The Clio Awards - Creative Summit

Mayo Clinic's Visual Stunner: 'Transforming Health Care'

Futuristic metaphors abound

The Mayo Clinic’s new “Transforming Health Care” campaign boasts artful videos with dynamic visuals that surprise and delight. Sleek and futuristic, these clips play like trailers from a Hollywood sci-fi flick, with poetic and playful touches throughout.

Each commercial shows advanced research and diagnostic technology in front of LED walls and floors. At various points, words such as “unsolvable,” “untreatable” and “undefinable” appear. Those prefixes, however, don’t last long. They’re excised, like infected tissue—and at one point a wrecking ball swings into play.

“We’ve dedicated ourselves to removing barriers from the patient experience during treatment and are applying that same dedication to bring these capabilities to life through our latest advertising creative,” says Mayo CMO Sherri Gilligan.

Simultaneously soothing and invigorating, this stylish, stylized work transcends the sum of its (cutting-edge, robotic) parts. Guided by skillful humans, tech has the power to defeat illness and injury. That message resonates in shimmery tones, much like the upbeat ambient soundtrack.

“Transforming Health Care” serves as a follow-up to the client’s equally unconventional Viola Davis-voiced initiative from 2020 that focused on peace of mind. (In 2021, Inspira somewhat similarly fused machines and healing, but that particular operation relied more on comedy.)

“We set out to translate the high quality of care we provide our patients into an imaginative creative campaign, because ultimately, our goal is to inspire patient confidence when they choose Mayo Clinic,” said Wes Weleczki, the hospital’s executive creative director. “We are challenging the category’s traditional approach to advertising, much like we continue to challenge traditional approaches in healthcare more broadly.”

Directing team Espadaysantacruz helped craft the push through production studio 1stAveMachine. The ads will air on national TV through a PGA sponsorship and in select markets, with digital and social extensions.

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