Billboard Advertising in San Antonio

 For the past month, Billboard Connection has been working hand in hand with local advertising firm, Guerra- Deberry and Coody, to create an effective and memorable stroke awareness campaign for Baptist Health Systems.  In light of the recent news revealing that San Antonio was one of the worst places to have a stroke in Texas, Baptist has quickly responded.  Monday, August 6th, marked the first day that all five hospitals of the Baptist Health System  offered round-the-clock treatment for stroke victims. Before, a stroke victim in serious condition  would have to be transported to Austin or Dallas to secure care from a certified stroke program.  The addition of a twenty four hour stroke program is a huge step for healthcare in San Antonio.

After a few initial meetings,  Billboard Connection and GDC decided that an innovative and unique campaign would be the best approach to spreading the good news to our community. Various ideas included guerilla marketing tactics such as presenting street graffiti art, towing a giant helicopter banner, and even staging  stroke reenactments throughout the city! However, the first official event put on by BBC took place this past Friday at King Willies bar and grill during the monthly First Friday Festival downtown. The event was titled “Stroke Happens!” and was meant to push the fact that stroke can happen anywhere. To illustrate this fact, we installed 80 fully dressed mannequins ( donning nifty Stroke Happens Baptist T-Shirts) in a giant pile in the middle of King Willies. This installation represented the aproximate number of stroke related deaths in San Antonio for 35- 60 year olds each year!

Needless to say, the installation garnered a ton of attention. Passerby’s had no choice but to stare and inspect the scene as they walked by on their way through the facility. While visitors stopped, members of the GDC and BBC street team passed out informational flyers that help people recognize the 4 signs of a stroke victim. The information was well recieved and crowd members were relieved to hear that Baptist Healh System was improving service to stroke victims.

Crowd members took time to share a photo opportunity with the two lone standing mannequins. Even the SAPD dropped by learn about stroke awareness! From 10 am until 1 am, our crew passed out information and made sure everyone knew what the “giant pile of dummies” meant. Our installation even recieved praise from many art patrons visiting the near by blue star facility. People raved that the installation even reminded them of a TRUTH anti smoking commercial on tv. One young art lover had a particular fondness for our blue Stroke Happens! flyers…

While this particular could definately be categorized as Non Traditional /alternative advertising, it was throroughly effective on site! People were constantly asking questions and reading our material and signage. At the end of the day, we are confident that our bizzare yet innovative installation helped spread stroke awareness into the packed first friday crowd.

It was fun! Thanks for reading, now im shipping back to boston!
PS. We loved the wigs.

-By Geraud Gonzales, August 6 2008