• by Les Luchter , Yesterday

“Over the river from a place you well know is a land called New Jersey where holidays glow,” begins the 2-minute hero film in RWJBarnabas’ first-ever holiday campaign, created by the StrawberryFrog agency.

The health system’s 14 hospitals and 9,000 affiliated physicians are concentrated in New Jersey, so the campaign is “a bit of a holiday love letter” to the Garden State, according to RWJ Barnabas CMO Brian Deffaa. It evokes such NJ customs as ordering Taylor ham, egg and cheese at an old-timey diner to a “nonna” serving up “all seven fishes.”

“So, when you're home for the holidays,” the spot concludes, “Don't forget to ask, ‘What exit are you?’”

The film was made in real locations in Nutley, Clifton and Montclair, with a cast of “authentic New Jerseyans,” RJWBarnabas says.

It’s being supported with an ad campaign, bought by Harmelin Media, that includes :30 and :15 cutdowns running on such outlets as the Big Apple’s WABC-TV, while a :90 version is running on cable’s News 12 New Jersey.

There are also radio spots running on such outlets as the Audacy streaming platform and Jersey’s WMGQ-FM (“Magic 98.3”) and WKXW-FM  (“New Jersey 101.5”). RJW Barnabas is also a sponsor of a “virtual toy drive” run by iHeart Radio and New York’s WLTW (“106.7 Lite FM”), with donations benefitting kids at the health system’s Children’s Health network.

OOH ads, meanwhile, have been placed on interstate highways, in transit hubs like Penn Station and the World Trade Center, and at Santa displays in Jersey shopping malls like Bridgewater, Freehold Raceway, Jersey Gardens and Newport Center.

The campaign’s goal is “to connect with New Jersey families in the places and moments that matter most during the holidays,” StrawberryFrog GM Steve Scutellaro tells Marketing Daily. Success will be measured by video views, “positive sentiment for the brand,” and click-throughs to the campaign landing page, which includes a link to the virtual toy drive.

The target audience for all this?  “Household healthcare decision-makers across NJ  (ages 25–70),” says Scutellaro.