THE CHALLENGE
WhidbeyHealth faced an urgent need to stabilize and sustain essential local healthcare after the financial disruption of COVID-19, escalating workforce pressures, and the ongoing reality of rural healthcare reimbursement. The proposed levy lid lift—Proposition 1—would be the first increase in the Whidbey Island Public Hospital District’s 57-year history, asking voters to increase the rate from $0.078 to $0.50 per $1,000 of assessed value.
The campaign needed to translate a complex public-health and financial issue into a clear, credible, community-centered reason to vote. It also had to counter long-standing perceptions about hospital care and spending, build trust across the island, and motivate action in a short election window—despite the fact that first-time levy-lift campaigns rarely have an easy path to approval.
The Strategy
Lionfish helped create and activate Citizens for a Healthy Whidbey, a community-led campaign designed to make the issue personal: protecting access to local healthcare for families, neighbors, and visitors. The strategy centered on a simple, emotionally resonant promise: Support Local Healthcare. Vote Yes on Proposition 1., supported by plain-language education about what was at stake, why the funding was needed, and how it would be used.
The campaign combined sustained, omnichannel visibility with a structured public-education effort. Rather than relying on one medium, Lionfish built a coordinated mix of direct mail, print, digital advertising, social media, earned media, town halls, community presentations, outdoor signage, and grassroots outreach to reach voters across Whidbey Island.
Campaign Role
Lionfish served as an active catalyst and strategic partner throughout the campaign, not simply as a creative resource. The team led campaign planning, issue research, message development, public-awareness strategy, media planning, creative direction, copywriting, project management, production management, vendor coordination, and social-media execution.
Lionfish also developed the business case and supporting communications that enabled campaign leaders, staff, advocates, and community volunteers to explain the levy clearly and consistently in town halls, service-club presentations, media conversations, and one-on-one outreach.
Campaign Plan
The campaign addressed both the emotional and practical reasons to vote yes. It connected the proposition to essential care close to home while providing transparent information about the hospital district’s financial realities, including the impact of COVID-19, government reimbursement rates, staffing needs, and the investment required to sustain services.
Priority funding messages focused on retaining and recruiting staff and providers, supporting a living wage for team members, and improving critical information-technology and communication systems. The levy lift was projected to add approximately $6 million to WhidbeyHealth’s $115 million annual operating budget.
Creative Design & Execution
Lionfish created a bold, recognizable campaign system built around the “Support Local Healthcare” message, a heart-and-pulse visual, and service-specific variations that made the benefits tangible—from women’s care and walk-in clinics to cancer care, infusion services, and diabetes care. Campaign creative appeared consistently across print, direct mail, social, digital advertising, signage, presentations, fact sheets, yard signs, and community materials.
The team designed and produced:
- Two island-wide direct-mail postcard drops, each planned to reach 34,668 residential and business addresses.
- Print advertising, newspaper inserts, front-page sticky notes, and digital advertising through local media partners.
- A campaign Facebook presence with compliant political-ad setup, a content calendar, paid promotion, community education, and response monitoring.
- Town-hall and service-club presentation templates, FAQ materials, fact sheets, pocket cards, banners, and yard signs.
Results
Why it Matters
DELIVERABLES
- Campaign strategy and strategic counsel
- Business case and public-education messaging
- Campaign name, theme, and visual identity
- Integrated communications and media plan
- Public-awareness campaign
- Town-hall and community-presentation materials
- Speaker messaging, FAQs, fact sheets, and pocket cards
- Direct-mail strategy, creative, production, and coordination
- Print, newspaper insert, and digital advertising
- Social-media campaign, content calendar, graphics, and paid promotion
- Yard signs, banners, and outdoor campaign signage
- Media and vendor coordination
- Campaign management, volunteer support, and ongoing execution leadership
