The Challenge

Defending a Brooklyn institution from becoming background noise

Maimonides Health System, better known as “Maimo,” had been caring for Brooklyn for over 100 years. But a turf war began as Manhattan’s biggest hospitals came to play on Maimo’s block. They had nationally known names, deep pockets and an eye on Brooklyn.

Maimonides had become a Legacy Giant.

The challenge wasn’t clinical credibility. It was cultural relevance. In a category increasingly filled with generic healthcare advertising, Maimonides needed to remind Brooklynites why their neighborhood hospital mattered — and why nobody understood Brooklyn like Brooklyn itself.

The Wake Up

You can’t fake Brooklyn

To reestablish cultural relevance, Maimo needed to stop moving like a healthcare system and start acting like a true part of Brooklyn culture.

Our insight was simple: in Brooklyn, authenticity is everything.

And unlike the newcomers entering the borough, Maimonides already had something they couldn’t manufacture — decades of real connection to the people, neighborhoods, and communities they served.

The Stance + The Movement

My Bklyn. My Care.

We made the community the hero: Every person featured in our 360º campaign was either a Brooklyn resident or a Maimonides staff member.

“This is more than a series of ads about a health system. It’s our love letter to Brooklyn,” said the VP of Maimonides Marketing and Communication. “This campaign reminds people that the best way to care for Brooklyn is to love Brooklyn and that’s what we’re here to do.”

Take it to the streets

Our biggest competitors were buying the biggest OOH boards. We outsmarted them by moving deeper — with hyper-targeted, street-level OOH, reminding our audience that world-class care was right around the corner. We went neighborhood by neighborhood, picking priority markets and focusing spend based on residents’ awareness and visitation rates. The OOH was complemented by an emotionally driven, culturally anthemic video our audience saw in their bodega and in their barbershop, on their corner and on their phone.

In every language

Of course, Brooklyn was no ordinary audience: 50% speak one of 200 languages other than English. We translated and transcreated our message in Spanish, Arabic, Chinese and Russian so that everyone in Brooklyn knew they could count on Maimo.

The Pulse

A Reputation Grows in Brooklyn

Brooklyn showed up for one of its own: In an overcrowded media market, we got 30% more impressions than we predicted. CPM costs dropped 25% and the number of Brooklynites picking Maimo first for emergency care jumped 31%.