Ad campaign seeks $50 million for Toronto East General Hospital
Agency in U.S. donates its services for fundraising drive
The largest independently owned advertising company in the world, U.S.-based Doner agency, is donating its services to help launch Toronto East General Hospital's most ambitious fundraising campaign ever.
"A lot of ad agencies adopt a hospital as their philanthropic or charity effort. Sick Kids or whoever, they find somebody who does pro bono work," said Teresa Vasilopoulos, TEGH foundation president.
"It is a feel-good thing for the ad agency and it is a chance to expose their work to a broad audience. We, as a smaller hospital, were thrilled when they stepped forward and said they would do pro bono work for us."
Having an advertising powerhouse create the marketing campaign will help the hospital attract corporate sponsors, Vasilopoulos said.
"One of the things with our hospital, we're not right on University Avenue (with the large teaching hospitals). Even though a community hospital does 80 per cent of the (health care) work you may need, they are often overlooked by corporate donors," she said.
"TEGH is in a catchment area without a lot of (big) business and industry. We know we have to get the attention of Bay Street. We don't have the capacity in our catchment area. A good portion of our community is at-risk such as Regent Park, Thorncliffe Park, Crescent Town. We knew we had to go beyond our borders to get our message out."
TEGH is also competing against other hospitals, often bigger players, for donation dollars, Vasilopoulos said.
"It (having Doner) allows us to get our message out in a very crowded media environment. They came up with some fun media ideas for us.
The advertising campaign, which begins April 30 and runs until October, will support TEGH's largest-ever fundraising drive.
The hospital is looking to raise $50 million to help fund much-needed improvements such as a larger, state-of-the-art emergency department, a new cancer care wing and a new cardiology centre, Vasilopoulos said.
The ad campaign will build on the investment hospital staff have made toward fundraising.
For example, TEGH is only the second hospital in North America where 100 per cent of doctors have made a personal contribution to a capital fundraising campaign.
The advertising campaign, including radio, print, outdoor and digital elements, will feature medical staff doing whatever it takes to raise money but falling short of the mark without corporate help.
They will sell lemonade and wash cars with a tagline that says "If we could raise the money ourselves, we would. But some things we can't do alone."
Doner senior vice-president Patrick Gladney said the agency wants to raise the hospital's profile.
"Toronto East General Hospital is probably Toronto's best-kept secret. The foundation needed an advertising campaign that brings to consumers' attention the need for public support," he said in a statement.
"We feel that this campaign achieves that objective while demonstrating the unique commitment of their people and the award-winning health care they provide, which is why it's so important for consumers to contribute to the hospital fund."
Headquartered in Southfield, Mich., Doner has offices in other U.S. cities, in London, England, and on Eglinton Avenue East in Toronto.
