Yarmouth Hospital Foundation
Studio 11 Creative Group and Leanne Beddow, project lead, developed a strategy and plan to announce a $22 million anonymous donation to the Yarmouth Hospital Foundation, the largest major gift known in Atlantic Canada. The strategy was a two-pronged approach, beginning with communication to donors and key hospital partners, with a public announcement to follow on March 10, 2021, communicating to all stakeholders of YHF.
In implementing this plan, Studio 11 provided key messaging, a timeline and targeted communications such as a Q&A document to the Board of Directors and direct mail communications piece to YHF donors. We also provided a detailed public announcement plan that included a media relations strategy to inform Yarmouth Hospital staff, patients, donors and surrounding communities as well as the broader Atlantic Canadian region.
Media coverage was very favourable and extensive. Highlights included being the lead story on the Atlantic regions’ number one evening news show, CTV News Atlantic at 6, a story in the first 15 minutes on CBC Nova Scotia News (TV) and all local media covered the announcement including the Tri-County Vanguard, Le Courrier de la Nouvelle Écosse, Y95.5 CJLS radio along with Digby & Bridgewater sister stations as well as CIFA-FM, the Francophone radio station out of Clare. CBC Radio-Canada also interviewed Vice-Chair Neil LeBlanc and Board representative Lisa Doucette on announcement day.
Jonathan MacInnis, reporting for CTV Atlantic, covered the live announcement for the evenings news television story but also, wrote a story for Bell-aaffiliated Virgin and other radio stations that ran from St. John’s, Newfoundland to Vancouver, B.C. In addition to the stories that ran on traditional news outlets, all media also posted stories on their websites.
