Situational Analysis

While Acadian is well known and well branded, we wanted to give Acadian Ambulance more of a local feel and flavor. Therefore, we instituted a “Hometown Hero” program where we feature our medics in their local communities.

Using rural radio stations and rural newspapers, we developed a 26-week media plan to reach our local communities through their local media, tailoring the (newspaper) ads for each locale.

We use the ad space for several different messages: a) general awareness/goodwill, b) Informative ads (to address EMS issues, etc), c) recruiting ads (both current medics and “become a medic” messages, and, d) feature local medics.

We also feature the ads on our social media channels.

As part of the campaign, we invite medics to submit their photos and stories to be featured in their local communities. Not only do we accomplish the goal of putting a “local” face in the community, our medics are excited to see themselves featured in their hometowns. The program has been highly successful for both public and internal employee relations efforts.

Goals

To leverage the size and prestige of Acadian Ambulance while also localizing the message to put a local “face” on our company. At the core root of what we do, it’s the medic who the patient interacts with. We also wanted to boost employee morale by featuring individuals as “Hometown Heros.”

Lastly, having the media buy in place we can quickly pivot the ads to address any legislative or EMS issues, medic recruitment and general goodwill ads.

Planning & Implementation

We placed a 26-week media buy on a statewide network of 53 radio stations (primarily very small, local radio stations) and placed a quarter-page as ad weekly in 22 small-town newspapers.

In the newspaper ads, we feature medics who are either from the local community or who serve the local community. Because the radio is a statewide network, we can’t tailor the spots by location. Instead, we produced some ads with a broader appeal, high production value as well as some ads using singular voices to “sound” local.

We also post the ads on our social media channels and see our medics and thier families sharing the posts to greatly increase reach.

Results

The feedback from the local media has been very positive. They appreciate the investment in their stations and newspapers, creating opportunities for us to provide interviews and input in important news topics.

Our employees love being featured in the ads. We are running a submission process on our intranet and employees can submit their photos (we purposely want the photos to be somewhat amateur) and their stories.

On a recruiting front, our EMS class enrollment was up versus previous year.

Impact

1. We are getting good feedback from local political leaders because they feel as though we are paying attention to thier small towns.
2. Our name recognition, especially in areas of the state we don’t serve, is up. This is helpful when we reach out to members of the state legislature on important issues.
3. The submissions from employees to be included in the program continues to rise. They love the feedback they are getting when thier ads run.
4. The results of our recruitment efforts (both specifically Acadian and EMS careers in general) are increasing.

Budget

The cost of the 26-week media buy (radio and TV) was approximately $125,000. Our production cost for newspaper and social media ads are in-house and the production cost for radio spots is budgeted at $2,000 for the 26-week campaign

Files: Acadian Ambulance My Community Gaby 30.mp3, Acadian Ambulance Neighbors Chris 30.mp3, Acadian Ambulance Not The Same Sandy 30.mp3, Acadian Richard Z 2 Knowing Life Matters.mp3, Acadian Richard Z. 1 Neighbors Helping Neighbors.mp3, Acadian2019 Rural 30 A.mp3, Acadian2019 Rural 30 B.mp3, Acadian2019 Rural 30 C.mp3, Acadian2019 Rural 30 D.mp3, Home Town carousel promo.png, Hometown John Williams CENLA BW.pdf, Hometown Media Generic LA.pdf, Hometown Media Kaylen Guillory Acadia.pdf, Hometown Media Luke Mayeux Air Med BW.pdf, Hometown Media Nathan Ponthier CENLA.pdf, Hometown Media Scott Johnson Hub City.pdf, Hometown Media Taylor Walden CENLA.pdf, Media map.pdf