Experiential Marketing on Display at a New Hospital, Part 2: Advanced Technology

Last month I wrote about attending an open house for the new Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox, IL with a report focused on the lastest in the delivery of patient care.  Just as exciting on the event’s tour was the display of advanced technology and the benefits it provides patients including reduced hospital stays and wait time for results along with increased accuracy and timely diagnosis.

It was an amazing showcase of progress that consumers rarely get full exposure to, even if you’ve endured a recent hospital stay.  For such a big building, the first thing you notice is that the space is designed to eliminate foot steps.  The Procedural Care Unit (PCU) centrally locates surgery, cardiology and radiology all in a single integrated area.  This minimizes patient movement while maximizing efficiency and safety.  And the state-of-the-art operating rooms are designed to be used for any type of procedure and adapt to future needs.  You don’t have to be a technology geek to appreciate all the equipment and high-resolution video screens that allows surgeons and radiologists to look at images.  Just as interesting was the special green surgical lighting in all the operating rooms which makes seeing patient anatomy easier.

But nothing beat the experience of meeting the hospital’s robot.  While this multi-armed machine looks more like an octopus than R2D2, it’s not disappointing.   It’s not designed to be a friendly, smart companion, but a surgical system.  Called DaVinci, it facilitates complex surgery using a minimally invasive approach that is controlled by a surgeon from a computer console. 

Having the future accessible today at the local level was the experience all 7,000 visitors recieved at the Silver Cross Hospital Open House.  And that’s exactly where their next experience with the hospital should be … way out in the future, if ever.  But just knowing it’s there provides simple peace-of-mind in the midst of our high-tech, high-speed world.

Tags: healthcare, hospital, Procedural Care Unit, Silver Cross Hospital

Green And More – Worth Gold to Electricity Providers

I was disheartened earlier this week during a conversation with an executive from an electricity provider that operates in competitive markets.  We were discussing a vision of the energy industry’s future where providers invested in building their brands and provided customers value-add programs and services instead of just competing on price.  It’s not the first time my vision has been politely dismissed.  But, more importantly, I’ve never been dissuaded either. 

So, imagine my happiness in reading the findings from the Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative (SGCC) survey, “Consumer Pulse Research Program Wave 2.”  While the report was focusing on awareness and perceived benefits of the smart grid, it confirmed that utility customers care about more than cost. 

In fact, the report stated that consumers would pay a higher electric bill if it included the integration of renewable energy.  These results, leveraged and messaged correctly, will go a long way toward dispelling the myth that customers only care about saving money or attaining a flat-rate price. 

Patty Durand, executive director of the SGCC, also pointed toward other opportunities to serve the customer beyond price.  She emphasized the importance of  adding consumer segmentation to exisiting demographic information as a way to identify higher value opportunities and improve results. Specifically, the SGCC research noted that the most important benefits of the smart grid varied by respondent segment.  And, overall, once they laid out all the benefits and concerns to utility customers, smart grid favorability improved significantly. Her conclusion was that people want to know more, and once they are educated, they are more interested in the benefits.

This gives us hope, as we believe that providing green energy options along with other programs and services is the pathway to building brand differentiation and better margins.  So, while this report has a slightly different take and pertains to smart grid adoption,  the two prespectives are certainly related.  Perhaps our vision for a brigher future is closer than it seems.

Tags: Consumer Pulse Research Program Wave 2, Energy, Patty Durand, SGCC, Smart Grid, Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative