Our ultrasound business planned to launch a new cardiovascular ultrasound product in June 2015, the business' most critical innovation in 5 years. Cardiovascular ultrasound is used by cardiologists and interventional cardiologists to exam and diagnose heart conditions and to assist with invasive operations. The technology has been around for some time, but we believed our technology was far more advanced than anything on the market to date.
The challenge: Launching a product in a competitively dense ultrasound market with stubbornly loyal customers bombarded by regular, technical, and often dry ultrasound product announcements.
Our objective: GE Healthcare needed to make ultrasound exciting again, break through the technical PR clutter, boost GE brand reputation as an innovator, and generate conversation across the industry ... driving mind share to impact market share.
To make our ultrasound announcement exciting and much more engaging in comparison to previous launches in the market, we knew we had to divert from traditional announcements and that we also needed to provide real accounts of product usage. To match the innovative technology we were promoting, we decided to execute an equally innovative launch by undertaking the following:
Scrapping the traditional written form announcement & inserting GIFs: The biggest wow factor of this new technology was the amazing 4D images it offers doctors of the human heart in motion. We knew the written form would not capture the power of the technology, while it's images would speak for themselves. So, we did away with the traditional press release and the typical use of wire services and launched the business' first ever "video" release. Historic and ongoing social media metrics told us that videos longer than 10 seconds consistently had the best reach and engagement on Facebook and that our Facebook followers include many doctors, sonographers, and health enthusiasts of all sorts. Combining these two factors, we decided to launch the release on Facebook where it would appear more native and reach an interested engaged audience. We would amplify further on the other channels. This quickly became a social media launch: announcing a new technology on Facebook with a 50 second video.
Providing an expert perspective: The business received FDA approval and was ready to announce commercial availability of the product in June 2015. The PR team made the case to wait to announce externally until our first customer was using the technology and could share the outcomes they saw as a result. It was an internal challenge asking the business to delay PR, especially with competitors playing in this space, but we tied our arguments to potential ROI. In July 2015, we timed our product launch to coincide with the announcement that this particular customer was the first in the world to use the technology, tying the two messages together. The customer was positioned as a thought leader and became the spokesperson for the technology instead of us, building trust. Its use became real, not just a concept. (Note: spokesperson was not paid for his PR efforts).
280,000+ combined YouTube and Facebook views in under a week, by far a record breaker for the business. It was shared more than 400 times.
100+ media hits: Following the Facebook release, the story was picked up by 60+ outlets including Time, Daily Mail, and 13 ABC/FOX stations in 11 different markets across the U.S., and 30+ international outlets.
5X website traffic: Visits to the product website increased 5X, providing commercial alignment to this communications launch.
40% product demo viewership increase: Views to the product demo increased by 40%, during the PR launch.
Commercial advantage: Our commercial relationship with the customer who became our spokesman was strengthened, he thanked us for garnering him and his institution coverage outside of their local market: "I am amazed that coverage continues and, how it has hit media outside of Milwaukee."
Sample quotes from our sales team about interest from customers:
"We've had tremendous responses ... Customers have been reaching out and asking questions such as: "How can we get this technology?" "Can we upgrade our current machines, or do we need to trade them?"
"The buzz is in the air that this is game changing technology in an already highly competitive market. No one wants to be left behind. There is a palpable sense of urgency, and we are engaging customers in the best types of conversations!"
