If there were a medal for surviving the COVID 19 lockdown, it would go directly to both employees and owners of businesses affected over the longest lockdown during 2021. These are what we’ve learned providing healthcare advertising in lockdown.
Here are our observations from the hundreds of clinics we visit each month:
1 | Healthcare waiting rooms are relevant
The vast majority of General Practice are now accessible. After lockdown 2020, we saw a significant demand in the Diagnostic Laboratory Collection Centre waiting rooms as it seemed people who may have put off testing over lockdowns were back, with many centres having long queues.
We see access to General Practice waiting rooms return to these categories:
- Socially distanced waiting: the majority of GPs now
- People waiting in cars, then coming in for appointments: < 10% of sites
- No access to waiting rooms: <5% of sites
Waiting rooms are barren places as magazines removed from 2020 have not made a comeback; however, in its place, MediWell digital magazine is being accessed online via QR codes, and the overall uplift of health brochures from MediBoards is good.
Our team report that there are mulitple daily temperature checks and protocols for them to follow, and mask wearing is fast becoming a way of life.
2 | Consideration of the reality of Auckland lockdowns on MediBoard sites
Since Nov 17th, Angela, our Auckland representative, has been back at work basking in the positive feedback summarised below:
- Consideration: Many have thanked us for being so considerate around the timing of returning to waiting rooms (we assessed that when schools were back, we could visit waiting rooms)
- Courier packs: Pleased to receive great posters and brochures during the lockdown period
- Chocolate: who knew the power of a Kit-Kat to delight and surprise!
- Content: Gratification for the relevant content, Pharmac Diabetes (targeted to Māori/Pasifika sites), Diabetes NZ, Alzheimers, Sleep, Ministry of Social Development assistance over lockdowns, and COVID 19 vaccine campaigns, to name a few.
- Communication: with phone calls, emails, and courier packs, we strived to keep our network up to date.
- Overall Commitment: The dedicated team at MediBoard kept merchandising around NZ at alert level 3. Once we were out of lockdown armed with our COVID 19 protocols for sanitization and bottles of Zoono, our double vaccinated team was out there delivering health content to hundreds of sites.
The connection between the MediBoard team and our MediBoard sites has meant we can keep engagement with your campaigns during 2021. We value that relationship and recognize the critical role of Primary Care in dealing with the work and stress that COVID 19 has bought
3 | Mental Fitness to thrive
It’s one thing to be in lockdown, but another to have the mental fitness to thrive if you cannot do your work. This was the case for several of our team members who could not visit MediBoard sites over lockdowns. We kept the team in touch with Zoom and regular team meetings, updates, webinars, and projects.
4 | QR codes are exploding
Apparent in the world of retail and business, and we see this trend in health advertising and messaging with our QR codes and the online MediBoard receiving record traffic and MediWell digital magazine receiving over 20,000 reads in 2021.
5 | Digital MediPoster is oversubscribed
Digital MediPosters can be deployed instantly to deliver a message; because of this, we have seen an oversubscription of this service.
When the COVID 19 communication team and Ministry of Social Development wanted coverage, they turned to the Digital MediPoster to quickly deploy and gain traction.
If you have plans for digital MediPoster please contact us to avoid disappointment as we start planning for 2022.
For more information on our products and services, click here if you’re looking to advertise and here if you’re a practice looking to add value in your waiting rooms!
