Talk about a successful “newsjacking.” At the same time Prince Harry and Meghan Markle — the duke and duchess of Sussex — welcomed son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, local media was invited to a San Francisco hospital’s “crowning ceremony” for newborn babies to draw attention to National Nurses Week.
Breaking through the noise
National Nurses Week starts on May 6 and ends on May 12. It’s an important reminder to honor nurses worldwide for the work they do and the vital role they play in providing healthcare. Unfortunately, in the typical 24-hour news cycle, National Nurses Week often gets lost in the shuffle.
Sutter Health, a not-for-profit health system in Northern California, decided to combat this by generating some news-grabbing, nurse-related headlines at its new San Francisco facility during National Nurses Week.
The timing of baby Archie’s birth provided the perfect platform.
Setting the stage
Planning began in late April, two weeks ahead of the birth of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s baby. The hospital, with the help of Landis Communications, commissioned June Shiraki, a labor and delivery nurse who also happens to be a crotchet master, to make a series of “royal crowns.”
The announcement of the baby’s arrival was made at 2:30 p.m. BST on May 6 in London, which was 6:30 a.m. PST. Sutter Health and Landis Communications sprang into action, alerting the hospital staff that the campaign was underway, securing parental consent to crown the babies who shared little Archie’s birthday and include them in promotional material. A pre-approved press release was also sent out. Local reporters were invited to attend a “crowning ceremony,” in which the babies born that morning were presented with their own crocheted headpieces.
Earned media results
The campaign received national attention. It was covered in Access Hollywood, Associated Press, Inside Edition, MSN.com and USA Today — as well as local press. San Francisco’s CBS, NBC and FOX affiliates ran their own standalone stories.
On social, highlights included an ABC News tweet with a video about the crowning ceremony that was viewed more than 220,000 times.
Sutter Health also got a congratulatory tweet from the U.K. Consulate in San Francisco’s official Twitter account.
We tip our 🎩 to @SutterHealth’s California Pacific Medical Center for this lovely idea! 🇬🇧🇺🇸🍼 #specialrelationship https://t.co/VAuqeOqT21
— UK Consulate in SF (@UKin_SF) May 7, 2019
