Ubiquity Group was honored with a Gold Key award and Silver Key award in this year’s BMA Colorado Gold Key Gala held on April 26. The annual Gold Key Competition is recognized as one of Colorado’s most highly acclaimed marketing competitions. With awards in 34 categories and a crowd filled with Colorado’s marketing elite, the event showcases the finest in Colorado-based B2B advertising and communications.

The Ubiquity Group submissions showcased the firm’s technical acuity:

The BMA Gold Award was for the Flexitrate® Pathfinder app, developed for Gambro, a global medical technology company focused on extracorporeal therapies. The Flexitrate App helps kidney doctors understand how their prescription will change, when using Gambro’s acute dialysis device.

The Silver Award in the Content Marketing category was for CRRTcounts.com, a rising tide microsite, also built for Gambro. It is a curated website created to promote the benefits of CRRT. It’s also a lead generation engine that provides physician engagement tools to see how they interact with the company.

“It’s nice to have our peers review and appreciate the importance of usability, simplicity of communication within a highly technical market space” say Lisa Herter.

From wholesome to hooch, here’s what we recommend.

Lisa’s favorites:

• Beer – Easy. Weissbier, sitting in the biergarten on the Neckar river in Tüebingen
• Wine – Easy too. It’s gotta be from home. Owen Roe’s Sharecropper’s Pinot Noir, 2011
• Soda – Is this Seltzer water? Goes well in mixed drinks
• Spirits – Breckenridge Bourbon, neat.
• Cocktail – “After a bike ride in the summer Margarita”
  1 part Tequila, 1/2 part Grand Marnier, 1/2 part freshly squeezed lime juice
  Muddle 3 lime slices in a short cocktail glass, add ice. In a shaker combine ingredients and crushed ice. Shake and pour. Oh yeah, salt the rim if your sodium deficient from the bike ride.

Cara’s favorites:

• Beer – New Belgium Sunshine Wheat
• Wine – Our Daily Red, Orleans Hill Winery
• Soda – Vernors Ginger Ale
• Spirits – Woodford Reserve Kentucky Bourbon
• Cocktail – Caipirinha
  1 lime, 2oz of Cachaca(Brazilian Rum), Sugar to taste, ice cubes
  Cut lime into quarters, place in glass. Sprinkle with sugar and crush/muddle for 5 sec. Add the Cachaca and stir to mix. Add ice and stir again. Enjoy!

Jamie’s favorites:

• Beer – Any variety of Chimay
• Spirits – Johnny Walker Green Label
• Cocktail – Knob & Nog
  Knob Creek Whiskey and egg nog
  Add about a shot to your favorite glass of egg nog.

John’s favorites:

• Beer – Oskar Blues Old Chub
• Wine – Inniskillin Ice Wine
• Soda – Virgil’s Root Beer
• Spirits – Breckenridge Bourbon, rocks
• Cocktail – Old Fashioned
  1 shot of bourbon, 1 sugar cube, 2 dashes of bitters, Splash of soda water
  Place sugar cube in glass and saturate with bitters. Add a dash of soda water. Muddle until dissolved. Fill glass with ice cubes and liquor. Garnish with orange slice, lemon and a couple maraschino cherries.

Share your favorites in the comments below. Have a happy holiday season.

1. A website is a conversation
No one will approach you and ask you “What is your mission statement,” so why is it pasted on the homepage of your website? Someone who visits your website is looking for how you will make their lives easier/better/more enjoyable. Most likely you’re not the only one that provides your product or service. Engaging visitors in a conversational manner answers their questions and convinces them to provide you with useful information about themselves. This helps convert visitors into customers. Awareness of the language that you use throughout your site can make this difference. And it can be a result of something as simple as labeling a button “Buy Now”(too aggressive) vs. “Add to Cart”(passive).

2. Marketing campaigns should truly be campaigns
An e-blast does not make a campaign. The average sales person will give up after contact #4, but most decision makers aren’t ready to buy until contact #9. Developing a multi-touch campaign can make the difference. By initiating a campaign that has multiple stages you are allowing prospective clients to explore what you are offering and develop a familiarity with your company.

3. Internet tracking is creepy but effective
One presenter relayed a story about how he clicked on a targeted e-blast he received and within an hour he had received a phone call from the sender to follow up and see if he had any questions about the offer. Creepy. Using information that is volunteered through social media allows you to qualify prospectives before you initiate contact. Combining social media and tracking technology companies can effectively locate, engage and ultimately land new clients.

4. Online marketing takes place anywhere you get internet
This is a simple reminder. A rising number of people aren’t reading your e-blast at their desk in Outlook. They are probably previewing it on their smart phone or tablet device or through web mail. So the templates you’ve used for years don’t necessarily look good in these applications. You always have to consider the wide array of options new technology provides your audience and then compensate for all the variables.

5. It’s important to look at why you do something
Anyone can produce a better widget or provide outstanding service. But why do you do it? What is it about your organization that means prospective clients should choose you? If you have a passion for what you are offering, existing and prospective clients will see it and respond in a positive way.

All of these ideas remind me that technology, when used correctly, can be an extremely powerful tool. But, there has to be more to it. People are skeptical of one-off e-blasts and special offers. When you engage them with continuous, passionate dialog they will not only buy in, they will become your best advocates.

The introduction of a moveable type offered a more mechanized solution for printing, but there was still a need for professionals for artful operation. In the MedTech industry therapies are being automated all the time, but the final treatment is prescribed by the physician, not the machine. There is a necessity to creatively problem solve and compensate for unseen issues that cannot be predicted by technology. The combination of flexibility and knowledge makes what the physician does an art rather than basic data entry.

One challenge of my job is to find out what doctors and nurses are saying about these new devices and incorporate their feedback for better usability and better results. When products are in development I serve as a translator between engineers and users to refine functionality. Keeping that human component in mind, my aim is to develop simplified ways for an array of users to interact with the device so that pertinent information is communicated quickly and accurately.

Truly effective solutions come from a marriage of technology and human interaction. At Ubiquity this is true for everything from user interfaces to marketing strategies. I truly enjoy the challenge of finding the compelling common ground among the seemingly unrelated. Are there skills your job requires that goes beyond the technology of your industry?

A surprising 25 percent of physicians are using both smartphones and tablets in their practices, according to a recent survey by physician training site Quantia Communications. They’re using them primarily to research new drugs (73 percent), treatments (50 percent) and clinical research (50 percent), as well as for diagnosing patients (44 percent).

Most interesting: “Super mobile” physicians, or those who have both a smartphone and tablet, use them more frequently than physicians who own just one device, the study shows. For example, 50 percent of super-mobile physicians use their devices to research new treatments, but only 39 percent of physicians who own just a smartphone do the same.

Physicians overall are adopting mobile technology at an exponential rate, according to Quantia’s data. More than 80 percent of the survey’s respondents say they own a mobile device, compared to only 50 percent of the general U.S. population, according to the Nielsen Company’s “2011 Mobile Connected Device Report.” Forty-four percent of those who don’t currently own a mobile device say they plan to buy one this year.

The data debunks part of the myth of older physicians not being as mobile-savvy. It appears true that veteran physicians (30-plus years) are less likely to use mobile technology overall; their use rates are 27 points lower than physicians in their first few years of practice. When it comes to tablets, however, 20 percent of that same group of physicians already use them, and another 25 percent say they’re “extremely likely” to use them in the near future. Physicians with 20-plus years of experience–not rookie MDs–are actually the most frequent users of tablets, the study shows. Researchers posit that the cost of tablets may be the deciding factor, as younger physicians typically earn less than more experienced MDs.

Hospitals, one of the slower adopters in recent years, are getting on board, as well. About 18 percent of respondents say their hospital supplied their mobile device.

Despite all this mobile enthusiasm, however, core obstacles to mobile adoption remain, physicians indicate. The big problems are still security/patient privacy (54 percent), concerns about physicians’ liability if they provide care via a mobile device (45 percent) and reimbursement, or how physicians can get paid for mobile-enabled care (35 percent).

Not a surprise, but interesting data nonetheless, is Apple’s continued domination of the mobile health space, at least for physicians. More than 60 percent of smartphone users have iPhones, and virtually all the tablet users had iPads, according to the study.

The study was conducted online in May among nearly 3,800 physician members of QuantiaMD’s service. Read full study. Content provided by Fierce Mobile Healthcare.

Where are the violations?
30% of DDMAC Warning Letters in 2010 cited internet violations. Trade shows were the second most common area for violations. New FDA Guidelines for internet are due out in Q1 or Q2 2011.

What can you do to prevent violations on the internet?

1. Develop a review process for all communications and use it relentlessly with a digital signature.
2. You will need to monitor what others are saying about your product. Be a good listener on social media sites. If a customer or other user is making false or misleading claims about your product, create a process to notify them and document the notification.
3. Regarding database and SEO, you may enter your product in databases or search engines for similar products or supplemental uses; you may not make suggestions or representations of unapproved uses in your communications.
4. Update promotional review policies to consider risk communication on the Internet and sponsored links.
5. Choose a marketing firm with experience and education in Medical Device promotional compliance.

What can you do to prevent violations at trade shows?

1. Always review materials for each new venue and audience.
2. Train all of your trade show staff completely prior to each and every show.
3. No hand-made materials – meaning sales staff shouldn’t show up with hand- made power point presentations!
4. Insure that you have provided all reporters and analysts with the correct information and document this. If they make a false claim later, you are protected.
5. FDA allows the display of a medical device with a pending 510(K) premarket notification under review with the qualifier that the product is not cleared for marketing. You may not take orders.
6. Separate commercial and investigational products within the booth to make clear the regulatory status of each product. A good booth design should allow for change and evolve with each new venue and audience.

Here is a useful sites for FDA Promotion regulations.

It’s important to note that this wasn’t a clinical conference, rather a forum where presenters can share their ideas on health, medicine and the human spirit. The Hotel Del Coronado provided a tremendous venue to soak in all the information and a little salty air.

As a medical device marketer, I would like to share some ideas that I’ve applied to my life and business:

1. “Whatever you can say, you can say it simpler.” – Thomas Goetz, Chief Editor for Wired Magazine.

The irony here is that it took someone who makes a living writing/publishing about cutting-edge, complicated technology, to tell us to simplify.  The audience completely agreed. Medical marketing communication is thorny and convoluted due to fear of the FDA, competitors and public idiocy. Medical communication has lost its hierarchy of importance, personalism, and truth.   If we simplify that, we can get back to what’s really important.

2. Eat Less. Move More. And Relax.

Conceptually, this is as simple as it gets. Who said medicine was a tough subject to learn? Kidding aside, it turns out the US is on target to be at Pandemic levels of Type II Diabetes by 2014. The impact of Type II was a reoccurring conference theme, not just because of effected patient populations, but also the burden on our healthcare system and the economy. Type II is mostly preventable by living a healthier lifestyle, which includes eating more plants and moving more.

One of my favorite speakers was Deepak Chopra. He talked about the importance of relaxing and how it affects our physiology. How we think, our conscience daily choices and what we believe can impact our physical health, positively or negatively. It’s important to stay present, not to discount joy and be accountable for your own health.

3. Cancering – It’s a verb.

We have to think about disease and health differently in order to make any progress. Cancer is no different.  As researchers discover other strains of cancer, they also identify different stages and manifestations. Cancer is a process, like baking. It’s not a destination. What might seem like grammar semantics is actually a new way of thinking about the issue.

4. Everyone should know how they want to die.

With life comes death. As we age, it’s important that we share, with our loved ones, our final preferences. What does this have to do with medicine? Everything. Go to The One Slide Project to get the 5 questions, share them and answer them for yourself.

5. “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”  Jay Walker.

As a creative problem solver, how could I not love this quote? Jay, the founder of Priceline, has collected rare books and prints then started the Walker Library of History and Human Imagination. With his own great imagination and generosity, he has built Medica, an iphone/ipad app of medical illustrations and image from these rare volumes.

If TedMed taught me one thing it’s that our imagination is impressive. From medicine, technology, even joy… if we can think it, we can do it.

Here is an example of what I commonly see:

A well established company puts together a terrific online campaign. They have the right list, the right creative and the right offer. However what they don’t know is that the viewers will be trying to view this information on their smart phones. Some of their audience is on blackberrys, others are on android phones, while some are on the Iphone.

This email had great images, and links to their website and a downloadable white paper. This emailed failed to be opened beyond what was on the browser screen due to many reasons.

Here are some top items to consider when having a mobile experience.

1. Mobile websites only need to have about 20% of the content and navigation that your main site has.

2. Images: Have limited images as they take time to load and will have your user deleting your message.  My current recommendation is to have pages less than 20K. Remember cell companies are now charging by the download.

3. Content: Optimize your content to be viewed on a mobile phone. Offer up a smaller version of whitepapers that entices the reader to want to learn more. Have a text only version of your site in the event some only view information in this manner.

4. Utilize share buttons on the mobile page. Let your user easily email, Like you on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

5 Testing: Although many companies do not have access to multiple mobile browers and products there are online  web based emulator tools such as Iphone Tester.

6. Design: Although the experience on smartphones are becoming more intelligent, you must also think of the lowest common denominator. Some of the best mobile designs are one column and a maximum of two columns.

Using a few best practices will help your email and content get read and thus help you get through to the right contact.

Let us know what you think and what is working for you.

Happy a happy mobile day!

Maybe it would be better to just simply call this a bloated heart condition.

Thanks to Google Health for the following image: https://health.google.com/health/ref/graphic/18123

To view some of the links and thoughts: search hashtag on Twitter: #0ms10

More info will be posted on this blog.