Brand Create appointed by US med-tech company

UK-based healthcare communications company Brand Create has been hired by US-based medical technology company, Kinetic Concepts (KCI) for an international wound care campaign.

Brand Create was signed up after KCI agreed their strategic approach and without need for a creative pitch. The campaign for KCI International and its UK division, KCI Medical UK, will cover the UK and all global territories outside the US. 

The campaign represents an estimated EUR 2m account and is KCI's largest international campaign to date.

Brand Create is tasked with brand communications for KCI's next generation wound care therapy systems: Vacuum Assisted Closure (VAC) Therapy technology will introduce two second generation products to the wound healing market: InfoVAC and ActiVAC.

Using system enhancements based on 'voice of the customer' input from patients and caregivers, the two systems allow KCI to widen its market potential across the whole range of wound care.

By 2011, the market for advanced wound care technology is expected to reach USD 4.6bn, according to a May 2007 report: 'The Market for Advance Wound Care Technology'.

Brand Create will employ a mix of PR and marketing across a series of internal and external media and develop a series of ad campaigns. The activity will start this autumn and roll out into 2008, with communications for four key strands of the KCI healthcare market: healthcare professionals, community caregivers and their patients in the growing hospital to homecare market; internally for the international sales teams; and the healthcare economics sector with the introduction of cost-comparator models.

The campaign will use both online and offline media. Elements of the campaign will include education DM materials and internal brand sales guides, built specifically, country by country.  Interactive elements will include a 'better brand library' on CD.  There will be an information toll-free line for patients and caregivers as well as a web community designed specifically for healthcare providers.

Michael Dumigan, managing director of Brand Create, said: "We look forward to supporting the company as it enters the next stage of its development, raising awareness and really engaging KIC with its clients. Our approach is to enable a Velcro-like bond between our clients and their markets."