Welcome to The Wonderful World of Foundry Healthcare Giveaways.
In a previous post, I was chunnering on about eating children, grammar, commas and proof-reading. With a hyphen. And proper sentences. Not like this.
Another aspect of my job is print buying. The Foundry has built up a good roster of 'traditional' printers, and they are pretty good at helping us to realise (as in 'imagineer') our sometimes off-the-wall creative concepts. After all, it's be different or die. (Not literally.)
But when Foundry Healthcare enters the arena, that 'print buying' job description can sometimes cover so much more than that. Stay with me...
Along with the more traditional giveaways - script pads, diary bands, pens, watches - we sometimes do a bit of 'blue sky thinking'. (Or in my case, 'grey sky thinking'. Google it.) This has led to some slightly unusual promotional items, which have caused a little more shopping around for suppliers than is the norm.
For what it's worth, here's a snapshot of a few past projects for our human and animal health clients. (Yes, we have human clients!)
A snoring greetings card (with a motion-activated sound chip) was our way to attract veterinary HCPs' attention as we talked to them about an excellent pre-op sedative for their customers' dogs.
The same client saw an 'all hands on deck' Foundry Healthcare moment as we carefully attached personalised dog tags around the necks of 1,200 black labrador puppies. They were soft toys, of course, freshly arrived from the Far East and ready for despatch throughout the UK as a promotional mailing. It was the Team Foundry person cutting 1,200 precisely measured strips of blue ribbon who I felt sorry for.
On a literally more human level, we've designed and produced handy polypropylene mini-boxes that kept pain-free, diabetic, blood sample needle sticks safe and sound in handbags and pockets. Cute - but at the same time, very handy, helpful and discreet.
Sticking with the humans, we once hired a couple of contortionists to literally spell out, in body shapes, the name of a ground-breaking stretchable wound dressing. I still get a sore back when thinking of that mailing. And a longing to run away and join the circus.
Cat-shaped mouse mat, anyone? Not a problem, we're good with anything feline - we've already covered an animal health conference room in giant self-adhesive paw prints. Yes, of course they were removable afterwards. We can do lo-tack, hi-tack, self-cling, static cling, interior or exterior, removable or permanent. Even reusable. And that's just the glue.
Foundry Healthcare's done a few shopfits in its time, and one of my favourite items, along with snap frames and literature dispensers, was a sign comprising giant circular layers of plexiglass, inside which was a colour-changing light unit. Brushed silver edges and logo completed the unit and it was a great success with client and visitors.
A Foundry Favourite was a story / colouring / activity book and sticker set that helped kids and parents to understand - and live with - eczema and its attendant wet and dry wrapping routines. We were outlining the benefits of our client's skincare emollients and dressings. It got a very good reaction from HCPs and their younger patients - no pun intended, of course.
Back in the doghouse, a very novel idea we used to promote 'fluid therapy' for animals was a short printed quiz. The answers were revealed by holding a mini-kidney made from red plastic film in front of the leaflet. The kidney 'filtered out' all the rubbish to reveal the correct answer. We then tied this in to a ground-breaking online CPD course.
More from the vaults: a head louse-destroying oil-filled slider pen; small pillows for dogs; paper rulers used to measure patients' legs and thighs (with all shapes and sizes catered for); sunscreen kiddie surfboards and surf shacks; diamante-studded podiatry memory sticks; a footcare-related silver shoe in a silk-lined presentation box; iced gingerbread bees celebrating a new product that used honey to help heal wounds; and our very own Foundry Healthcare Christmas Card 2014, featuring a real-life traditional thermometer for our clients to use as temperatures soared during the yuletide celebrations. As far as we know, nobody got past 106 degrees. Except me, as I shopped around for 100 traditional glass thermometers with instant availability. We got 'em.
We're pretty well-versed in the problems that people with a stoma may sometimes have, with many surprisingly creative solutions to help our global client stand out in this rather niche, yet vital, marketplace. For example, the launch of a new super-soft, super-sticky and super-flexible discreet stoma wafer led to our 'New Dawn' mailer, with a pop-up paper wafer literally rising up from the page, like a sunrise, as the page was turned. We're origami experts, too, of course. Goes with the territory.
Last, but not least: Foundry Healthcare's Medical Mailing, a rather complex 'mix and match' pack of targeted healthcare case studies disguised as a 'Your Results' medical report. Feel free to contact Zoe or Julie at Foundry Healthcare if you'd like one - but it's strictly while limited stocks last, unless you're prepared to have an old one that a maverick courier left out in the rain for 4 hours. I'm still recovering from the shock of seeing those photographs.
My all-time healthcare giveaway favourite? Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), I wasn't responsible for sourcing these, but we DID take delivery of, and were told to 'keep safe', 6 large boxes of soft, plush toys in the shape of - er, shall we just say e.coli? After a couple of years, we recycled what was left as best we could. We're big on recycling.
Plenty more where all those came from, and I can feel a Part 2 coming on soon. But for now, I must be on my way as we need to urgently produce some print estimates for a cartoon polar bear with a skin problem. Wish me luck!
Next time: the day I became a superhero. With photo!
