Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK)’s Department of Marketing & Communications was awarded the Silver Award for Most Effective Media Plan in the 2021 Campaign US Media Awards. The inaugural awards celebrate the creative and effective work and talent across media planning, buying and sales. The Most Effective Media Plan category specifically recognizes the groundbreaking strategy, data science, and precision marketing required to make a campaign not only compelling creatively, but effective in targeting audiences and servicing up relevant content.
The team was awarded for their recent campaign, “Cancer Care Can’t Wait” developed with agency partners at Known, Alma, and Lippincott. Due to COVID-19, MSK saw one of the sharpest declines in admissions in 2020, as patients delayed much-needed treatment over fears about the virus. This was a crisis not only for MSK, but for its patients. Timely cancer treatment is absolutely critical and waiting for care can have a tangible effect on outcomes. In response, MSK launched a multi-component campaign spanning strategy, creative, media planning, buying & optimization, via social, digital, out-of-home advertising, TV, radio, and print. The overarching focus of the campaign highlighted the human element behind MSK – the doctors, nurses, staff – who work tirelessly through rain, shine, or pandemic to provide first-rate cancer care for more than 400 types of cancers for the patients who need it most. The results were impressive: new visit requests doubled from May 2020 to January 2021, and as of September 28, 2020, MSK saw demand bounce back.