About Practo
About Practo“Health is not valued till sickness comes.” – Thomas Fuller
Unfortunately, some of us realize this the hard way after sickness comes. And then what? You need to visit the doctor of course. Typically if we have some minor ailments we visit our “family doctor” somewhere nearby. But that may not always suffice. At times we need to visit specialists etc. Also, with some of us opting for “preventive healthcare” we may want to proactively get tested… where do we go? To a health app. And then why not visit the leading health app in India… well sure… that is exactly what Practo is… the top health app in India.
With the aim to help improve human longevity by simplifying healthcare, Practo is a doctor search engine used by patients. Practo Ray, the practice management solution, helps doctors manage patients and digital healthcare records every year – creating the world’s first and only healthcare hyper loop that is connecting the entire healthcare ecosystem and is helping millions of consumers make better healthcare decisions.
Over the next 2-5 years, Practo will continue to transform the industry globally and deliver on its promise of being the best Health App. As a company, they are growing at a lightning speed. While they already list 200,000 healthcare practitioners, 5,000 diagnostic centers, over the next few months they will add more features, products and several more categories including hospitals, diagnostic centers as well as spas, salons, wellness and fitness centers as well. Practo will also continue to add top-notch talent to its world-class team of 1500 Practeons to continue to build the best products that will transform healthcare for consumers around the world.
In the next year, the footprint will expand from the current 35 Indian cities and four countries to over 100 Indian cities and 10 countries across South East Asia, Latin America, Middle East and Eastern Europe.
Business Objectives
“Practo is on a mission is to help mankind live healthier, longer lives. We believe this is possible if we improve the healthcare experience for consumers by simplifying it and centering the whole ecosystem around them” says Shashank ND, Founder & CEO of Practo. 
Simplifying heathcare seems to be one of Practo’s missions. But how do you simplify a serious topic like healthcare? One is obviously by simplifying the entire user experience on the app. And secondly, by using communication that is easy for the consumer to understand and identify with. Enter the Valentine Campaign by Practo with the hashtag #HealthyBreakups… Yes, you read it right, healthy breakups was the theme of the Practo 2016 Valentine campaign.
Approach / Strategy Adopted
Practo indulged in a fun brand awareness digital campaign for Valentine’s Day. The aim has been to educate consumers on some of the unhealthy habits they should ideally break up with using the hashtag #HealthyBreakups. Published on social media such as Facebook & Twitter, there were visuals which shared the message of breaking up with desirable but unhealthy food/drinks to ensure you live a longer, healthier life. People have also been invited to share about the healthy breakups they have made this Valentine.
Typically the messaging around Valentine’s revolves around ‘romantic’ stuff. So in this age of excessive content and too many ads most talking about ‘lovey dovey’ stuff, it is impressive stuff like this that stands out.
Let’s illustrate this with a few examples and you will know exactly why their ads made a statement:
- Say no to fries. Have a healthy breakup. This had a “cute” visual of a heart and a crying box of fries. The sign off line was “We’ll help you find the right Cardiologist”
- “This is not good for me. This cannot happen again.” This has the visual of a tooth and a chocolate in bed. Sign off line here was “We’ll help you find the right Dentist”
- Another example. A bone telling an aerated drinks bottle “You don’t make me feel strong and secure”. Sign off line used was “We’ll help you find the right Orthopedist”
Just reading about is cute. The visuals are even cuter.
Results achieved
The Valentine’s Day posts were published on Social Media channels such as Facebook and Twitter on February 13. Practo claims that the post reached out to over 1.4 million people on Facebook and 200,000 people on Twitter. They also claim to have received in a day over 10,000 shares on Facebook, and over 400 re-tweets on Twitter.
Learnings
- Healthcare needn’t have a boring or serious communication plan. You can drive a serious message across by adding creative / interesting elements.
- Content is king. That would be the obvious reason why a healthcare brand would get 10,000 shares on Facebook & 400 re-tweets on Twitter.
- To stand out, it’s a good approach to use a “different” type of messaging… like talking about break-ups when typically everyone is talking about Love!
To sum up the case study learnings in a few words: We’re living in a digital age. And if you’ve got interesting content, be rest assured of shares and re-tweets and increased brand awareness using digital / social media tools.
Photo credits: Facebook, Twitter
