Emvies 2007: A touch-and-feel solution

Many women require stitches after they deliver a baby. Vicryl Rapide from Johnson & Johnson is a soft thread that is used in medical stitching. At the Emvies case study presentation, Lodestar Universal presented a study in the Best Media Innovation – Direct Marketing for Johnson & Johnson’s Vicryl Rapide ‘Touch and Feel Mailer’.

Till recently, this category was dominated by local catgut thread, which is made by twisting the dried intestines of animals. From the experience of most women, this thread hurts like barbed wire in a sitting position and the pain persists for many months after the delivery.

Johnson & Johnson sent medical representatives to various gynaecologists in the country to demonstrate the benefits of Vicryl Rapide. Although it comes as a superior product, far softer than catgut thread, none of the gynaecologists were willing to try it on their patients.

To find out the reasons for this indifference, Lodestar Universal conducted a study. Its findings revealed that stitching thread formed an extremely low involvement category and gynaecologists rarely paid attention to what was being used for stitching after the delivery. And because of their extremely busy schedules, it was hard for them to find time for a medical representative who wanted to demonstrate the benefits of a thread.

It was also found that most gynaecologists in the country were men and had never experienced for themselves the pain of delivering a baby. Moreover, all of them wore gloves in the operation theatre and they could barely feel the smoothness of a thread.

Lodestar's strategy was to reach the gynaecologists through direct mailers. These mailers were sent to 5,000 gynaecologists in the country purposely at their residential address because it would allow them to think and feel the benefit of the product in a relaxed mood.

The mailer used the nostalgic leather, which is utilised by students in medical colleges to learn stitching on human skin. The leather demonstrated a comparison of the effect of stitches using catgut thread and Vicryl Rapide, placed closed to one another. It was visible to see the stitch marks from catgut thread pulling hard on the leather, while those of Vicryl Rapide appeared far more gentle.

The result was that 65 per cent of the gynaecologists who were mailed immediately purchased the product and agreed to recommend it to all their patients.