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UCSD System Seeking Northern Exposure

The UC San Diego Health System, which operates hospitals in Hillcrest and La Jolla, has launched a major branding campaign in a move to grab more market share in North County — with an emphasis on reaching consumers in coastal communities such as Encinitas and Oceanside.

The health system is among the first organizations to experiment with a “moving billboard” advertising wrap on the exterior of the North County Transit District’s Coaster train, said Kim Kennedy, executive director of marketing and communications for UCSD Health Sciences, an umbrella group that includes the UCSD Health System and the university’s medical schools.

The Oceanside-based transit district, through an agreement with Clear Channel Communications Inc., has begun selling advertising space on the Coaster, with Wells Fargo signing on as the first advertiser and UCSD Health System following suit shortly thereafter, said Deborah Castillo, transit district spokeswoman.

UCSD is seeking to publicize the fact that the health system recently opened a string of specialty care centers in Encinitas. Its messages incorporate key visual elements of its new “One Place” campaign, along with North County-focused tag lines that let commuters know UCSD health care is “closer than you think.”

UCSD Health System is paying roughly $400,000 for 18 months of Coaster advertising, Kennedy said. “We decided that the corridor from Oceanside to downtown is a key growth area for the county,” she said. “It’s part of a strategic plan to increase our overall geographic footprint.”

Kennedy said the health system’s messaging will be seen by as many as 5,000 passengers per weekday and 1,000 or more on the weekends — figures based on the North County Transit District’s ridership numbers.

Hello, North County

UCSD Health System features two main hospitals — the 386-bed UC San Diego Medical Center in Hillcrest and the 119-bed UC San Diego Thornton Hospital in La Jolla. The system also includes the Moores Cancer Center and the Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center in La Jolla, which opened in August.

There are additional outpatient locations and clinics throughout the San Diego area, including ones in Chula Vista and Scripps Ranch, as well as Murrieta in Riverside County.

Starting two years ago, the UCSD Health System began quietly expanding into the North Coastal region, with a Hyperbaric Medicine and Wound Healing Center opening in September 2010 in Encinitas. A UCSD-run cardiology clinic opened in November of that year at the same location.

UCSD then acquired the San Diego Cancer Center in February. The center, which also has an office in Vista, is now being rebranded as the UC San Diego Health System Medical Plaza, Kennedy said. The plaza includes other specialty services such as concierge medicine, orthopedics and surgery.

Kennedy said that her market analysis showed that the health system should have more specialty sites available, particularly in the North Coastal area.

New Marketing Approach

Now that the sites are there, UCSD is seeking to get its name out among consumers who might assume they have to drive an hour or more to access a UCSD specialist. Kennedy said UCSD is exploring health-screening events tied to its Coaster advertising, such as blood pressure checks on the Encinitas train station platform in February.

“It’s a change of course for the UCSD Health System, which has traditionally not done a lot of brand marketing,” Kennedy acknowledged.

Kennedy also oversees the health system’s larger “One Place” campaign, launched in 2011, which includes TV commercials, billboards and print and online ads. The campaign calls attention to the fact that UCSD is the only academic health system in San Diego, as well as other market differentiators such as having the county’s only hospital-based holistic birthing center and the only National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center.

“Health care marketing is challenging because you’re marketing to individuals, but those individuals are rarely the people who are actually paying for the service,” said Rachel Kerestes, strategy director for San Diego branding agency MiresBall. However, the approach must be successful on some level, she said, “otherwise you wouldn’t see so many hospitals and pharmaceutical companies doing it.”

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