merit
National telehealth provider MDLIVE came to us with a need for a fresh campaign to run during Cold & Flu season - consistently their busiest time of year. Much like the flu itself, the standard messaging around cold & flu symptoms felt expected, predictable and unavoidable.
Research showed that “quickly feeling better” and “minimal disruption to daily activities” rank high as to why people used MDLIVE.
So we promoted MDLIVE as the “cure”for disruption to daily life – helping people fight FOMO by delivering faster, hassle-free treatment vs. urgent care clinics.
Our unique look and voice connected with the immediacy-driven nature of their digitally native Driven Millennial audience – feeling “of the internet” and conveying a speedy solution that fit their busy lives.
To stand out from a category filled with stock doctor images and parity messages, we put bright illustrated objects on vibrant colorful backgrounds. Then paired it all with punchy headlines that followed our already proven “now. that’s better.” tagline.
We layered on the CTA “don’t wait, go live” – an ownable, immediate message that sought to deplatform the perceived speed of urgent care clinics.
MDLIVE set an audacious goal of driving 9% growth in visitation YOY during the busiest sick season – when competition from urgent care clinics was amped up even more.
We needed to find a deeper reason for people to make MDLIVE their first choice vs. instinctively heading to those local urgent care clinics.
Because while there are prominent telehealth competitors such as Teledoc, Amwell, and Dr. On Demand, consumer choice is largely driven by access – health plans that offer a specific brand to their insured members. This means MDLIVE’s main competition wasn’t always other telehealth companies, but rather brick-and-mortar urgent care clinics. After all, when care is right down the street, it’s easier to stay top-of-mind. And these clinics don’t rely on specific health plan access.
MDLIVE can’t actually cure sniffles and sore throats — our solution showed that MDLIVE can help cure the disruption that sick season can bring.
Spots featured a character having their first symptom, a simple cough or sneeze. Then we got into their heads, showing their spiraling thoughts when they realize they’re about to get sick – highlighting travel plans, work, and the realities of caring for sick kids. MDLIVE swoops in with the CTA: “don’t wait. go live.” – seeding the need for immediate care to avoid cold and flu catastrophes.
Animations highlighted even more of these can’t-miss moments, posing questions like “small sneeze? or scrap-the-holiday-party sneeze?”
We placed OOH in areas with high concentrations of clinics to steal share, leaning into our differentiator “when urgent care clinics aren’t urgent enough.”
Results:
Exceeded overall visit growth goal by 6%, totaling a 15% increase YoY
Overall cost per visit during the cold and flu period increased less than 10% YoY
Disruption CTRs were 76% higher than other videos running at the time, showing that “disruption” really was a powerful symptom that resonated with our audience during cold and flu season
