Health system PR team seizes an opportunity

While other hospitals discourage patients (and staff) from playing Pokémon Go in the hallways and cafeteria, C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital (part of the University of Michigan Health System) saw the runaway hit game as a way to encourage children to get out of their rooms, get a little exercise, interact with others and relieve some of the tedium of a hospital stay. The success of a video shot by the hospital to promote that message has won C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital first place in the “PR Video” category of PR Daily’s 2016 Video Awards.

The University of Michigan Health System PR crew headed to the hospital with a video camera and captured candid moments of children playing the game. Recognizing that the potential for footage spanned a variety of media, the team produced its own video to accompany blog posts targeted to social media, and the story was pitched to traditional media with the video serving as B-roll. 

USA Today took the team up on the offer and used the video in its coverage, which led to additional coverage on the Today Show, Huffington Post, and multiple other outlets. Online, Now This News used the footage in a video that earned seven million views. The University of Michigan Health System’s YouTube Channel recorded over 115,000 views of the video, and its Facebook page accounted for more than 201,000 plays. 

Congrats to Joe Hallisy, Bryan McCullough and Beata Mostafavi for seeing a great PR opportunity for video and making the most of it.