Allowing attendees to engage directly with a product is often the preferred marketing method on a trade show floor. However, it's not always convenient, cost-effective, or practical to bring a physical specimen to the event. This is especially true when the product is a machine that's upwards of 10 feet long and weighs more than 2 tons. Such was the case for Swisslog Healthcare and its 8-foot-tall PillPick® Automated Packaging and Dispensing System, which eliminates dosing errors and improves hospital workflow by automating the packaging, storing, and dispensing of patient-specific medications. Think of it as a cross between R2-D2 and a vending machine for pharmacists – except bigger and with healthier offerings.

Swisslog had traditionally hauled portions of its PillPick system to show floors, as bringing the entire system was never a viable option due to budget constraints and logistical challenges. Still, transporting mere sections of the machine remained costly, and that investment in shipping and drayage wasn't reaping the desired rewards. Realizing that an incomplete PillPick ate up too much real estate, lacked visual appeal, and failed to demonstrate the entirety of the machine's capabilities, Swisslog felt it was time for a shift in strategy heading into the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists Midyear Clinical Meeting and Exhibition in Anaheim, CA.

A key part of that new strategy involved shedding some pounds – and costs – by leaving the entire PillPick system at home and finding another way to educate attending pharmacists, administrators, and other executives about the product's deliverables. This new approach would need to help the company acquire at least as many leads as it had the previous year while saving money in the process. After brainstorming various options, Swisslog decided it could best achieve its education and lead-count goals via an engaging tech experience.

Swisslog marketers envisioned using a combination of digital messaging and video content to give attendees a thorough-but-brief synopsis of the machine's features so that afterward product specialists could spend their time engaged in deeper dives with interested prospects. Additionally, the company wanted to incorporate a cause-marketing element – a vital lure at health-care exhibitions due to the industry's stringent giveaway restrictions. To determine what type of technology would best suit its needs, Swisslog turned to Live Marketing Inc., an experiential-marketing agency specializing in digital interactives. "Swisslog approached us knowing it needed to do something with a tech focus that was different than it had ever done before," says Anne Trompeter, principal and executive creative strategist for Live Marketing. "But it needed to be smart about the investment and provide a good experience for visitors as well."

A Dose of Digital
The key to success for Live Marketing was to prescribe the right technology for Swisslog's objectives. "Creating any effective technical experience means considering influencing factors such as the physical space, the client's messaging objectives, the technical sophistication of the audience, and the budget, to name a few," Trompeter says. "We identify what technology will best achieve the most effective storytelling for the client on the trade show floor."
Tech-driven experiences, such as augmented-, virtual-, and mixed-reality engagements, as well as tech interactives such as touchscreen kiosks or tablet activations, frequently lead to a bump in traffic. However, each comes with pros and cons that Swisslog needed to carefully consider. For instance, while VR and MR tend to have glitzier appeal, they have a higher price tag. According to Trompeter, VR and MR activations often cost at least $75,000 to produce, whereas AR programs typically start at around $50,000. Interactive media engagements tend be less expensive, with an opening price of roughly $35,000. In addition, Swisslog was counting on being able to run loads of attendees through the experience. And since VR and MR use headsets unfamiliar to many people and require a bit of a learning curve, the throughput is significantly less than tech interactives and AR, which tend to use technologies such as smartphones and iPads that attendees are more accustomed to. After considering Swisslog's goals and weighing the variables, Live Marketing recommended an interactive tablet engagement over AR, VR, or MR options because of its ease of use, lower price point, and maximum throughput.

Once the interactive strategy was formulated, Swisslog focused on its narrative. "The storytelling sweet spot is broadly six to nine minutes," Trompeter says. "This amount of time is typically enough to convey your story but not overwhelm attendees with too much information – or take so much of their time that they are disinclined to spend additional time in the booth talking to a company sales rep. The goal of these experiences is to provide a brief and engaging touch with the brand, share the story in a digitally dynamic way, and generate excitement to learn more." Swisslog determined it could provide a detailed narrative of the PillPick's deliverables within that time frame by dividing its story into five separate video "chapters," each ranging from one to one-and-a-half minutes in length. Attendees would begin at chapter one of the story and work their way through the sequential segments, each of which could be accessed by aiming tablet devices at certain triggers that Swisslog embedded in a large silicone-edge graphic (SEG) of the PillPick machine.

Administering the Cure
As attendees approached Swisslog's 50-by-50-foot booth, they were no doubt intrigued by the company's other health-care automation offerings spread around the perimeter of the exhibit. But the clear and obvious rallying point was the back wall where, in place of a dimensional PillPick display, a 24-by-16-foot fabric graphic of the supersized machine was placed over BeMatrix-brand extrusions and backlit with LEDs to create an alluring glow.

Visitors first checked in at a kiosk near the right side of the activation, where staffers administered "medication" in the form of small prescription bags containing pill-shaped candies bundled on a proprietary PickRing™ to illustrate how the PillPick system conveniently organizes patient prescriptions. When attendees swung by for the on-brand treat, staffers encouraged them to engage in the interactive experience and sweetened the deal by explaining that for each person who completed the activation, Swisslog would donate one children's book to Reach Out and Read Colorado, an organization that provides books to children in pediatric care. Once visitors agreed to participate, staffers scanned their badges, set them up with any of 15 available Microsoft Surface Pro 10.6-inch tablets and a set of branded earbuds (which they could keep), and ushered them to the left side of the PillPick image.

Staffers provided a brief explanation about how to proceed through the experience, pointing out that the large graphic featured five numbered hexagonal "triggers." Once visitors understood, they put in their new earbuds and began the activation by pointing their tablets' cameras at the trigger labeled "Step 1: Start Here." The tablets' app recognized the marker and initiated a brief overview about the benefits of the PillPick machine using a combination of video and narration. After the video launched, attendees could move their tablets around without affecting the content, meaning they didn't have to stand with outstretched arms the entire time – another benefit of eschewing AR, which would require users to keep their camera trained on one spot to layer digital content on the physical graphic. What's more, the provided earbuds ensured attendees weren't distracted by nearby conversations or fellow participants.

During the intro video, animated text highlighted talking points such as "advanced robotics plus digital verification" and "fully integrated system." Following the brief introduction, on-screen text instructed attendees to move to chapter two to learn how the machine verifies the correct medication and packages barcoded doses.

Again, callout text underscored key messages and complemented narrated video of the PillPick. Chapter three highlighted how the system automatically dispenses patient-specific medication on a PickRing, and chapter four covered how the machine increases efficiency and patient safety. The final marker shared research showing that 83 percent of pharmacy technicians have reduced or eliminated picking errors with the PillPick, pointed out that waiting staffers could direct participants to a product specialist for a more in-depth discussion, and touted Swisslog's book donation. After users worked their way down the mural from left to right, which took between eight and 10 minutes, a nearby staffer collected their tablets and qualified prospects, asking if they wanted to learn more about PillPick's capabilities. Swisslog reps connected promising leads with nearby specialists, who answered more probing questions and offered comprehensive information to the primed visitors.

"We were thrilled," says Emmi Martini, a solutions marketing manager for Swisslog. "The wall was constantly busy. It brought great traffic flow and energy into the booth and achieved all of our communication objectives for the PillPick. Not only did it save costs, but it also freed staffers' time, as attendees already had a good understanding of the PillPick when they engaged a rep for more info." The powerful lure of Swisslog's tech-infused graphic led to a bevy of badge scans, and by the close of the show the company had surpassed its lead goal by more than 25 percent – proving the digital interactive element was just what the doctor ordered. E