JFK Medical Center was looking for a way to boost bariatric surgery volume in a fiercely competitive market. The first step was to get potential patients to attend informational seminars.

Having met with more than fifty surgical candidates, we heard the same concerns over and over: “Would I be able to eat what I want after the surgery and still lose weight?” and, “What if I want to reverse the surgery?” We found that patients are afraid of the more serious malabsorptive surgeries, such as sleeve gastrectomy and gastric bypass, and weren’t aware of restrictive surgeries such as gastric banding (Lap-Band®). We knew that if we could get prospective patients to the seminars, we could fully explain their options.

Using a grocery bag instead of a stomach, we showed how Lap-Band® works to reduce the patient’s appetite, not her food options. Lap-Band® also gives her the option of having the surgery reversed. These benefits don’t apply to malabsorptive surgeries. This creative was used in print ads as well as digital banner and display ads.

Patients flooded into JFK’s seminars and, as a result, created a three-month backlog in scheduling surgeries.