Healthcare: Age-Effective Giveaways

Situation

Woolston Inventive worked with an orthodontist at a private practice in urban Texas who was interested in building his client base. He was also deeply committed to improving oral health by providing high-quality care and outstanding service while also making it affordable for families throughout the metropolitan area. He had several locations and was interested in expanding not just the client base but the number of facilities from which he practiced so that the client base could grow even further.

Solution

One way we tried to do this was by marketing directly to kids, and children love stuffed animals! We established a mascot for the practice: Smiles the Bear, and produced a small plus wearing the practice’s t-shirt. We offered it to children at all of the regular places (school assemblies, carnivals, events, etc.), as well as through the Tooth Fairy Card program that we also developed for the practice. Smiles showed up in several sizes too, the small size that we gave out liberally, and a few larger sizes for display.

Success

Smiles the Bear proved to be an extraordinarily popular mascot. The practice gives out the plush all the time. Smiles has also become the spokesperson of the practice and is featured in their marketing: on the website, on their yearly calendar, at photo shoots. Smiles sponsors their yearly candy buy-back at Halloween. There’s also a contest where people can send a picture of them with Smiles from wherever they travel during the summer. This has even led surprisingly to some eager adults who want to participate. This contributed to the strategy that helped the practice grow in client base and the expand across the city.