Our “Rising Water” campaign holds up a mirror to the way our target ignores the rising danger of their condition. It also suggests the eerie sensation of water rising inside the body that many people with Heart Failure have experienced and tried to forget.

The recurring image used throughout the campaign is of a man reading a newspaper in his living room, completely oblivious to the water rising around him. Our hope is that people with Heart Failure will recognize themselves in this man and be motivated to take action to avoid a similar fate.

Print ads in monthly publications appealing to an older audience launched in August 2015 along with digital banners on Heart Failure specific websites.

All ads directed readers to either call an 800 number or visit keepitpumping.com.

Response was so positive that the media budget was increased to include TV. Our spot began airing in late January 2016 and ran through April 2016.

Overall media budget for the effort was $13M.

As an unbranded effort, the success of ‘Rising Water’ cannot be measured in sales. Neither can it be measured by social yardsticks like Twitter or Facebook mentions, since the target is older and doesn’t “do social”.

However, during the first week of running the ‘Rising Water’ print ad in a single magazine, we generated 12,000 phone calls.

To date, over 500,000 unique web visitors have gone to keepitpumping.com. That represents 1/6 of the target patient population.

Over 40,000 people have signed up for the CRM program – twice our original goal.

Most significantly, doctors are reporting a dramatic increase in patients bringing up the subject of Heart Failure, an all-important first step to getting help.