Diabetes Education From a Bigger Platform: It doesn’t take long to see shows like American Idol, Britain’s Got Talent or Dancing with the Stars to know that the success of the shows are predicated on the ability to market a concept or idea. This could be dancing, singing or even national pride.
Some may argue that marketing has become too slick and over-the-top, but marketing remains the key to the success of these broadcasts.
There should be no surprise in reading that many organizations and drug manufacturers are pushing marketing concepts that draw on either big ideas or the status of celebrities who are on board with a concept.
A report by PharmaLive.com focuses on marketing partnerships that are being used effectively to educate and inspire with issues related to diabetes.
What follows is a brief listing of ideas and partnerships outlined in that report.
Bayer – Offers, “new educational resources and services that help simplify life with diabetes. In August 2008, the company embarked on a new chapter in its partnership with Dr. Stephen R. Covey, author of the best-selling book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and a new partnership with Fit4D (fit4d.com), an organization that provides personalized diabetes coaching.” Other partnerships include one with recording artist and Type 1 diabetic, Nick Jonas.
Eli Lilly and Co. – “Partners with legendary swimmer Gary Hall Jr. in June 2008, and Grammy-nominated, singer-songwriter Angie Stone in April 2008 on diabetes initiatives.”
Johnson & Johnson – “The Johnson & Johnson Diabetes Institute LLC (jjdi.us) opened its first training center in the United States in February 2008. The facility, based in Silicon Valley, provides comprehensive training each year for thousands of community-based nurses, physician assistants, diabetes educators, and other health professionals using a curriculum developed with national diabetes organizations and academic centers. It addresses an acute shortage of skills training in diabetes management at the community level, which practitioners cite as one of the major obstacles to improving patient outcomes.”
Merck & Co. – “Expanded with Healthy Interactions Inc. (healthyi.com) on a multi-year relationship to transform how health-care professionals engage patients in learning about diabetes and to improve Diabetes Self-Management Education among patients.”
Novo Nordisk – “Academy Award winning actress Olympia Dukakis and her husband, actor Louis Zorich have teamed up with Novo Nordisk (novonordisk.com) to launch the Ask.Screen.Know. awareness campaign to educate people about Medicare’s free diabetes screening benefit. In particular, they want people who are 65 years and older to ask their doctors to get screened for diabetes and to know their blood sugar numbers.”
One of the primary reasons for partnerships is networking often allows greater success. Why? More people are involved in the potential success of an idea. In many cases the individuals or organizations that have stepped up to the plate have a vested interest in the success of the program. This could be based on advancing the directives of their own organization or the platform they are using for promotion of an idea to assist others who have diabetes fulfills a philanthropic need of their own.
The Internet has shown the power of social media. This is a prime component of marketing to assist in mutual objectives. When multiple parties work together for a common and very good cause it is entirely possible that all will win in the end.
Education is a prime component of virtually every diabetes marketing effort. The results of a minority, if taken to heart, can mean life improvements for the majority.
