PR CASE STUDY:
MEDTRONIC BALLOON KYPHOPLASTY
PUBLIC EDUCATION PROGRAM

The Medtronic Interventional Downstream Vertebral Compression Fracture Market team approached

Morris Marketing Group to help garner earned media and mass media exposure for the Medtronic Balloon Kyphoplasty procedure/therapy. Morris Marketing Group used primary research in the form of interviews with Medtronic staff to understand Medtronic’s Balloon Kyphoplasty, project goals, and organizational procedures. Primary research was used throughout the initiative in the form of interviews with patients and doctors to relate their story back to media professionals and outlets. Secondary research was used to better understand Medtronic’s Balloon Kyphoplasty, competitor procedures, the general market dynamics, and the current media landscape both traditional as well as digital as it pertains to Balloon Kyphoplasty.

Research provided that even though Balloon Kyphoplasty has been changing people’s lives for more than 20 years, the general public and, specifically, the target market of older Americans and many physicians do not know about Balloon Kyphoplasty. Combining this information with years of media relations experience shaped our planning process in that we knew we needed to highlight the many third-party endorsements from doctors and patients to educate the public on the effectiveness and success of Medtronic’s Balloon Kyphoplasty.

The plan was defined to interview patients and doctors across the country and to relate their specific stories to local media markets as well as national media outlets to educate and inform the general public Medtronic’s Balloon Kyphoplasty. The specific measurable objective of the plan was to secure an average of one media appearance per month. The target audience is the general public and specifically middle to senior-aged Americans with a high concentration of women and osteoporosis patients.

The overall strategy used was to relate to local media, friends and neighbors of the patients, and doctors to garner earned media exposure in order to build a bank of third-party testimonials to utilize in educating the public about Medtronic’s Balloon Kyphoplasty therapy/procedure.

The plan was executed with team members interviewing Medtronic Balloon Kyphoplasty patients and doctors across the country to create media awareness pitches. The pitches were distributed to media outlets and personalities to garner interest. Once an interview was secured, the team prepped the doctor and patient team, the media outlet, and coordinated the interviews.

Key tactics were traditional information gathering to define the story or angle then traditional media outreach to garner interest and support. There were no issues encountered in the process.

Traditional media tracking and measurement methods of evaluation were used. Results reflected well the original strategy and tactics and met the measurable objectives set forth at the beginning of the project.

• 10 months
• 40 news clips
• 10 different markets
• 3 National Outlets

Earned Media Values $162,828
Audience of 13,777,201

“Morris Marketing Group’s PR and public education efforts have given our educational awareness initiative on vertebral compression fractures (VCF) great visibility with third party endorsements via earned media in markets across the United States. The opportunity to have a better understanding of minimally invasive treatment options beyond non-surgical management generated increased interest from doctors and patients.”

- Belinda G. Roth, Principal Market Development Specialist, Medtronic