Aspen Dental grew rapidly in the 20 years since its founding, but with growth lagging in mature markets and nearing complete saturation for new markets, Aspen found themselves struggling to meet 2020 goals. They came to Heat with a two-pronged challenge. The first was to drive short-term demand among “Dental Delayers” – our core patient base. And the second was to identify specific, addressable customer segments that we could attract.

We developed a customer growth strategy to identify high-priority audience segments and the barriers that prevented them from getting dental care. Our target patient had a low income, no insurance coverage and a deep mistrust of doctors. With this insight, we created a campaign that focused on our patients and had them speak on our behalf to be the advocates of our brand. We leveraged market research channels to uncover raw, authentic stories about patients’ lives before Aspen Dental said ‘yes’ and removed the barriers others wouldn’t. In every story, patients were denied care by other dentists due to lack of insurance or poor credit. But once Aspen Dental said ‘yes’ to care, they experienced its life-changing impact.

We captured these stories on film, and launched a fully integrated campaign through TV, print, radio and social, centered around a simple message: “Yes, Aspen Dental can help you, no matter your circumstances”.

Results:
16:1 ROI, 14% growth in annual revenue
16% increase in call volume
22% jump in new patient appointments
33% increase in new online appointments
Search CPA down 40% YOY
New record for annual appointment volume, with 140K new appointments in 2019