The Iroquois Healthcare Association's ad campaign to recruit healthcare workers made it onto marketing magazine The Drum's list of the five best business-to-business campaigns of 2021.
The association, which represents more than 50 hospitals and health systems in upstate New York, partnered with marketing agency Mower for the campaign in 2020 after taking note of the state's healthcare worker shortage.
The "Call to Care" campaign asks New Yorkers to think about whether they have the intrinsic desire to help others, a feeling the campaign calls "the caring gene." Its imagery is intended to reflect the spirit of World War II civilian morale posters, such as those featuring Rosie the Riveter.
During the campaign's first six months, more than 700,000 unique visitors searched for a healthcare job on the "caring gene" website, seven times more than the previous year.
In addition to generating 100,000 new job searches, the campaign resulted in nearly 35,000 qualified candidates being driven to new healthcare career opportunities, marking a 250 percent increase.