For me, now!
There are specific vaccines available for distinct groups of people. How to innovatively and effectively reach, inform and activate these people?
- Case 1: cervical cancer in young women (18-26 years) can be prevented by vaccination.
- Case2: pneumonia in elderly people (65+) can be prevented by vaccination.
Interestingly, about the same time, a team in Switzerland and a team in Brazil came up with innovative solutions, both inspired by related technologies.
The Swiss team learned that most young women frequented local cafes to have a relaxing chat with their friends. And that they all had their smartphones with them. In a quick experiment, the innovator put up a few posters in a cafe, teasing the women to scan the coasters under their drink with their phone. Those coasters contained NFC tags (Near Field Communication, think paying with your phone). When their phone connected, a short informational video streamed about the risk for cervical cancer and the value of vaccination. The goal was to generate a conversation with her friends and ultimately a discussion with her doctor.
The team in Brazil faced the challenge that although free vaccination against pneumococcal disease was available in dedicated vaccination centers, the target audience of 65+ year old people did not ask their doctor for a prescription to get the free vaccine. The innovator knew that most elderly people regularly visited their doctor (for other ailments) and had a smartphone. She decided to experiment with Wi-Fi in the doctor’s waiting room. When the waiting patients wanted to log in to the free Wi-Fi with their smartphone, they had to first watch a short video about pneumonia and its prevention. The goal was to stimulate a discussion with their doctor to obtain this essential vaccination.
The Innovation Leader played a role in the above cases by creating communication about those cases across the corporation.
When local innovators generated an idea, the Innovation Leader connected the innovators with specialized teams (in the above cases a global IT team, specialized in these technologies), to jointly experiment.
As Peter Drucker said:
“Quality in a service or product is not what you put into it. It is what the customer gets out of it.”
So, as Innovation Leader, I stimulated innovation experiments by communicating the problems that needed innovative solutions and by making the right connections.
More about this topic: The coming era of ‘on-demand’ marketing, by Peter Dahlstrom and David Edelman, McKinsey
What do you think? Please share!
More of my blogs on innovation: Wim Vandenhouweele
