electronics

Medical Equipment Maker Focuses On Human Spirit

Paul-Schulte

Invacare, which makes medical equipment such as wheelchairs and respirators, is launching its first consumer-facing global social media and digital campaign. The focus, however, is not on the company's products, but the people who use them.

The campaign spotlights people who have overcome their physical limitations to do great things and includes a Web-based video series, "Real Life," the first of which features Paralympics Gold Medalist Paul Schulte. There will also be a viral and social-media campaign and consumer content platform where people can upload their own stories.

The first of the documentary-style videos tells Schulte's story. The athlete was left paralyzed from the waist down at age 10 after an auto accident. The film highlights both his life and his athletic accomplishments with broadcast footage of his Olympic accomplishments, time with his wife and child, and on-court clinics he runs for disabled kids.

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Schulte won a full athletic scholarship at the University of Texas-Arlington, where he played with the "Movin' Mavs" wheelchair basketball team that won the National Intercollegiate Wheelchair Basketball championship. He then played for the United States Men's Basketball Team for the Paralympics, including the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing, earning a number of gold, silver and bronze medals.

Starting April 4, the company, which markets rehabilitation, mobility, respiratory, and standard medical products in some 80 countries, will launch a global digital forum, asking consumers around the world to post stories and images to Invacare.com/reallife. The site will also link to YouTube, Facebook and Flickr. The company will pick the top three stories and feature the people involved in the "Real Life Spotlight" on the site. There is also a financial prize for the top three participants and their charities of choice.

Daniel Lee, a former marketer in the U.S. at LG Electronics and Hitachi who heads up communications at the Elyria, Ohio-based company, said the idea was to promote the company's "Yes You Can" positioning by spotlighting people who have transcended their own physical limitations, and then open a dialogue for others looking for help or wanting to share their own experiences. "We kept brainstorming about this and thought -- what better than to get real-life stories," he says. "We wanted to work off our brand promise and take it to the next level."

Lee, who will be in Houston during the NCAA Final Four to launch the campaign, says Invacare's presence there includes Schulte, who will play in a tournament the morning of the Final Four and run clinics for kids, among other programs. This month, he will also be featured at the next National Wheelchair Basketball Association event.

According to Lee, this is the company's first marketing program that does not solely comprise a B-to-B communications strategy, and the first with a heavy digital and social media focus. "This is targeted to a much broader audience," he says, pointing out that a major audience is the Boomer generation.

"Around a billion people 65 or older are online right now worldwide; in the U.S. it's 100 million, and social media is mainstream. Our purpose is not so much to enforce the brand -- we want to do that - but more importantly, we wanted to educate and inform and really get individuals -- abled or disabled -- to tell us their stories."

He says the effort's business audience comprises dealers and providers, as well as physicians, the government, case managers, nurses, and occupational therapists. "We want to draw stories from these folks as well. The bottom line is -- there is a real-life story behind every one of us. So we want individuals to tell their stories; that's really the power of the Internet and social media."

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