Business of Being Kids

Valley Children’s Hospital had a fairly simple request. One, produce a branding campaign that would break through the clutter of hospital ads. Two, produce a second spot that focused on making the Greater Fresno area aware of the hospital’s general ER capabilities.

Children’s has done a fantastic job of making the entire Central Valley aware of their work with the most extreme pediatric medical cases, but they also want people to know they can bring their kids with broken bones, upset tummies and other urgent care or emergency room situations to the hospital.

We internally challenged ourself to find a way to integrate these two ideas. We started the concept phase by deciding to stay away from images of sick children. We also wanted to be sure the tone of both the branding campaign and emergency room spot were similar. It didn’t seem prudent to make a really serious branding campaign that might conflict with a stand-alone spot that encouraged people to see Valley Children’s Hospital as a place to take the smaller cases as well.

The result was the tag line “The Business of Being a Kid is Pretty Important Stuff.” The first branding spot shows kids doing what they love and celebrates how great they are in their own environment. It represents Children’s dedication to keeping kids healthy and just being kids. The ER spot shows kids just being kids. By showing kids in situations that almost ALL parents have experienced, it drives home the idea that Children’s is for those everyday situations as well. The build up of tension before something almost happens pairs well with the upbeat music and conversational voiceover.

The spots were well received by the client and we had a blast working with all those cool kids to make them great. And isn’t that what really matters?