Technology of tomorrow

There is a famous saying in our office whenever we meet a hurdle in our day-to-day collaboration: “stop the pressure, we’ll find a solution, it’s not like we’re doing brain surgery”. This project gave us the possibility to actually say that yes, we, the PR team, are also “doing” brain surgery. Our challenge: how do we use technology to establish a national breakthrough in field of health/medicine? Our answer: Broadcast a brain surgery, live in 360-degree virtual reality. Our six-hour live surgery achieved a 3-hour LIVE broadcast on Facebook and YouTube and almost 12 million reach (final data). It was more than just a campaign. Every emotion, and stress, and worry that something might go wrong, were amplified by the fact that a patient was lying on the surgery table. We were responsible for both the patient, and the medical system, to bring this innovative idea to life and offer the public a sneak peak into the emotions that go live in the surgery room.

TASK, OPPORTUNITY & PLANNING

MedLife, leader of the private healthcare services market in Romania, is constantly investing in cutting-edge medical technology and wanted to emphasize its long-term promise to offer technology-driven services through a communication campaign. It all started with the Hippocratic Oath inspired, new age, communication concept: Tomorrow Technology: a promise from the doctors to use the best available technology “to see better and clearer” for a cure. Our challenge was to propose a communication plan in supporting the campaign manifesto – an oath to use the power of technology in everyday medical work, which transformed doctors in supradoctors. With such a strong manifesto, Tomorrow’s Technology needed a peak for its campaign, and a creative way to explain how important the symbiosis between the doctor and technology is in today’s medical act. We looked at local & international healthcare brand communication, analyzing international projects similar with our task and, furthermore, we closely explored communication programs run by competition both locally and internationally.

EXECUTION

Internal communication MedLife team was the first to be informed regarding the project via a surprise screen server & internal memos.

Visual Storytelling Developed pre & post event inphographics, focusing on the evolution of VR technology, the improvement of the medical technology used by MedLife, as well as the results reached after the LIVE broadcast.

FB & YT Live video the surgery was broadcasted LIVE 360 in VR format for 3 hours and was commented LIVE by specialists who explained every step of the process. There were multiple virtual screens that offered a complex perspective of the surgery. The transmission was broadcasted LIVE on Facebook and YouTube; everyone that owned a pair of VR glasses could experience the operation as if they were in the surgery room.

Launch event Guests at the event (press, bloggers, medical students and MedLife team) could wear VR glasses to immerse themselves into the surgery room. The event took place in the same time, in two locations: at the cinema and at the hospital.

EVALUATION

INNOVATION

Because we wanted to take the benefits of the virtual reality (VR) technology in healthcare sector to a new level, we successfully livestreamed in 360 degrees an operation using the VR technology. The entire operation, which lasted approximately six hours, was live-streamed on YouTube and Facebook for people without a VR headset. For those who have one, they get immersed in the 360-degree surgery room, right beside the doctor who removed cancerous tissue from a male patient’s brain. Using this innovative technology to operate was a very-important milestone for Romania as it was the first time that this technology was used in medical purpose in our country.

CREATIVITY

Virtual reality is often touted as a way of creating fantasy universes, but for us was a way to present the universe of medicine in a creative way. We found a creative way of sharing both, the emotional and the rational part of the story, succeeding to break down the artificial barriers that we have in medicine. We showed people what is behind closed door, make them feel safer and  get rid of the fear of going to the doctor. 7 million people experienced the same emotions and they felt like they were in the same room with the doctors. Using VR technology, we succeeded to inject o dose of creativity into healthcare communication.