In the land of Mardi Gras, February is for eating tasty food, throwing beads, and celebration — not for thinking about your heart health. But when you’re trying to raise awareness for American Heart Month, how are you supposed to encourage people to make heart-conscious decisions during a time of consumption? 

No matter the time of year, Louisiana and Mississippi have some of the worst rates for heart disease in the country. But our client in this area, Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady health system (FMOLHS), needed to find a way to grab peoples’ attention and make this community feel understood. And that we did. 

3,240,000 impressions. 1,214 conversions. 820 quiz completions. 393 appointments scheduled. The people of Baton Rouge, Monroe, Lafayette, Bogalusa, and Jackson heard what we wanted to say. 

According to the CDC, heart disease is the leading cause of death for men, women, and people of a majority of ethnic groups in the United States. And in Louisiana and Mississippi, the numbers only get worse — having the fifth and first highest death rate from cardiovascular disease in the country.

Awareness is the first step in heart health. So, how did we make people pay attention?

Strategically and creatively, we leaned into Louisiana and Mississippi culture on a local level. In communities where it isn’t common to seek out health-related information, we unified the campaign with the system-wide messaging of “Ignorance Isn’t Bliss.” Pairing a colorful and unexpected look with lines like “You can ignore his shirt, but you can’t ignore his heart,” we stand out against the typical Heart Month messaging, reaching communities most affected by these conditions.

When strategy starts with a bird’s eye view, the sky is literally the limit. Bringing a national awareness month to the local level allows you to do just that. Taking the big picture and making it into something unique and personal. We captured people’s attention using:

• A Heart Smart Quiz that allowed users to test their knowledge of heart health. Once users completed it, they opted in for further messaging in exchange for a PDF with the correct answers and links to blogs on the FMOLHS site to learn more about heart health. 
• A conversion landing page that offered our audience information and resources, including the quiz, educational blogs about heart health, and opportunities to schedule an appointment with cardiologists.
• Colorful and lightly humorous paid and organic social posts and display ads that sought to stand out among the sea of advertisements on social media.
• Heart Month community activities to engage prospective audiences in the clients’ respective communities.

The campaign created awareness, got a response, and something else — created buzz within each local community.