University of Colorado Health encourages men to see the doctor

It’s a cliché, but it’s true: Men often don’t see the doctor until they’re sick or in pain.

University of Colorado Health (UCHealth) and Colorado Health Medical Group physicians wanted to change that trend, because when men wait, they often get diagnosed with a more serious disease that requires advanced treatment.

To reach this type of man who doesn’t see the doctor, UCHealth targeted its audience with three things: beer, trivia, and sports. Because it reached its audience in a fun, effective way, we award UCHealth the Grand Prize for Campaign of the Year (Small Budget) in Ragan’s 2013 Health Care PR and Marketing Awards.

In ode to the NCAA’s March Madness basketball tournament, it created its own men’s health awareness month—March MAN-ness—to highlight the importance of disease prevention and early detection for men.

This campaign was centered around happy hours and a robust website.

Several complimentary happy hours were held at sports bars and breweries throughout Colorado. More than 200 people attended. During the happy hours, there was a panel of doctors to talk about diseases, and sports celebrities and sports coaches from local universities spoke, too. The panel discussions were streamed live through Google+ Hangouts and are available at marchmanness.org.

The website also features short YouTube videos with early detection stories, health screening guidelines, information about how to select an appointment, and podcasts. So far, the site has garnered 3,000 visitors.

In total, the campaign generated 600,000 impressions.

Congratulations to Dave Rizzotto, Kory Swanson, Randi Freeman, Nicole Caputo, Kelly Tracer, Kyle Stopperan, and Shannon Medlicott.

Want to get recognized for your hard work? Find out about Ragan and PR Daily’s award programs here.