Unlike most Chicago hospitals, CCHHS is public, and as a result, they deliver more than $500 million in uncompensated care annuallyii. Comparatively, private hospitals, such as Rush and Northwestern, can adjust the types of care they provide and the patients they choose to admit. These private hospitals are far better funded, due in part to their large presence and name recognition, while CCHHS is chronically underfunded. The NICU at CCHHS is the only public Level III NICU in Chicago, and with 1 in 10 babies born prematurely in Chicagoiii, it was critical that we raised funds to sustain it and keep this service available to all who need it.

The Idea: “The Tiniest Listing”

We advertised this one-bedroom “home” in the form of real estate listings, complete with “amenities” like 24/7 care, a quiet neighborhood, large drop-down doors for easy access, and a 360-degree rotating mattress — all humidity-controlled and germ-free. Those who came across our listing and wanted to learn more were directed to TheTiniestListing.com for the full story. From there, those who wanted to “book a stay” in the incubator were taken to the NICU’s donation page at CookCountyHHS.org.

Getting to the idea:

This is a classic tale of smart strategy enabling one plus one to equal three. Target new and expectant parents; reframe the NICU as a preemie baby’s first home, and filter through the fact that we had a tiny budget (as Ernest Rutherford once said, “we have no money, so we have to think!”)

Audience truth:

We identified new and expecting parents as the most likely targets to donate. They’ve been on the journey, and would be open to an emotional plea.

But the truly inciting insight was a media one: that a tiny arrival presages the search for a larger home.

Product truth:

Many parents spend months ‘nesting’—creating a familiar, safe space—before their baby’s arrival. But not every baby is fortunate enough to spend their first nights in a crib. Once born, premature babies must be closely monitored and stay overnight in incubators. From the outside, these sterile machines are simply hospital equipment. But to preemie babies, this 3.4 ft2 space is their “first home” outside the womb.

Breakthrough:

We had virtually no paid media budget, but realized that posts on real estate sites, like Trulia, are free. By reframing the NICU as a “first home”, we could bring messaging and media together to create a campaign which was both relevant and resonant.

This is a tale of tiny, of the power of thinking small - a story of what happened when we sought to realize a potent human insight despite the constraint of essentially zero paid media budget.

Cook County Health and Hospital Systems (CCHHS) is one of the largest comprehensive health systems in the country and operates on a mission to provide the highest quality of care, regardless of a patient’s ability to pay. Unlike most Chicago hospitals, CCHHS is public, and as a result, they deliver more than $500 million in uncompensated care annually.

In Chicago, 1 in 10 babies are born premature. At CCHHS’ Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), a prematurely born baby will stay an average of 23 nights for a total bill of $92,000 per baby. Medicaid only reimburses 90% of these costs, leaving CCHHS to cover the rest.

To bridge this enormous financial gap, we created a tiny yet mighty campaign to raise awareness of CCHHS’s NICU, and its need for funding. We hoped to double the 2017 donation amount.

We first identified new and expecting parents as the most likely targets to donate, because they’ve been on the childbirth journey and would be open to an emotional plea. But the truly inciting insight was that a tiny arrival presages a search for a larger home.

We found that many parents spend weeks, even months before a baby’s arrival ‘nesting’: creating a familiar, safe space to protect their newborn. But not every baby is fortunate enough to spend their first nights in a crib and a decorated nursery.

Once born, premature babies must be closely monitored and stay overnight in incubators. From the outside, these sterile, technical machines are simply hospital equipment. But, to preemie babies, this 3.4 ft2 space is their first home.

We had virtually no paid media budget, but realized that posts on real estate sites, like Trulia and Craigslist, are free. By reframing the NICU as a “first home”, we could bring messaging and media together to create a campaign which was both relevant and resonant.

For our campaign, we reframed an incubator from a sterile environment to the “first home” for preemie babies, thus turning something clinical and functional into a highly emotional proposition that any human being could relate to. We advertised this one-bedroom home in the form of a real estate listing, complete with “amenities” like 24/7 care, a quiet neighborhood, large drop-down doors for easy access, and a 360-degree rotating mattress — all humidity-controlled and germ-free.

Those who came across our listing and wanted to learn more were directed to TheTiniestListing.com for the full story. From there, those who wanted to “book a stay” in the incubator were taken to the NICU’s donation page at CookCountyHHS.org.

With just $415 in paid media, our compelling message helped to not only raise awareness around CCHHS’ NICU, but also nearly tripled year-on-year donations - an increase of 194%.

We sought to double donations received for the NICU compared to the year prior, and we more than accomplished just that. Our campaign resulted in an increase in donations of 194% within eight months of our campaign launch, compared to the entire prior year (2017).

We also increased the number of donors by 115% after campaign launch, compared to the entire prior year. Donations came from 12 states, suggesting our campaign had broad appeal and shareability. This growth ensures a broader base of support for the NICU in years ahead, thus creating a much larger pool of donors to engage with in years to come.

With just $415 in paid media, our compelling story was picked up by 188 local and national media outlets.