Giving Thoughts

Medtronic: Using Gamification as a Campaign Focal Point

By Vicki Wray, Author, Communicating Social Impact

Good citizenship was—and still is—important to the founder of Medtronic, and it is ingrained in the company’s mission statement. While the company had long been focused on doing good, it realized it could do more, especially when it came to promoting the philanthropic work of its partners. The company paused to refocus its strategy around access to health care and created an integral role for communications in driving that strategy.

The Save-a-Life Simulator emerged as part of the company’s involvement in the HeartRescue Project, which is focused on ensuring that every American who suffers a sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) can receive life-saving, state-of-the-art care at the scene, in route to and in the hospital. SCA is a leading cause of death in the United States, killing an estimated 350,000 people a year.

The Project’s partners include some of the country’s leading emergency response experts working in key states. In support of this campaign, the company applied gamification as one of its key tactics.

How gamification works

Gamification is about taking the essence of games—fun, play, and passion—and applying it to real-world nongame situations. There may be rules of play, point scoring, and competition. Corporate marketers are paying attention and increasingly seeing it as another way of engaging their target audiences. For CSR communicators, this may be still relatively unexplored territory.

According to Rich Fischer, manager of philanthropy communications at Medtronic, the idea for the Save-A-Life Simulator grew from the understanding that, if more people knew how to do basic cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), the death rate from SCA could be significantly lowered. Use of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in these situations, previously manufactured by Medtronic and placed in public spaces, was a soft link to the company, although never emphasized in any way. The program’s goal was to incent bystanders to take action when confronted with a SCA situation. The challenge was how to reach them in a way that would make this education more accessible.

Because this was produced through Medtronic Philanthropy and funded by the Medtronic Foundation, with the express purpose of helping the HeartRescue Project partners reach more bystanders, the program did not have some of the common barriers associated with a traditional company-led project, according to Fischer. In fact, Fischer says that the biggest “sell” may have been to the HeartRescue Partners themselves, who rely on published evidence when developing interventions. But, armed with a study by the American Heart Association that found even limited training can have a significant impact, Medtronic was able to convince them that this would be a more accessible and fun alternative to traditional CPR training videos.

Engaging your players

The “game” consists of an imaginary scenario during which a person falls to the ground in a mall, having experienced SCA. Players are asked to make choices at various critical junctures along the way that teach what should be done. The entire game takes only five minutes to play. The game spread virally, with more than 8 million visitors since it was launched in 2012. Today, the game can be played in English or in Spanish, and there is a version that features Ricky Rubio of the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves.

“The results of this campaign will continue to build over time and, in our case, results in lives saved because people remember what they learned and take action,” states Fischer. The Simulator represents Medtronic’s most successful social media campaign to date, demonstrating that these types of tools can, and should, play a role in CSR communications outreach.

It was instrumental in strengthening the company’s relationship with the HeartRescue Project, providing tangible support for this effort beyond funding. It has been showcased in other countries to demonstrate the potential of partnering with Medtronic. It has won numerous awards, including a health care Webby award in 2013 and the prestigious (online marketing) OMMA Best in Show in 2012. The partners were also invited to present the Simulator to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as the organization wanted to learn more about how this approach could improve the way public health issues are addressed. “From a reputation standpoint, this project really helped us stand out among other great efforts, demonstrating our true commitment to improving health around the world,” Fischer comments.

For others thinking about gamification, Fischer offers this advice:

• Entertain your audience. Make it interesting, not too scientific. Don’t be afraid to break through the clutter with a novel approach. Leverage social media channels to spread your message—no matter what your budget.
• A first-to-know communications strategy with the emergency medical services community helped fuel word of mouth, which really drove traffic (along with a television public service announcement.) This is further proof that if your message/content is compelling and offers value, your audience is more likely to share it via social media.
• People today are using multiple devices (e.g., smartphones, TVs, laptops, tablets). This change in behavior directly affects attention span. As communicators, we need to make an impact across multiple media environments. It’s easy enough to say you need TV, digital (desktop), and mobile strategies, but they are not separate strategies. There are certainly differing consumer needs across each platform, but they are often linked to a single experience. The approach should be driven by your audience, but agnostic of medium.

To “play” the Save-a-Life Simulator, go to (www.heartrescuenow.com/index.html).