Medtronic Plans Marketing Campaign to Rebuild ICD Sector

Medtronic’s Collins: Fears alleviated.

At the end of August, Medtronic Inc. (Minneapolis) announced that it was initiating a nearly $100 million marketing and public relations campaign to rebuild the market for implantable cardioverter-defibrillators, which has suffered from lower consumer confidence since a spate of recalls hit the sector last year. “Candidly, we were surprised by the extent to which the U.S. ICD market softened during the quarter and particularly at quarter end, and we are doing everything we can to ensure that this doesn’t happen again,” said Medtronic CEO Art Collins during an investor conference call. For the first quarter of fiscal 2007, Medtronic reported ICD revenue of $673 million, a decrease of 6% over the year-ago period.

During the investor call, Medtronic executives highlighted initiatives designed “to reignite market growth by reaching more of the patients who are eligible for an ICD, and to better position Medtronic to gain share in the future.”

Medtronic’s Hawkins: A plan of attack

“Many hospitals and clinics have made little progress in integrating ICD guidelines into their protocols or procedures,” said William A. Hawkins, president and COO of Medtronic. “This provides a significant opportunity, which we plan to address through programs such as the Sudden Cardiac Awareness Partners Prevention Program, which we have initiated in hospitals and clinics to help identify patients who meet the criteria for device therapy.”

“Another important initiative is a multimillion-dollar, multiyear national awareness campaign aimed at physicians, patients, and hospital administrators to create awareness of both the risk and prevalence of sudden cardiac death, together with the effectiveness and reliability of ICD therapy,” he added. Medtronic plans to kick off the awareness campaign during the second quarter of fiscal 2007. As part of the program, the company will recruit voluntary patient ambassadors to help increase awareness of sudden cardiac arrest by sharing their personal stories.

“We are also undertaking our own national ‘Get with the Guidelines’ initiative and will be working with a coalition of industry partners and medical associations like the American College of Cardiology and Heart Rhythm Society to drive the adoption of the current ICD guidelines throughout the healthcare system,” Hawkins said.

In addition, Medtronic plans to continue to utilize extensive longitudinal market research, surveying hundreds of referring physicians, including cardiologists and noncardiologists, to determine where indicated patients reside and what barriers exist in reaching them. “So far, this research confirms that more than 70% of indicated and untreated patients remain with the more than 15,000 cardiologists in the United States,” Hawkins said. “We are encouraged by the fact that roughly 60% of all medium to large cardiology groups include an active implanting physician, and we expect that percentage to increase in the future.”

Dako, Seidler Bernstein Partner on Market Development

Cancer diagnostics manufacturer Dako (Glostrup, Denmark) has enlisted the help of marketing agency Seidler Bernstein Inc. (Cambridge, MA) in developing an international marketing and communications program for its Serum HER-2/neu biomarker assay for metastatic breast cancer assessment.

“Our first charge is to develop an awareness-building program for oncologists, histopathologists, and patients, letting them know about the availability and extraordinary clinical utility of Serum HER-2/neu,” said Michelle Boudreau, Seidler Bernstein’s director of agency operations.

Seidler Bernstein’s creative: Kinslow and Litovchenko.

The project will include a clinical education and validation program, and a sales relationship–building and patient advocacy program. The multimedia campaign will include print and Web advertising, direct e-mail, clinical and patient education materials, and sales collateral pieces.

“Dako is proud to be marketing Serum HER-2/neu, both because of the test’s tremendous clinical value and because the assay will help women with breast cancer take a more active role in understanding and dealing with their clinical situations,” said Shelley Combs, Dako marketing manager.

Combs said that the company chose to partner with Seidler Bernstein because of its familiarity with the healthcare arena, particularly the oncology market. Seidler Bernstein previously developed markets for new diagnostic assays as part of its work for Bayer Healthcare ( Leverkusen, Germany).

The Seidler Bernstein creative team working on the Dako account includes account manager Jennifer Vaughan, senior designer Alla Litovchenko, and copywriter Rob Kinslow.

Smith & Nephew Taps Stratagem

Stratagem’s Septoff, Hartford, and Sanghvi.

This past summer, the wound management division of Smith & Nephew (London) selected Stratagem Healthcare Communications (San Francisco) as the agency of record for its Versajet hydrosurgery system. The company charged Stratagem with developing a staged campaign to increased sales of the system.

Early stages of the campaign include a brand audit and market research designed to help develop the look and feel of Versajet materials. Materials developed during the early stages of the campaign will include a navigable DVD for sales reps; a CD with clinical case studies; trade show media; Web site updates; and collateral aimed at physicians, nurses, and hospital administrators.

Versajet is a surgical instrument that incorporates a high-pressure jet of sterile saline that travels parallel to the wound surface. The jet creates a Venturi effect that enables the surgeon to simultaneously hold, cut, and remove tissue, while irrigating and aspirating the wound.

S&N’s Browne: Changing attitudes.

“Versajet is a technology that will transform complex surgical debridement—and to develop Versajet as the leading global brand in this area requires changing existing attitudes,” said Richard G. Browne, global marketing manager for Smith & Nephew Wound Management. “This is a challenging communications task.”

“Branding Versajet gives us a chance to rewrite the book on surgical procedures—redefining the gold standard from the scalpel that has been around at least a thousand years to a new tool with many benefits that improve patient outcomes,” said Dan Hartford, account group director at Stratagem.

In addition to Hartford, Stratagem’s team includes account executive Sima Sanghvi, group copy director Larry Septoff, and principal and creative director Paul Harris.

MX Marketing Coverage

In the medical device industry, the field of marketing covers a wide range of activities conducted for an equally wide variety of purposes. Whether it is building product awareness, announcing the benefits of new technologies, or supporting industry, medtech marketing is big news—and big money. For in-depth coverage of the latest trends in medtech marketing, including the medical device winners in the 2006 International Awards of Excellence (In-Awe) competition sponsored by the Medical Marketing Association (San Francisco), see the September/October issue of MX: Business Strategies for Medical Technology Executives. The issue is also accessible online via the MX Web site at www.devicelink.com/mx.

© 2006 Canon Communications LLC

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