, Sheppard Pratt’s 2021 annual report, and the hospital itself: www.sheppardpratt.org/hopeishere.

2.6
Million impressions from all campaign paid media sources

Spreading facts on the vax.

A woman's arm with a band-aid and sticker that reads "I got my COVID-19 vaccine"

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There’s amazing potential for good in the world. Let’s give it a chance and a voice.

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