By Rob Kinslow, Sr. Strategist, Brand Communication, KHJ Brand Activation
Be careful what you wish for.
Last month, just before Hanukkah and Christmas, 180 of our medical device brethren gathered in Irvine, Calif. for the MassDevice Big 100 West Roundtable. (Full disclosure: KHJ co-sponsored, promoted and attended the event.) With so many medical device-heads in one place, we at KHJ decided to conduct a three-question survey. We asked attendees what they saw as their greatest challenges in 2012, their greatest opportunity, and—the clincher—”What medical device would you like gift-wrapped?”
We asked this last question as a bit of an experiment, believing on a gut level that the answers might divulge some unique insight. We were either very wrong or very right. Here are the answers to the gift question, ever so slightly modified to protect the innocent:
- A client with a large budget
- Anything which helps weight loss
- Fountain of Youth
- Bio-artificial liver
- Personalized device
- A total exam
- A cure for cancer
- A new toothbrush
- Renal denervation device
- New insulin pump
- Physical fitness device
- Blood pressure monitor
- Transcatheter heart valve (2 responses)
- More stent technology
- U.S. approved vascular imaging balloon catheter
- Noninvasive glucose
- Health monitor tied to my smart phone
- Solution for congestive heart failure
- Any life saving device approved by the FDA in 6 months!
- Implantable muscle stimulator
- A cholesterol monitoring device
- Glucose monitor
- Transapical heart valve
On one hand, you might say that some respondents took the question seriously and others didn’t. You might say some of the responses were self-serving; it’s a safe bet that some were wishing for their own company’s next product introduction. You might say there is little insight to be gleaned here.
On the other hand, consider how this crowd answered our other two questions. It identified its top three challenges for 2012 as regulatory/compliance pressures; doing more with less; and competitive pressures. Its greatest opportunity? The single greatest response by far was “Bringing forward the next generation of technology innovation.” These people are worried about their chances of success in an increasingly restrictive, competitive, energy-sapping environment.
So I think a little levity and self-serving interest can be forgiven. My own Christmas lists while growing up weren’t that different, allegorically speaking. Besides, there were certain items I could count on finding in my stocking every year: three crisp new American dollar bills from my Canadian grandmother; $15 from a great-aunt (which was all the money in the world); and, from my parents, a new toothbrush. All seven of us Kinslow kids got a new toothbrush every Christmas as a kind of symbol that a new year was coming and along with it a fresh start, as well as a new device to meet increasing compliance pressures from the American Dental Association. One of us might even grow up perhaps not to cure cancer, but to write about those who are trying every day.
So to me, the Big 100 West list is a great list, every entry relevant. If even a third arrive in 2012, it’s gonna be a great year. What’s on your list?
This is the second post of the Brand and Beyond™ blog, a new resource for the medical device industry. Brand and Beyond™ is sponsored by KHJ, headquartered in Boston, MA. KHJ is a strategic brand activation firm that is passionate about helping people see and realize what’s possible for themselves and the world around them.