Campaigns

California needs more healthcare workers. Stat.

The California Wellness Foundation

The Challenge: By 2020, California’s population will grow by 10 million people – the equivalent of adding the population of Michigan. This increase includes a 70-percent jump in the 65+ demographic, putting unprecedented demand on health workers. But professionals like lab techs, medical assistants and others who make up the backbone of the healthcare system are in short supply.

Our Approach: The California Wellness Foundation retained Fenton to put this issue on the map. To reach jobseekers, we held focus groups with young adults ages 16-24 and created Health Jobs Start Here, a on- and offline integrated campaign. We built HealthJobsStartHere.com using language and engagement tactics that young people themselves said they would most likely respond to.  The Web site’s features include “day in the life” testimonials from young health workers and an app that allows visitors to match their zip code to the closest training or job opportunity. We developed a robust social media platform on Facebook and MySpace where people can get their questions answered by real health professionals and partnered with Yahoo! HotJobs to provide content on this growing field. To alert policymakers, we developed a strategy – again built on audience research – that integrates earned media illuminating the looming crisis and an advertising campaign in opinion-leading news dailies.

Progress, Accelerated: In less than two years, Healthjobsstarthere.com has attracted 1.7 million unique visitors. The campaign has been covered in opinion-leading media including The Sacramento Bee, San Francisco Chronicle and Los Angeles Times, keeping the issue on the front burner of policymakers and others.