HRET
Launching a first-of-its-kind national campaign to reposition healthcare environmental services professionals as essential contributors to patient safety — generating 5.4 million impressions in 48 days.
Where Service Meets Quality is a national awareness and advocacy campaign created by Birk Creative for American Hospital Association and Association for the Health Care Environment, to elevate the role of Environmental Services Technicians in hospitals and reposition their work as essential to patient safety and healthcare quality.
The campaign was designed as a turnkey, scalable platform combining brand strategy, identity design, content, digital media, and performance measurement. The objective was not membership promotion. The objective was to change how an entire profession is understood, searched, and valued.
5,474,319 impressions in 48 days
91,608 engagements
National reach across all 50 states and the District of Columbia
$3.09 average CPM
Demand generation CPC as low as $0.10
Brand and professional search click through rates above 6 percent
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5.4M
IMPRESSIONS IN 48 DAYS
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91K
ENGAGEMENTS
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$3.09
AVERAGE CPM
The Challenge
Environmental Services Technicians are critical to infection prevention in hospitals, yet their work is widely misunderstood and undervalued. Public perception reduces the role to cleaning rather than clinical environmental hygiene and disinfection. Inside healthcare systems, EVS professionals often lack recognition as trained contributors to patient safety and quality outcomes.
After brief public visibility during the COVID period, the profession returned to near invisibility.
For the American Hospital Association and its Association for the Health Care Environment, there was no national campaign framework, no unified narrative, and no digital infrastructure capable of shifting perception at scale.
The digital environment compounded the problem. Online search for EVS was dominated by electric vehicles. Authentic stories about healthcare EVS professionals were almost nonexistent. Previous awareness efforts lacked reach, consistency, and sustained media presence.
The organization needed a national campaign that could elevate professional identity, rebuild pride within the workforce, and create a long term advocacy platform that could be sustained beyond a single media flight.
The Insight
The issue was not lack of awareness of hospitals. It was lack of understanding of the profession.
Language, imagery, and search behavior framed EVS work as custodial rather than clinical. The public and many healthcare stakeholders did not connect EVS work to infection prevention, patient outcomes, or quality performance.
To change perception, the profession needed a new narrative system that could reshape how EVS professionals are described, represented, and discovered online.
Our Idea
Create a national positioning platform that defines EVS professionals as the point where service excellence and healthcare quality intersect.
The campaign would establish Healthcare EVS as a recognizable professional category and introduce a durable narrative that connects environmental services directly to infection prevention and patient safety.
The Work
Birk Creative built the campaign from a blank page. Strategic discovery and audience research were conducted to understand the profession, current perceptions, digital behavior, and stakeholder needs. Three core audience groups were identified.
Healthcare and infection prevention leaders
The general public and patients
EVS leaders responsible for workforce training and development
Campaign & Positioning
We developed the campaign name, “Where Service Meets Quality,” to reposition the profession as a confident and clinical contributor rather than a support function. The name anchors EVS work to outcomes that healthcare systems and patients understand and value.
Crafting a Resonant Brand Identity
The primary typeface chosen for the system is ITC Franklin Gothic Condensed. This was a strategic decision to provide a clear, straightforward, and friendly backdrop for the brand identity, moving away from a generic corporate feel to something more human and accessible. For web and internal documents, Roboto was selected as a versatile and highly legible alternate. This typographic system ensures that all messaging is delivered in a functional, understated, and professional manner.
The color palette was designed to bring forth a bright and energetic presence. We intentionally moved away from a traditionally muted healthcare palette to grab attention for this overlooked profession. The chosen Teal and Blue are shared with the parent Project Firstline program, creating visual cohesion, while a bold Red adds vibrancy and signifies the critical importance of the EVS role. A supporting neutral palette of black and cool grays ensures clarity and allows the primary colors and brand graphics to take center stage.
This entire visual system was codified in a comprehensive branding guidebook, providing a full set of standards to ensure a consistent and professional application of the new identity across all campaign materials and touch points.
Content and platform development
A campaign landing experience was designed to introduce the profession, establish key messages, and direct users to Project Firstline and certification resources without barriers.
Six editorial articles were written to humanize EVS professionals, explain certification pathways, clarify the technical nature of the work, and connect EVS activity directly to patient outcomes. Language was intentionally shifted from generic terms such as clean to clinically accurate terminology including disinfection, infection prevention, and environmental hygiene.
A comprehensive fact sheet and downloadable resource was produced to explain EVS roles, certifications, and career pathways. The content was formatted for both web distribution and professional use.
Social media content and design templates were created for multi platform use, including quote cards, educational graphics, and campaign messages optimized for professional and public audiences.
A presentation template was designed for EVS leaders and healthcare stakeholders to support conference presentations, internal briefings, and workforce training sessions.
Digital advertising and media execution
A national Google Ads strategy was built to generate rapid awareness and establish Healthcare EVS as a searchable category.
Three campaign types were deployed in parallel.
Demand generation campaigns delivered large scale awareness across YouTube, Gmail, and Discover.
Display campaigns extended reach across websites and mobile applications.
Search campaigns captured high intent audiences seeking professional, leadership, and quality related information.
Brand and non brand search campaigns targeted professional queries including EVS leadership roles, healthcare quality service, certified technicians, and hospital sanitation and quality related topics.
Creative assets were produced in text, image, and video ready formats. All creative reinforced the Where Service Meets Quality positioning and directed traffic to the campaign landing experience and Project Firstline resources.
Project management and client enablement
Birk Creative managed production schedules, creative workflows, media deployment, optimization, reporting, and compliance review. The team also provided education and training for AHA and AHE stakeholders on digital advertising strategy, performance interpretation, and campaign management to build internal capacity for future initiatives.
The Result
During the 48 day national campaign window, the initiative generated 5,474,319 impressions and 91,608 engagements across all states and the District of Columbia.
Demand generation campaigns delivered 4,572,632 impressions and 80,098 engagements with an average cost per click of $0.10.
Display campaigns delivered 859,157 impressions and 8,658 engagements.
Search campaigns delivered strong professional performance. Brand search achieved a click through rate above 6 percent. Non brand search delivered 1,748 engagements from healthcare quality and sanitation related queries.
The campaign achieved an average cost per thousand impressions of $3.09, demonstrating exceptional efficiency for a national healthcare awareness initiative.
Strategic Impact
The campaign established the first large scale digital narrative positioning EVS professionals as essential contributors to patient safety and healthcare quality.
“Where Service Meets Quality” now serves as a sustainable advocacy platform for the Association for the Health Care Environment, supported by reusable brand assets, content, and media infrastructure.
Traffic to Project Firstline and related training and certification resources increased, connecting healthcare workers and leaders to professional development pathways.
The campaign established Healthcare EVS as a recognizable and searchable professional category and created the foundation for ongoing workforce and public education.
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Why it endures
The platform was designed for longevity rather than a single awareness flight.
The identity system, editorial framework, content library, advertising structure, and reporting model can be reused across future workforce initiatives, certification outreach, and public education efforts.
The campaign demonstrates how language, brand design, content strategy, and digital media can be integrated to reposition an underrecognized profession and deliver measurable national impact.
What this work included
Strategic discovery and audience research
Campaign positioning and naming
SEO and keyword strategy establishing Healthcare EVS as a category
Complete visual identity and brand standards
Landing page design and content
Six editorial articles and professional fact resources
Presentation and social templates for stakeholder advocacy
National Google Ads strategy and execution across demand generation, display, and search
Creative production for multi format media assets
Media optimization, reporting, and performance analysis
Client education, training and campaign enablement
Summary“Where Service Meets Quality” demonstrates Birk Creative’s ability to build national scale awareness platforms from blank page strategy through measurable impact. The campaign integrates positioning, brand design, content systems, digital advertising, and performance optimization to shift public and professional perception at scale.
The work establishes a durable advocacy infrastructure for healthcare environmental services professionals and exemplifies Birk Creative’s capability to deliver complex, multi stakeholder campaigns in underserved and highly regulated environments.