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For healthcare CEOs and boards
Healthcare marketing for CEOs is marketing measured by what your board tracks: admissions, referrals, specialist retention, occupancy and reputation. Brighter Health is an Adelaide-based specialist agency that plans, creates and buys that marketing for hospitals, aged care, specialist and allied health providers across Australia.
Brighter Health is the healthcare practice of Brighter, an independent branding and marketing agency founded in Adelaide in 1984 by Brenton Murray. We work with hospital CEOs, boards and marketing teams on the commercial problems marketing can move: filling theatre lists, attracting and keeping visiting medical officers (VMOs), converting referrals into admissions, lifting occupancy and protecting reputation through change.
Our clients include private hospitals, aged care providers, radiology and specialist groups, a health insurer, NDIS providers and health tech companies. We cover strategy through to delivery: audits, marketing plans, brand, websites, campaigns, content and media buying.
By sector
Different organisations feel different pressure. Here's where we would begin for each, and the work that shows it.
| If you lead a… | The pressure we hear most | Where we'd start | See the work |
|---|---|---|---|
| Private hospital | Theatre utilisation, attracting VMOs, referrals that never become admissions | A marketing audit, then a pooled specialist campaign | Burnside, Stirling |
| Specialist or radiology group | Referrer awareness, friction between referral and booking | Brand and website built around the referral journey | Benson Radiology, Adelaide MaxFax |
| Aged care provider | Occupancy, family confidence, workforce | Repositioning and a community campaign | Southern Cross Care, Pride Aged Living |
| Health insurer or fund | Explaining complex cover, growing membership | Brand strategy and a member campaign | Emergency Services Health |
| NDIS or community health | Reach, accessibility, trust with families | An accessible website and lead generation | Can:Do Group |
Each project started with a commercial problem, not a creative brief. Here's what was asked, what we did and what it delivered.
A long-term partnership with the CEO and executive team: brand, website, patient communications and campaigns, including bringing SportsMed into the Burnside brand.
A stakeholder roadshow led to 'Cover Like No Other' and animated characters that explain complex cover to first responders, rolled out nationally.
Repositioned to speak directly to older adults with 'Better for Life', across TV, radio, cinema and print, backed by a new website.
A refreshed brand across every clinic, a website that makes booking simpler and a research platform for the radiology team.
Book a meeting with Ben Murray to explore the possibilities.
An independent review of your brand, website, referral pathways and campaigns, benchmarked against competitors.
A marketing plan tied to admissions, case mix, occupancy or workforce targets, with budget and timing.
Brand, campaigns, websites, content and specialist materials, each reviewed against AHPRA and TGA requirements.
We plan, negotiate and buy across TV, radio, press, outdoor, digital screens, search and social.
Reporting tailored to the goal: reach, search visibility, enquiries, referral activity, bookings and admissions where data is available.
Choosing
There's no single right answer. This is an honest comparison, written by a specialist agency, so weigh it accordingly.
| Criteria | Generalist agency | Specialist healthcare agency |
|---|---|---|
| Knows your organisation day to day | Learns over time | Learns over time |
| AHPRA and TGA rules built in | Often learnt on the job | Part of every review |
| Understands VMOs, case mix and referral pathways | Rarely at the start | From day one |
| Media buying and negotiation | Strong | Strong, with healthcare media plans |
| Senior strategy and creative depth | Strong | Strong |
| Cost structure | Project or retainer | Project or retainer |
| Best for | Broad consumer campaigns with a strong internal health lead | Growth, specialist and referral work where compliance matters |
A freelancer will be faster and cheaper, and that's the right call.
The National Law restricts both. We won't put your organisation at risk to chase a short-term result.
We report on the measures your board uses. If that's not what you need, we'll point you to someone who fits.
Questions
It connects marketing to the hospital's commercial goals: theatre utilisation, specialist recruitment and retention, referrals and reputation. At Brighter Health that covers audits, plans, brand, websites, campaigns, content and media buying, reported against measures your board already uses.
Focused projects can sit around $20,000, while integrated campaigns run to more than $80,000 before media. The biggest variables are scope, how many services or specialists are involved, and media spend. We scope and quote before any work begins.
We agree the measure up front. Depending on the goal, that's reach, search visibility, enquiries, referral activity, bookings or admissions, where your data allows.
Alongside them. We add strategy, creative capacity and media buying around your team's priorities.
No. We're based in Adelaide and work with healthcare organisations across Australia.
Yes. Every campaign is reviewed against AHPRA's advertising guidelines and the Therapeutic Goods Advertising Code before it goes live, alongside your own clinical review.
Visiting specialists contribute to a shared media fund. Together they unlock placements and production quality no single practice could afford, while the hospital's brand gets stronger. We developed the model with Burnside Hospital and manage it end to end.
Most organisations start with a marketing audit: an independent review of brand, digital presence and referral pathways, with recommendations your board can act on.
“Their strategic insights and creativity have been instrumental in our sustained success.”
“The depth of knowledge and expertise they bring is something I couldn't hire internally.”
“The team truly knows what they're doing, bringing not only aesthetic appeal but also a well-thought-out strategy.”
Admissions, referrals, occupancy or a launch date. Start with a 30-minute conversation with Ben Murray. No pitch deck, just a straight answer on what we'd do first.
