Internet Advertising Competition  

Entry: BD Update Electronic Newsletter

Product or Service Offered: BD Medical, Diabetes Care

Audience: Consumer

Industry Category: Medical

Medium: Online Newsletter Campaign

Award: Best Medical Online Newsletter Campaign, Web Marketing Association’s 2005 Internet Advertising Competition

Team: Cathy Messinger, Shelley Goldberg, Teri Ann Helfrich, Maurice Uribe, Oresta Fedun

Audience and goal of advertisement/campaign:

The printed edition of BD UPdate is distributed to over 1 million people with diabetes, caregivers of people with diabetes, and healthcare professionals.  It contains information about developments for caring for diabetes, coupons, special offers from BD, and product information.  BD UPdate is distributed on a periodic basis and has been in circulation for since 2000.

The Diabetes Care unit at BD wanted to enhance the distribution of the print version of BD UPdate by issuing supplemental online copies.  The online version would repurpose some of the content from the printed newsletter and enhance it with current news related to diabetes care from Reuters Health.  The intent of BD UPdate online was not to replace the printed version, but to extend the reach of the printed newsletter and enable current recipients the opportunity to select their preferred method of receiving the newsletter.

The electronic version of BD UPdate currently has a subscription base of over 100,000 active e-mail addresses and regularly receives open-rates and click-through rates that are above industry standards.  Distributing an electronic version of the newsletter enables the Diabetes Care unit at BD to disseminate information more quickly and at a lower cost than the traditional printed version.  Additionally, it drives traffic to the BD Diabetes website, enabling readers to link to related and more detailed information than is contained in the printed version.

E-Newsletter: The e-newsletter contains recent news stories related to Diabetes from Reuters Health Headlines as well as BD product news and an "Ask Dr. Ginsberg" section. Text and HTML versions of the newsletter are distributed via e-mail.

Landing Pages: The links within the e-mail newsletter open full-page stories on the BD Diabetes website. A table of contents is included on each newsletter story so that readers may browse to other articles contained within the issue.

Registration Form: The registration form highlights the content of BD UPdate and asks some profile information. The registration form is highlighted on the BD Diabetes website in the left-hand navigation under "Diabetes News." A link to the registration form is also included in the e-newsletter for recipients who were "referred by a colleague/friend" so that they can sign-up to continue to receive BD UPdate. Once a new subscriber signs up to receive BD UPdate, the most recent edition of the newsletter is forwarded to their in-box.

Opt-Out Form: A link to "unsubscribe" is included in all of the e-newsletters, providing recipients the opportunity to unsubscribe from future editions.

Refer a Friend / Colleague: A "send to a friend/colleague" page enables recipients to forward a copy of the original e-mail, along with a personalized message, to a colleague or friend. The copy of the newsletter that is forwarded includes a special introductory paragraph that invites the recipient to subscribe to receive future issues of BD UPdate.