ADVERTISING, DISTRIBUTION, & SALES

Smith & Nephew Orthopaedics (Memphis) designed and built a new conference center in its Memphis manufacturing facility in 2005. Operationally, the heart of the conference center is a VIP program for visiting surgeons, which includes a tour of the manufacturing and design facilities, peer video conferences, hands-on workshops, satellite surgeries, and multimedia continuing education programming.

Since a surgeon visit is nearly always the result of an invitation from an area sales representative, Smith & Nephew knew that its sales force would have to be not only aware of the VIP program but also fully confident that it would be a valuable experience for the surgeons.

"We designed this internal campaign as though it were a product launch," said Tino Acchiardo, an account executive at Inferno (Memphis), the marketing agency assigned to plan and execute the campaign. "Our key message was that this VIP visitors center will enable each sales rep to become a true learning resource for his or her surgeons."

The central campaign elements included a Flash-based animated e-mail and a brief video presentation. The video was distributed in a professionally packaged DVD format throughout the sales organization. The program introduced the conference center as the newest sales tool available to the sales force, detailed the state-of-the-art capabilities and amenities, and finished with clear instructions on how sales reps can register their surgeons for a visit. The video presentation also highlighted Memphis' entertainment and historic attractions.

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