Seasonal Archives: Spring 2014

Ever heard the saying, “Minnesota has two seasons – winter and construction?” We couldn’t agree more. Now that we’ve hit sunny weather, not only are we experiencing lane closures on our commute, but Fusion Hill is also undergoing a major expansion.

Our office has become chock-full of hard-hats, caution tape and lots of drilling. Yes, we have gotten very used to the smell of tar and yes, we hear hammering in our sleep – and yes, it is totally worth it. Our new space will have two floors of meeting and work spaces, two kitchens, and – drum roll please – a rooftop patio. Yep, you heard it – a patio. Because what good is living in MN if you don’t spend the [ barely ] four beautiful months we get outside enjoying it?

All banging jokes aside, we’re beyond thrilled about the renovation and can’t wait to show it off at our annual summer party. In the meantime, we’ll come to you.

You were behind the scenes with us for our photo shoot with Elite Hearing Network (Elite) and now we’re excited to show you the final shots! Elite offers buying power plus business services for independent hearing care providers throughout the U.S. Using a highly-collaborative approach, Elite helps its members “be in business for themselves, not by themselves.” This key differentiator guided the atmosphere on our photography set – bright, friendly and engaging.

Along with new imagery from the shoot, Elite introduced new brand guidelines and sales literature including sell sheets, brochures, and website banners to help leverage their unique qualities. Check em’ out!

Bethel University hosted their Annual Nursing Research and Practice Symposium last evening which included a key note presentation, break-out sessions and interactive poster presentations by masters candidates. Of note, our good friend and fellow marketer, Barb Page, was awarded a blue ribbon for her thesis poster and groundbreaking business concept for the medical field. Performance-based Nursing,™ a client service model for nursing, delivers quality and compassionate care with an excellent client experience.

Our world is one that is driven by consumer preference and as health care follows this trend, consumers will undoubtedly become more engaged in their care. The Performance-based Nursing™ model is the bridge that brings the health care experience in line with what we expect as clients of any of the other services we pay for. The model will improve patient’s satisfaction and loyalty as well as drive operational and cost efficiencies for health care providers. As the front line of our care system, nurses are uniquely positioned to deliver the ideal client experience – a fact Barb knows first hand as a practicing RN herself.

You’ve followed us on our journey with the commercial launch of an implantable medical device that manages atrial fibrillation – from the fieldwork with patients and physicians and now to the creative work. We applied our learnings from ethnographies, focus groups and co-creation sessions to create a campaign that communicates the benefits of this medical device to atrial fibrillation patients. Our creative team designed several concepts that leveraged consumers desire for bright colors, bold headlines, compelling facts and engaging imagery – all conveying an overarching theme of optimism, freedom and a better path forward. After testing these concepts with consumers, we compiled the insights to build a creative approach that will resonate with patients and drive interest in the implant. This was a dream project for Fusion Hill and what we were built to do – the perfect intersection of insight and imagination.

Fusion Hill research strategists, Kathryn Sutton and Danielle Bender, had the pleasure of giving the keynote address at the University of Minnesota Anthropology Department’s undergraduate conference. The presentation focused on how Fusion Hill uses anthropological methods when it fields research for its corporate clients. Case studies included recent ethnographies on men’s fragrance in Brazil and pediatric diabetes in the U.S. These topics sparked interesting conversation about the benefits of adapting anthropological tools to gain insights to help drive a company’s business, innovation, and marketing strategies. Dialogues such as these continue to move the field forward and we’re grateful to the University of Minnesota for the invitation to speak.

One of the most powerful health services companies – known for their trailblazer approach to health care – came to us to help reintroduce their transformed data management product. The company spent 2012 investing in extensive upgrades and new features for the tool and wanted to spread the word. We knew we had to come up with something bold and compelling if we were going to get consultants to take a second look at the product and its new upgrades.

So we developed a direct mail campaign that featured a personalized dimensional package with macro and micro imagery and housed an impressive gift – a desktop magnifying glass from the Museum of Modern Art. The magnifying glass visual combined with clear messaging and a strong call for action proved to make a great first (second, sort of) impression. Deployed over a two-week period, the campaign had an 80% reach rate and 65% of those reached accepted a meeting and demo. If people didn’t know about the improved product before, they sure do now.

Last month, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies enlisted Fusion Hill to conduct research with physicians and consumers to understand the journey in treating Fibromyalgia (FM), a syndrome in which a person has chronic pain and tenderness throughout the body, and Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy (DPN), nerve damage caused by diabetes and high blood sugar.

Earlier this year one of our large financial services clients launched multiple versions of a prepaid card — a card built on the product and marketing insights from past Fusion Hill research. One version of the card was specifically created to meet the needs of community college students. Six months after a very successful debut, our client wanted to understand more about why students love this card so much. Here’s where we came back in. Our team packed their bags and headed to a community college in Detroit where we held discussion groups with students to understand why, how, when they use this card. Participants did prework in the form of a time capsule, several of our proprietary emotes and even picked a “theme song” that represented their experiences with the card.

Fusion Hill gained extensive insight into not only how participants feel about their card, but why they feel that way. Research explored participants’ diverse lifestyles and motivations and how these impact use and attitudes about the card – their likes and dislikes, the needs it meets and suggestions for improvement. Our client is using this research to translate a successful launch on one college campus into a nationwide student acquisition strategy. Watch for this new card at a campus near you!