A celebrity and a story make for an attention-grabbing video

One sad reality of hospitals—especially children’s hospitals—is that some patients will spend Christmas Day away from their homes and families in the comparatively cold and cheerless environs of a care facility. 

While it’s not unusual for hospitals to make special efforts to brighten their patients’ Christmas by delivering presents and decorating festively for the holiday, few have been able to convey the cheer these efforts bring as well as Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children. 

It helped that the golf legend himself stars in this entertaining video that tells a classic story: It has a beginning, a middle, and an end; it sets up a challenge and then resolves it; and it includes an appealing cast of characters in addition to the tale’s hero. There was nothing gratuitous about Palmer’s appearance, since it is through his personal efforts that the hospital is able to deliver care to the area’s children. 

But it was the actual patients and their families who sealed the deal in this captivating video that attracted an astonishing 41,000 views (not to mention 31 comments on YouTube, like the one that proclaims, “OMG. I’m crying. This is so very touching. Thank you, Mr. Palmer,” or the one that reads, “Arnold, you’re the man”). In three short minutes—appropriate for a time-challenged audience—we are introduced to children whose conditions prevent them from spending the holidays at home and Palmer taking a helicopter ride to the rescue. In addition to generating views, the video was featured on home pages of prestigious sites from CBS Sports and The Huffington Post to the Golf Channel and Golfweek, and has been recognized with awards from other organizations. And now the video is the winner of the Best Marketing Video category in Ragan’s 2014 Health Care PR and Marketing Awards.

We’re pleased to join those who have honored this video and its creator, Michael Schmidt.

Want to get recognized for your hard work? Find out about Ragan and PR Daily’s award programs here: https://www.ragan.com/Awards/RaganAwardsPrograms.aspx.