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Digital media is quickly changing the way in which people access medical information and engage with their health. This trend towards more openly available and accessible medical data can be a challenge to the highly regulated healthcare industry. With the launch of the iBGStar, the world’s first blood glucose meter that plugs into an iPhone, healthcare company Sanofi successfully entered a new era in health communications.
“The iBGStar has been launched in 12 different countries across Europe, North America and the Middle East. In Australia, we really wanted to make sure the device was viewed for its real world benefits and not just as a new piece of technology,” Sanofi Australia’s Multi-Channel Marketing Manager Andrew Moore said. “Demonstrating how this device could actually help people better connect with their health was the most important part of the campaign.”
According to Diabetes Australia, nearly 1 million Australians are currently diagnosed with diabetes. For every person diagnosed, it is estimated that there is another who is not yet diagnosed. The iBGStar can make measuring, monitoring and adjusting blood sugar levels easier for a person to integrate managing their health with their busy and increasingly mobile lifestyle.
“The results taken with the device automatically sync with the free iBGStar iPhone app and show the information in a very visual and engaging way. For people living with diabetes, this helps them to identify patterns that can be hard to see otherwise,” Moore explained. “One user saw how his blood sugar levels would spike slightly on a Tuesday night and was able to identify the spike happened at a regular trivia night he went to. Being able to identify and adapt to these patterns is extremely powerful information for people living with diabetes and gives them the opportunity to take control of their health.”
The trend towards people’s increasing engagement with their health and their social connectedness with other people living with diabetes quickly became the key element of the launch campaign. “At the time we already had a social media listening program in place to help gain insights from people living with diabetes. From this we identified online diabetes community advocates and started to engage directly with them.”
Advocates were invited to participate in pre-launch testing of the device under Australian conditions. This testing was not under embargo so advocates could share their experiences more freely via social media. Many did, thus accelerating the campaign’s momentum.
Join Andrew Moore at Cross Media Live 2013, to discover more insights on the launch of iBGStar in Australia. Cross Media Live 2013 will be held on the 3rd and 4th December in Sydney.