Fortis: Rekindling Hope

The hospital chain has launched a campaign with the core idea of uncompromised excellence.

When it comes to health, there is no compromise, says Fortis Healthcare in its new brand campaign. In its first elaborate advertising campaign called 'Hands of Hope', Fortis tries to establish itself as the foremost player in the industry. The creatives have been executed by Leo Burnett.

The ad revolves around the theme of 'uncompromised excellence' and tries to tap the emotion of hope through its storytelling. The ad shows a young boy with a heart ailment which is restricting him from leading a 'normal' life. While the condition is diagnosed by many, it is only Fortis experts who can cure it in the end, with a transplant.

Gaurav Dudeja, head of marketing, Fortis Healthcare, says about the central idea of the campaign, "The ad is a subtle form of communication; we are talking about being an enabler in someone's life, and, with that, creating an impression of the brand. Hospitals are not a service people want to avail and hence, we have taken a different approach in our advertising."

"People choose hospitals on the basis of the credibility of doctors they want to go to, we want to build a value for the hospital brand instead," he adds.

This campaign is one of the first by any hospital chain in mainstream media on a large scale, and hence holds its own challenges in terms of execution. Leo Burnett's executive vice president, Ravpreet Ganesh, says, "Healthcare is very different from anything else. It's a combination of tangible and intangible. Thus, the trick really is to pick up something that can connect with the consumer without making it look like advertising. That's the fine balancing act, the tonality of the communication is like a docu-drama and the approach is from the consumer's point of view."

She also hopes to set category standards through this campaign. "When talking about hospitals, one cannot be gimmicky, its real people that we are talking about. We believe, we have something now that other brands will see as benchmark," she adds.

The brand is using TV as the lead medium, for mass reach, with a focus on Hindi GECs, Hindi movies, English and Hindi news, as well as English infotainment channels for advertising. This bouquet of channels has been chosen to reach the brand's core TG of 30-50 year old males who are married, with kids, and also have the responsibility of their parents.

While the consuming class for a healthcare brand is 0-90 years, the targetted male is the backbone of the family, with whom all the healthcare decisions rest. Geographically, the campaign will reach Tier I cities where Fortis is present.

New media is the second biggest impact medium of the campaign with a microsite and social media promotions lined up. The campaign's site, handsofhope.co.in, will give people an opportunity to participate and be a hand of hope. For every person who visits the page and logs in, Fortis claims to be contributing Re1 for the treatment of underprivileged children. Radio will also be used to promote the cause of becoming a hand of hope and visit the microsite.

While the digital leg of the campaign was launched on July 17, with a microsite and YouTube video, the television and radio spots will be aired July 31 onwards. The campaign, which will be six to eight weeks long, will conclude in the first week of September.