"Healthcare Products: Feel-Good Promotions"
By Cynthia Ironson
Advantages: 2004OCTOBER
Health-related promotional products inform, prevent, organize and protect. In short, they convey an important message - your client cares.
For promotions that foster the health and well-being of recipients while creating multiple ad impressions, guide clients to health-related promotional products. They can choose products that perform noble functions like protecting the skin from the sun, making the injured more comfortable, helping organize and record vital health information and teaching people how to perform self-exams that could detect health problems early and, possibly, save lives.
According to Alan Meixner, vice president of sales for Pilgrim Plastic Products (asi/78100), health-related products represent a growing market. "Every year it grows 10% to 15% for us," he says, adding that selling products like the company's educational charts is a huge opportunity for distributors. "There are just so many different facets that a distributor has an opportunity to make money at just about every level."
Markets
The top users of health-related products are exactly who you think they are: pharmaceutical companies, drug-store chains, medical facilities, hospitals and physicians. The healthcare community needs to relay important information to the public, and many times a product offered by our industry can help them do just that.
But distributors should not limit themselves. There are many other possible markets and promotional uses for health-related items. Media outlets like newspapers, magazines, radio, Web sites and television sponsor health-related programs and could benefit from your services. Any organization that's connected to health or fitness, like clothing and shoe manufacturers, fitness equipment makers, health clubs and gyms, health-food and vitamin stores, insurance companies and supermarket chains, are possibilities.
"While most people think of health-related promotional items for hospitals, clinics, the department of public health … really anyone can use these types of promotional tools," says Patrick Broun, director of marketing for FirstPoint International, (asi/54405). "Who wouldn't feel good about putting their company name on a piece called Good Nutrition? The idea of promoting your company, educating the consumer, and providing the consumer with an educational piece, all tied together, spells success in a promotion."
Product Variety
Distributors who search for inspiration in the health-related products category will find plenty of it. There's a wide range of stock items, and if that doesn't excite the client, distributors can work with several willing suppliers on a custom piece. Products range between useful, everyday items to highly specific educational products.
Among the items that will come in handy for recipients on a daily basis are things like bandage dispensers and sun protection things offered by Pillowline (asi/78105). According to Mike Rudquist, product manager for Pillowline's parent company, Norwood Promotional Products, the company's white bandage dispenser has advertising areas on both front and back, and distributors can add a carabiner clip. In fact, Pillowline's Sun Relief Kit Plus also includes a carabiner clip, making it good for companies that want people to take along the product while they're active. "It's a great kit for sun protection and first aid applications," he says. "Every time [the recipient] uses the product, they will be reminded that the company advertising on it cared about their well-being."
Another line of products that can be used by a variety of markets and industries are the health-related "passports" offered by Mdi/G2 (asi/68222). According to Lisa Carpenter, the company's director of sales, the passport line enhances consumer organization. In the child and adult health passports, recipients can record immunizations, fingerprints and more. The company offers a health passport for the family pet and a medication journal to record all medications that a person is prescribed, including herbal medications. Recipients will refer to these passports time and time again. "The passport size makes them easy and convenient to carry at all times," she says, adding that each passport can also be customized by embossing the client's logo and contact information on the cover.
Educational health-related promotional products are popular sellers and are especially relevant to the health-care community. Since it introduced its breast self-exam chart product in 1986, Pilgrim Plastics has sold about 100 million of them. Each plastic chart has a life of about five to 10 years, according to Meixner. And because the product is designed to hang in the shower and demonstrate how women should perform a self-exam once a month, the advertiser's imprint delivers steady ad impressions throughout the year. Pilgrim also offers self-exam charts that help men check themselves for testicular cancer.
Other products from Pilgrim have specific applications in a doctor's office or hospital. The company's pain gauge, according to Meixner, allows patients who can't communicate with a nurse or doctor to tell them about their pain. "The gauge is printed with six different faces to show different levels of pain, from mild pain to excruciating," he notes. Another example is a template made specifically for dermatologists, which allows doctors to record on an illustration of a body part exactly where they treated the patient. Other medically-related products include eye charts and dosage guides. Meixner points out that since the company is a custom manufacturer, it can make a product to fit any promotional requirement for distributor's clients in the healthcare industry.
FirstPoint (a.k.a. Better Life Line) also manufactures informational health-related products. The company offers over 35 varieties of Pocket Sliders in a range of healthcare topics, some specifically focused on an age group, others on nutrition, weight loss, mental health, child safety and disease management and prevention, among other titles. The Pocket Slider is a slide chart that's packed with information and puts it at the recipient's fingertips in an easy-to-use format, says Broun. The company also offers health information products in other formats, like a 24-panel brochure (called the Pocket Doctor) and a credit-card size, eight-panel card that lays flat but folds out (called Key Points). Also, the company makes the Post Up, a small mini-poster that has health information on one side and adhesive tape on the other. "Our more popular Post Up titles include Safety Tips for Seniors, Safety at Home - A Kid's Guide, Healthy Eating - 70 Great Snacks, and Quick Tips for Cutting Calories," Broun notes.
Promotions In Action
The following examples will help illustrate that health-related products have wide promotional applications and can reach a variety of audiences with your client's ad message:
- A national shoe manufacturer promoted its line of shoes by customizing a "Walking for Your Health" pocket slider.
- A fitness club chain promoted good nutrition to members with a healthy eating chart, showing people how they can keep cholesterol levels in check by choosing foods with good fats.
- A fire department used a bandage dispenser as a giveaway at an open house. The product featured the department's logo and fire safety phone numbers.
- A financial institution used a logoed Sun Relief Kit Plus as an incentive for people to open a savings account in the summer. The product featured a logo and a "Summer Savings" tagline.
- A pharmaceutical company distributed a skin cancer chart to physicians. The product teaches people how to examine their own skin and look for moles that are potentially cancerous.
- Hospitals have used the Child Health Passport in their new mom program gift baskets. They also give out the Adult Health Passports and Medication Journals during senior programs and health fairs.
- A veterinary clinic gave a logoed Pet Health Passport to new patients and offered them for sale in the reception area.
- An insurance company distributed 65,000 Counting Carbs Sliders at trade shows to promote healthy eating.
As you can see, the healthcare community and many other types of companies and organizations will get mileage from promotions centered on health-related products. Distributors can get creative with this category, as well as emphasize that these products will show that clients support the health and well-being of recipients - an added benefit that will make buyers feel good about their promotions.
Cindy Ironson is a contributing writer for Advantages
Used with permission of The Advertising Specialty Institute copyright 2005
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