Before this year, I’d never thought to myself, ‘what do healthcare and bathrooms have in common?’ But guess what? Once you channel your inner 11-year-old, the connections start to emerge. Here’s a sampling:
- There is a ton of waste in healthcare
- People often develop workarounds to meet their needs
- Lines and waiting are prevalent and annoying
- The causes for needing healthcare aren’t always pleasant, and can sometimes be urgent
- You generally want to get in and out of the healthcare system unscathed and as quickly as possible
So, with this newfound revelation, we decided to sponsor the bathrooms at HLTH – a brand new healthcare conference. It was a no-brainer – the bathroom analogy simply spoke to us. After all, HealthSparq is in the business of helping people make smarter healthcare choices. We are very focused on making sure that people aren’t flushing their healthcare dollars down the toilet (yes, we can really kill the metaphor). And we needed a way to get noticed without spending a ton of money.
Our marketing brains were turning. Let’s do something so totally out there; something really buzz-worthy. Conference sponsorships don’t usually make much of a splash. Lanyards, pens, tote bags: those are for amateurs. But bathrooms? Not just any company would sponsor a bathroom (or two – one men’s and one women’s) but we are certainly not your traditional healthcare company.
The brainstorming sessions have been amazing. Dollar bill toilet paper? Of course. Branded air freshers? Check. Potty humor? Yep. Healthcare marketing can be boring. You rarely get surprised by anything you see. We want to be different and a little shocking in our approach. Take note of our healthcare monster videos our event What’s the Fix? and you’ll see that we believe healthcare needs a good shaking.
So in this case, we’re suggesting you #knowyoursht in a Vegas casino bathroom. And if we end up being too punny? Forgive us. We dare you to wipe the smile off your face after you use the bathroom at HLTH.
