In its bid to recruit U.S.-based doctors and nurses, the Government of British Columbia has launched an integrated cross-border campaign that’s intended to reach them where they work, where they study and even where they take their breaks.
The Vancouver office of iProspect, a division of Dentsu, led the media plan and buy, which combines programmatic digital OOH, hyper-local static placements and targeted digital, social and print ads in three states: Washington, Oregon and California.
The province invested $5 million to promote the message “Follow Your Heart to B.C.” – an effort aimed at hitting healthcare professionals right in the feels.
“We don’t often see Canadian public sector campaigns extend across the border with this level of strategic and emotional intent,” says Caroline Umeokeoma, account director at iProspect.
DOOH ads are being served across 14,000 digital screens at restaurants, grocery stories and rideshare hubs, as well as billboards and transit shelters within a 16-kilometre radius of healthcare facilities.
There are also site-specific static and digital OOH placements within 3.5 kilometres of hospitals including the University of Washington Medical Center, UCLA, UCSF and Cedars-Sinai, among others.
Layered in were print advertisements in six U.S. medical publications with a combined circulation of over half a million, and a branded coffee truck activation at Seattle hospitals, offering complimentary coffee and messaging directly to healthcare workers during shift changes.
Creative was developed in collaboration with Vancouver branding agency Here Be Monsters and directs healthcare workers to B.C.’s recruitment website to explore job opportunities and access support to navigate the process of moving.
“With the chaos and uncertainty happening in the U.S., we are seizing the opportunity to attract the talent we need to join and strengthen our public, universal healthcare system in British Columbia,” Health Minister Josie Osborne said in a statement.
B.C. has taken steps to streamline the application process for nurses and doctors, with health care one of several sectors where Canadian jurisdictions see an opportunity to attract talent amid the U.S. government’s fluid immigration policies and protracted battles with universities. Toronto and Montreal, for instance, are actively recruiting academics.
The province says the six-week campaign is expected to reach approximately 80% of healthcare professionals in the targeted areas.
This work is part of a larger effort by the province to recruit international talent through its “Team BC” approach. The province says the campaign has generated more than 1,600 expressions of interest from U.S.-based healthcare professionals, including 704 doctors and 525 nurses, since the coordinated rollout began in early March.
“Our goal was to meet healthcare workers where they are, geographically and emotionally, by combining geo-targeted media with bold, resonant creative,” Umeokeoma says. “It’s a fresh approach to public sector marketing that proves meaningful connection can drive real-world impact.”
