There’s a distinct difference between storytelling and product marketing – just ask the NICU product team at Medtronic.

With a broad portfolio of medical devices and surgical equipment, Medtronic came to us with the challenge of transitioning from talking about their products individually to introducing an area of care – in this case the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) – and highlighting this suite of solutions designed for the tiniest patients.

Medtronic looked to People Productions to collaboratively ideate how best to bring all the NICU products from across the companies’ business units into one cohesive story, while maintaining focus on the most important subject  — the patient. We started with a series of client working sessions to establish the messaging pillars and map the target audience’s journey for the area of care. We determined that sharing the stories of infants and their care teams facing complications in their early life were the best way to convey these messages. 

The first and most crucial part of these stories was ensuring accurate medical scenarios. We partnered with NICU nurses, specialists, and product experts to develop scenarios based on real-life common complications for newborn patients that escalate to treatment. Next, it was time  to bring these stories to life.

Capturing the emotion

Our team knew we needed to start with beautiful, intimate, and medically accurate photography. These photos would highlight the stories across the campaign, including a website, digital marketing, emails, printed brochures, and training materials. 

Because of the sensitive nature of staging a photoshoot in a real NICU during COVID, we built a custom studio set that included all the necessary medical products found in a NICU. Then, we found women who were about to give birth, and several 3-week old babies. To supplement, we scoured the internet to procure life-like anatomically correct silicone dolls for the shoot. Our crew took extra precautions to ensure the safety of our newborn models. Honestly, they might have been the easiest talent we have ever worked with, they slept right through the shoot!

Creating a central hub

The next step was to develop all the campaign pieces to showcase these stories and the Medtronic NICU solutions. The microsite served as a central hub to guide the customer through each story and each product associated with it.

Training the sales team

What is a beautiful marketing piece without a sales team who knows how to speak to it? A crucial part of this campaign’s success was the training deck and webinar for the Medtronic sales team. They were experienced in talking about their products in relation to their business unit, but needed additional training to be able to talk about the products as a portfolio of services offered by Medtronic.

Powering up the lead generation

With everything in place, it was time to engage lead generation tactics to push viewers to the website. Our team developed social media posts, digital ads, print materials, short videos, and tradeshow banners as part of the complete campaign.

With a campaign this large, being able to measure its success is as important to us as it is to the clients. “Over a six-month time period, the marketing campaign resulted in a $1.8 million uplift in sales,” shared Jennifer Ma, Medtronic Senior Principal Global Market Development Manager.

Our team has the experience to create a successful campaign for your company. From finding newborn talent to message development and photography to sales training – we are excited to develop the right creative solution for your campaign needs. Let’s get started.