Ranbaxy hospital group Fortis taps outdoor opportunities

Fortis Healthcare, in association with its agency, Crayons Advertising, has launched an OOH-led campaign called 'Short Drive to a Speedy Recovery'. The campaign aims to establish the availability of well-situated Fortis Hospitals across Delhi-NCR.

As part of the outdoor campaign, a string of communication on pole kiosks can be seen on Delhi-NOIDA-Delhi (DND) Expressway. As one drives on the Expressway, a set of kiosks, appearing one after the other, can be seen, with names of various specialty services available at the hospital, such as maternity, kidney dialysis, cancer, cardiac services, etc.

The next kiosk in the row says, ''Fortis Care - Close to you''. After this, one sees another set of kiosks with names of various locations across Delhi-NCR - Okhla Road, Greater Kailash II, Karol Bagh, Vasant Kunj, Faridabad and NOIDA - where Fortis hospitals are situated. Apart from pole kiosks, bus shelters and hoardings have also been used.

The campaign started in February and will run up to the end of March. Speaking about the innovative advertising campaign, Sudarshan Mazumdar, director, marketing and corporate communication, Fortis Healthcare said that the company sees outdoor as a media that can reinforce a message effectively. He said, ''We have put up hoardings and pole kiosks on roads that commuters traverse on a daily basis. Outdoor figures majorly in our media plan. With this campaign, a repeated exposure to the message is very crucial. When we mention various specialty healthcare services on pole kiosks, we are not advertising these services, but drawing attention to the entire range of services available under one roof.''

What is the ideal way of building a healthcare brand in a country, where issues related to health are not properly addressed? ''In India, there is a huge demand for improved healthcare services. In a service category like this, it is very important for a brand to build awareness and trust. Also, very similar to hospitality, ours is an experiential brand category. Now, there are two options of building our brand – either let the consumers' trust build over 20 years, or push the brand with right marketing. With this campaign, we chose the second option.'' says Mazumdar.

For this campaign, Fortis Healthcare has spent approximately Rs50 lakh. Ranjan Bargotra, president, Crayons Advertising explains the emphasis on outdoor. ''OOH gives strength to any campaign, because it can be used strategically. This is what we have done, by taking up hoardings close to the competition, such as Moolchand and Apollo hospitals. With international players entering the Indian market, things are becoming organised in the OOH industry. OOH gives higher visibility in controlled costs and most importantly, delivers well.''

According to the recent FICCI-KPMG report, OOH has grown at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.3 per cent over the last three years. Interestingly, Crayons is currently running a nationwide campaign for Congress, which kicked off with outdoor. Fortis Healthcare has also taken up radio spots across all major stations, in order to use radio as a reminder medium.