From Surgery Suite to Editing Suite: Our UMHS Campaign

You walk into the tiny apartment of a 20-something aerobics instructor who lost both her arms and legs to meningitis, and you leave inspired. I felt the same way in meeting the mother of a baby who had heart surgery while still in the womb. And again, when driving away from the house of two twins who have Osteogenisis imperfecta, a disease which makes their bones susceptible to snapping like toothpicks. Truth is, that’s the way we feel about everyone featured in our University of Michigan Health System campaign. Despite everything they’re going through, these are some of the most happy, positive, inspirational people I have ever met, and that can’t help but have a profound affect on you. Thanks to U-M, they are living their lives to the fullest—the aerobics instructor, now with her prosthetic arms and legs; the baby, now with a repaired heart; and the twins, now with special support rods implanted next to their brittle bones to make them stronger.

Since 2005, folks like these—the patients, the doctors, the researchers--have been the heart and soul of our award-winning campaign. Creating this work is unlike creating any other. The research that goes into finding our “Conquering Heroes” and “Victors Valiant” is intensive, starting about a year before a single frame of film is even shot. We comb through countless success stories on the internet, U-M Web sites, newspapers, magazines, doctors journals, etc., to find just the right “cast” to illustrate what it means to be a world class hospital. We meet them, get to know them, and then figure out how to best depict them in our communications, capturing their stories in 2-3 seconds, or a single photo.

But all this, that’s what our “Behind the Scenes” video is about. Check it out. Like I said, it’s not like making a spot about stain-fighting laundry detergent or a 10-piece bucket of chicken. This is about life. Real life, real people. And how a hospital changes them for the better. And, at the same time, a bunch of us here at Campbell Ewald too.