Going postal over pre-show mailers

Health Industry Today, May 1, 1998

Rarely, if ever, do medical device manufacturers crank up the promotional blitz as they do for the annual Assn. of Operating Room Nurses congress. The editor of Health Industry Today was only one name on a list of 6,931 health care professionals (13,421 total attendees), but inclusion on that list set the stage for a mailbox filled to unprecedented proportions.

Of course, the annual event serves as the launching pad for scores of new O.R. product introductions, and the stampede to draw potential customers to a supplier's booth reached a crescendo in the week before the event. Some 525 companies manned booths at Orlando's Orange County Convention Center exhibit hall, up more than 8% from the 484 that exhibited in 1997.

Some, but most certainly not all, direct mail pieces earn high marks for creativity. Others raised questions as to the direction some of these vendors are heading. The majority were straightforward product pitches. The mailbox assault included:

* Regent Medical, Norcross, Ga.: "Win a Royal Worcester-Spode tea set," 12 given at over $1,000 each

* Maxxim Medical Inc., Clearwater, Fla.: "Still Circulatin' Still Operatin' Tour," CEO Ken Davidson's band of gypsies

* Davol Inc., Cranston, R.I., subsidiary of C.R. Bard: "Hernia Quiz," plus huge mega-party with '50s headliners

* United States Surgical Corp., Norwalk, Conn.: "Meet Dr. Eileen Hoffman, author of Our Health, Our Lives, A Revolutionary Approach to Total Health Care for Women"

* Kendall Co., Mansfield, Mass.: "Perfect partners: Mickey & Minnie, Donald & Daisy, Chip & Dale, Kendall & AORN"

* Bemis Health Care, Sheboygan Falls, Wis.: "Apples to oranges comparison"

* Richard Wolf Medical Instruments Corp., Vernon Hills, Ill.: "What does it cost to own a Wolf?"

* Carl Zeiss Inc., Thornwood, N.Y.: "2nd annual draping contest"; fastest 1997 microscope draper:

34 seconds

* Sherwood-Davis & Geck, St. Louis: "Free trip to 1999 World Conference on Surgical Patient Care in Helsinki, Finland"

* 3M Health Care, St. Paul, Minn.: "Good news, bad news about sterilization"

* Safeskin Corp., San Diego: "Pearls of wisdom," giveaway of nine strands of cultured pearls, also education sessions

* SmartCare Inc., Phoenix: "SmartBear" giveaway

* Hill-Rom, Batesville, Ind.: "World premiere of Setting the Stage for the Future"

* Graphic Controls/Devon Products, Buffalo, N.Y.: "The operating room jungle"

* Allegiance Corp., McGaw Park, Ill.: "Powder-free free-bee"

* Midmark Corp., Versailles, Ohio: "See through what we're selling"

* Aaron Medical Industries, St. Petersburg, Fla.: "Free dinner and limo ride"

Of course, not every supplier blew their entire 1998 pre-show mailer budget in one week. Many others, far too numerous to mention, instead took the straight contribution approach. Several companies, in fact, contributed thousands of dollars to the AORN Foundation for continuing perioperative nursing education.

The 1999 edition of the AORN Congress is

scheduled for March 28-April 2 in San Francisco. r