Doodads and chotchkes

Health Management Technology, July, 2005 by Robin Blair

It takes a lot to get on my radar screen. That's because the HMT office, like most editorial offices I suppose, is the Land of the Deluge. Everything comes through here in super-size portions--press releases, emails, phone calls, faxes, even doodads and chotchkes--but most of it is a testament to quantity over quality. In a short time, I have grown impervious to the inundation and also pretty darned skilled at skimming, sorting and making decisions based on reading or hearing the first eight words. Too often, my recycle bucket overflows, but my radar screen remains a clean slate.

A few months back, a snail-mail packet arrived on my desk bearing the March 2005 press kit from Two Technologies Inc. of Horsham, Pa., a manufacturer of hand-held computer devices--no great shakes in and of itself. Even the product info printed on coated, heavyweight card stock wasn't enough to get my attention. But the chotchkes that fell out were.

Into my hand spilled two perfectly die-cut, actual-size facsimiles of Two Technologies' JETT*ce and JETT*RFID hand-held devices, the former in black and the latter in sports-car yellow. The fronts are exact replicas of the devices, so realistically cool that I wanted to tap my way through a few layers. I studied them both at length, only imagining their utility. On the back of each facsimile is a complete set of specifications including height, display width, keypad width, weight with and without batteries, plus the complete innards of the devices. Both are superbly printed on three-ton coated stock and are, as I discovered, the perfect size for one-handed fiddling around when I'm on the phone.

I'm not personally or professionally in the market for such a computing device, and even HMT doesn't cover this technology as frequently as others. But when it comes to in-your-face marketing, my accolade of the year goes to Two Technologies. I have held onto these chotchkes for several months, knowing I would write this column. I will keep them long after this column has been published, because I think they represent an effective way to stand out in a sea of marketing sameness.

Two Technologies got on my radar screen. They did it with minimal verbiage, lots of specifications, no spin, no follow-up phone calls and no overkill--and all for a device I'm not planning to buy. Instead of a barrage of useless information and annoying follow-up, they took a direct, show-me approach, proving that less is more and quality counts. Granted, Two Technologies' products lend themselves more to a "show" than a "tell" approach, but still, the company deserves kudos for taking the creative and cerebral high road.

Getting on a radar screen doesn't mean an instant sale, and of course, it says nothing about how an actual product performs. But in a time when everyone is on information overload and IT product marketing is in blitz mode, getting on anyone's radar screen is like getting to second base. It means you're halfway home. That alone might make you the leader of the pack.