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Past Issues

April 2007

Think Different - not just for Apple!

Promoting a line of pre-cast concrete school buildings may seem like a non-glamorous task, but that only made this lively, creative campaign that much more of a surprise and a success.

Fibrebond Corporation wanted to introduce its new product line to the school market. The cost-saving building method was developed with schools in mind, and their objective was to build this target market into 10 percent of overall company sales.

Since apples (for the teacher) are so closely associated with schools, and since their message is "We're different," the concept of comparing "Apples to Oranges" was a perfect fit. A series of citrus-themed promotional items supported the message. Orange-shaped stress balls, orange slice magnet pens, orange-colored embroidered polo shirts, and orange-shaped mouse pads were only some of the brightly colored, smile-inducing items presented during sales calls, distributed at tradeshows and shipped to prospective clients. The seemingly disconnected theme ("Why 'oranges' when you're talking about school buildings?") gave sales reps a perfect opening to talk about the product and it's benefits. The orange-theme made for a most "a-peeling" campaign. (Honest, I didn't make that up!)

The campaign, which lasted several months and covered several fronts, cost less than $10 per recipient. Results? They proudly reported that 352 buildings from the new product line were sold. This amounted to 20 percent of overall sales for the period, doubling their original target.

Thinking Green Is Here To Stay

National Nurses Week is May 6-12, 2007

A Profession and a Passion

Often described as an art and a science, nursing is a profession that embraces dedicated people with varied interests, strengths and passions because of the many opportunities the profession offers. Nurses work in emergency rooms, school based clinics, and homeless shelters, to name a few. They have many roles ­ from staff nurse to educator to nurse practitioner and nurse researcher ­ and serve all of them with passion for the profession and with a strong commitment to patient safety. The job market for qualified nurses remains one of the strongest in healthcare.

National Nurses Week is celebrated annually from May 6, also known as National Nurses Day, through May 12, the birthday of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing.

Pick a Theme
One hospital used the Academy Awards as the basis for a celebration program. They matched each staff member up with a movie role and/or former Oscar winner, whose acting role or other position such as directors, cinematographers, etc. related to the personality or recent events for that staff member. Great fun was had by all.

For example, a nurse who had demonstrated great efforts to get pictures of a patient's wounds for the charts, was awarded Best Cinematographer. Best Screenplay went to the nurse who demonstrated the best efforrts at charting. Best Actor went to the staff member who gave the best performance of a nurse who knew why he was making this home visit. (The information he was given about the patient and why she needed care was completely blank!) Talk about thinking on your feet!

Maybe you're not this creative, but if you're in healthcare, why not take advantage of the opportunity to say "thank you" next month? We can help you to make it memorable!

Did You Know?

If you missed our recent company overview issue, it's archived here.

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Favorite Quotations

“Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.”

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Trivia Corner

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