Press release
A brand campaign for the Kent Institute of Medicine and Surgery (KIMS) is seeing a growing number of patients visit the new state-of-the art, £120 million hospital. A new entrant to the private healthcare sector, KIMS is Kent’s first purpose-built, clinician-run hospital. Unrestricted by aging real estate, infrastructure and management systems, KIMS boasts advanced diagnostic facilities and offers complex cardiac care and neurosurgery. It is attracting a growing community of eminent consultants, allowing it to pioneer complex surgical procedures previously unavailable in Kent.
Strategic brand agency Industry was called to help establish the KIMS brand and raise awareness of the new hospital. Unlike established healthcare providers, KIMS had no brand heritage or established pathways of referral to rely upon. KIMS needed to define a new proposition and win the confidence of a diverse range of stakeholders. The approach required simplicity, focus and innovation to differentiate the KIMS brand from its competitors.
Sholto Lindsay-Smith, strategy director at Industry commented: “Our first observation was that people did not understand that Kent Institute for Medicine and Surgery was in fact a hospital. The first quick win was to modify the brand and call it KIMS Hospital. The second task was to establish trust in the Hospital.”
The brand proposition was based on establishing KIMS as ‘a new centre of medical excellence for Kent’. The integrated brand campaign – which ran across outdoor posters, press, and online – featured stylised hero-images of KIMS’ consultants with strong testimonials about the world-class facilities and multidisciplinary teams approach offered at KIMS. The campaign has been supported by the development of KIMS’s website including a new consultant film and the launch of an ‘ask a question’ application, designed to boost patient interaction.
Door drops offering free heart health checks have seen hundreds of people come through the doors of KIMS for the first time.
The campaign led to a 114% climb in the number of users on the website and 79% uplift in page views, reversing a declining trend and lifting views from around 33,000 per month to a peak of 59,000. Since the campaign launch actual enquires and appointments have increased by 23% and 37%.
Dawn Cremin, Sales and Marketing Director, KIMS, said: “The hospital is truly unique and demanded a unique marketing approach. A key part of the story is the strength of the consultant community and approach to teamwork that ensures patients get a diagnosis that looks at their condition from every angle. The brand campaign has been very successful in getting this across.”
For further information contact:
Sholto@industrybranding.com
Users: 114% uplift
The campaign led to a climb in the number of users on the website, from an average of around 7,000 per month to a peak of 15,000 by February (114% uplift)
Page views: 79% uplift
This increase in users also reversed a declining trend in pages being viewed on the site: Lifting from around 33,000 per month to a peak of 59,000 in February, part of an upward trend (79% uplift)
Mobile users: 130% uplift
Over the period, mobile use has climbed steeply, peaking at daily 506 sessions before the campaign, peaking at 1167 daily sessions during the campaign (130% uplift)
Paid search advertising: 3,500 extra clicks per month
PPC advertising during the period has delivered and average of 3,500 extra clicks per month into the site’s landing pages.
Most clicks came between 9am and 10pm
Most successful service: Orthopaedics
The most visited landing pages was Orthopaedics (average of around 1,750 per month). Breast care, diagnostics and the GPs landing pages received 300 – 500 per month.
23% more enquiries and 37% more appointments
During the campaign, more people have filled out a contact us enquiry: around 400 more per month, a climb of 23%. More people also requested an appointment, climbing 37% or about 130 enquiries per month.