We’re all sadly familiar with the strain that the COVID19 pandemic put on Vermont’s health care system, and the shortage of health care professionals was of utmost concern.

Listening to a press briefing on the issue by Health Commissioner Mark Levine, we had an idea for a strategy that might help in recruiting critical staff. We developed a quick presentation and contacted the Vermont Department of Health, offering to produce the campaign.

The next day we zoomed with all of the requisite department heads, and to circumvent any snags inherent in state government, offered our services pro bono. To their credit, we were green lit to immediately write and produce the campaign.

Our strategy was pretty simple: we knew the State would have an email database of all current and retired health professionals, and once we had crafted the messaging, we could reach out to all of them directly.

We branded the campaign “Vermont Heroes”, designed a logo and created a three-part direct outreach campaign, and got it in the hands of hundreds of potential recruits a week after our initial contact.