Branding Irons - über Impact Unlimited

SIZZLE AWARDS
different levels of iron. The red lights
signifi ed iron overload, the yellow
lights represented iron defi ciency,
and the green lights — referred to
as the target zone — symbolized the
optimal iron intake.
Heavy Metal
At the show, the Fabulous Iron
Game station stood in a corner of
Vifor’s 32-by-32-foot booth, visible to
attendees approaching from the
converging aisles. Meanwhile, a
booth hostess beckoned attendees as
they neared the exhibit, encouraging
them to take part in the game.
As crowds gathered, the hostess
asked attendees if there was anyone
who would like to play the Fabulous
Iron Game. When someone volunteered,
she invited him or her to pick
up the old iron, which she explained
represented the older iron therapy,
and place it on the ironing-board
graphic near the cradled irons. Then
she asked the player to slide the iron
the entire 6-foot length of the ironing
board from tip to tip, just as if he or
she were ironing a white lab coat.
But it wasn’t as simple as steam
and press — the attendee struggled
to move the heavy iron, which seemed
to fi ght every inch. As the crowd
watched the battle, the hostess said,
“It is taking you a long time to fi nish
the task, isn’t it? That is because older
injections take hours and hours to administer.”
As the attendee attempted
to move the recalcitrant iron, the red
lights on the screen lit up, which the
hostess explained demonstrated iron
levels above the target range — a
serious safety issue for patients.
What she didn’t mention was the
fact that the two competitor irons and
the ironing board itself had been
equipped with super magnets. When
a game participant took either of those
irons from their cradles, the action
triggered the magnets, which turned
46 OCTOBER 2009 EXHIBITOR MAGAZINE
the seemingly simple prospect of
pushing an iron across the playing surface
into a practically impossible feat.
When the attendee gave up on the
antique iron, the hostess asked him
or her to try the travel iron, which she
said represented modern iron therapies.
The participant’s efforts were met
with resistance once again, and the
yellow lights lit up, showing a score
below the target zone, an effi cacy
problem, according to the hostess. As
the attendee fought to move the iron
to the target zone, the hostess said,
Attendees crowded
around the Vifor
International Inc.
booth where the
pharmaceutical company
turned mundane
household appliances
into an interactive
game to tell the story
of Ferinject, its new
injectable iron therapy.
“You’re having a diffi cult time aren’t
you? Imagine how diffi cult it is for your
patient with injections that come only
in small doses. They either have to
keep coming back for more injections,
or they still feel lethargic.”
Next, the hostess asked the participant
to try the Ferinject iron. The
attendee quickly found sliding the
red-and-purple iron to the target zone
to be as easy as scrawling a signature
on a prescription pad. The comparable
ease with which the Ferinject iron
moved often surprised the participant.
Expecting resistance after the fi rst two
irons, the attendee’s Herculean efforts
meant the red-and-purple iron, and
the player, nearly fl ew to the tip of the
board, often eliciting chuckles from
aisle-side onlookers.
Moving the Ferinject iron into the
target zone prompted the column of
green lights to glow, while the screen
displayed the text: “Congratulations
You Filled the Iron Stores Optimally.”
While many attendees broke into
applause, others clamored for the
chance to give the game a try.
The hostess thanked the attendee
who had just fi nished the game and
suggested he or she, along with the
rest of the attendees who watched the
action, step further into the exhibit to
learn more about the product and collect
a branded USB drive containing
educational materials about Ferinject.
The Target Zone
By the last day of the show, Vifor
distributed its branded USB drives to
approximately 1,800 physician attendees
who stopped to check out the
Fabulous Iron Game and took a tour of
the Ferinject exhibit — a whopping 26
percent of the doctors in attendance.
“This game did everything a traffi c
builder should do. It’s relevant; it’s
entertaining; it’s educational. And it
got people engaged with Ferinject,”
said one Sizzle Awards judge.
When the show came to a close,
Vifor’s game concept and execution
proved to be just what the doctor
ordered, according to Kevin Padden,
executive director of meeting and
communication strategies at Impact
Unlimited. “We heard feedback from
quite a few physician attendees that
they felt this simple metaphor helped
them understand Ferinject and place it
in a useful context vis-à-vis the competitive
options,” Padden says. “For a new
product with a different approach to
addressing an existing condition, that
represents an enormous success.” E
Janet Van Vleet, contributing writer;
editorial@exhibitormagazine.com