By Tod Brubaker, Creative Director, KHJ Brand Activation
A few days ago, I was having lunch with colleagues at a restaurant near our Seaport offices. We had great Mexican food and a fabulous view of the water.
But what really got my attention was the menu – an iPad. There was one for each of us.
From my days working as a waiter during college, I couldn’t help wondering how many were spilled, dripped and slopped on. Our waitress admitted to trashing 3 of them.
In any case, it was fun touching, tapping and swiping my way through the restaurant’s vast offering.
One of the advantages of an iPad “carte du jour” is that you can include high resolution photos of tasty looking dishes. This new level of menu engagement had an interesting effect on my ordering behavior. Instead of going for my usual chicken burrito, I was lured into the fancier (and higher priced) mole poblano – something I’ve never ordered before. I wasn’t disappointed.
When I got back to my office, a patient education project was waiting for me. Inspired by my iLunch experience, I wondered how I could make the creative more fun and engaging.
For years now, we’ve been hearing about the possibilities of gaming to promote health and wellness. Healthcare organizations are collaborating with game developers to help patients stay fit, manage childhood diabetes and even comply with cancer treatment.
According to 1 study,* these video games make people better patients by using goals, rewards, and the support of family and friends via social media to change behavior. That’s why payers such as Humana have gotten into the action with games that encourage healthier eating habits and disease prevention.
So video games can help patients lose weight, quit smoking or adhere to a care plan. But how can they help medical device manufacturers who mainly target physicians, researchers, and the C-suite?
Here are a few examples of how medical device gaming can be a winner:
- Product demos – Don’t just show customers how your product works, let them experience it in a fun and engaging way that gets them talking about it
- Physician networks – Develop a social media game that appeals to physicians, invites them to play one another, and educates them about your product
- Sales tools – Create an entertaining way to train your sales team, encourage healthy competition, and reward the highest earners
While not everything is appropriate for a game – you certainly don’t want to trivialize serious health care issues or make innovative technology seem frivolous – the right application could engage your customers like never before.
The question is: are you game?
[*Source: Journal of Pediatrics: A Video Game Improves Behavioral Outcomes in Adolescents and Young Adults with Cancer: A Randomized Trial, 2008]This is 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.