A few years ago my ad agency was pitching a TV campaign to the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System. In the room were the two top officers of the system, some board members and the marketing director. The work was about cancer care. The CEO of North Shore had most recently been a senior director at Goldman Sachs.
We showed the storyboard, which was great, and then we broke out the big guns: a voiceover by Morgan Freeman. Since first listening to the narrative style of Mr. Freeman in the Shawshank Redemption, I had always wanted to use him as a voiceover. We mashed up some of his lines from the movie and played them for the room to set the tone — then read the script. It was healthcare at its most poignant. You know what it feels like when your body goes a tingle?
When the silence was finally broken and feeling returned to our bodies one of the board members asked “What will he cost,?” to which the CEO by way of Goldman Sachs responded reaching for his wallet “I don’t care, I’ll pay for him out of my pocket.”
Prayers and props to Morgan Freeman. Please get well sir.