• by Amy Corr , Staff Writer, March 11, 2013

The University of Colorado Hospital and its agency, Cactus, launched a print series three years ago, with frameable art prints, mailed to a large audience of doctors, that highlighted the hospital’s advancements in various departments.

This year, again armed with a small budget, Cactus sent a direct-mail piece to doctors nationwide, describing this year’s print: a high-end, limited-edition letterpress poster of the Hippocratic Oath (health-care workers’ oath of  professional conduct), hand-cranked on a 1961 vintage Vandercook proof press. Since this art print was a limited edition, doctors had to act fast and reserve their copy online.

Not surprisingly, doctors did indeed act fast -- within a week of the campaign launch, all 300 prints from the first run were reserved.

Demand continued for additional prints, so the University of Colorado Hospital did a second run, for a total of only 1,000 posters,compared to tens of thousands of initial announcements sent out.  Check out the making of the prints here.

“We decided to go with a poster of the Hippocratic Oath because at a time when our target audience is inundated with messages about the business of healthcare, the oath represents the core values that unite medical professionals and healers around the world,” said Mike Lee, social media director at Cactus.

“While the University of Colorado Hospital has strong name recognition in the medical field, they only enjoy modest brand understanding,” continued Lee. “While certainly one of the goals is to drive referrals in the short term, on a higher level it is to build brand awareness and ensure the University of Colorado Hospital is top of mind when it comes to their four key service areas: cancer, neurology, cardiology and transplants.”