Michael Coffey
Marketing Manager of Strategy and Innovation, North America
Roche Diabetes Care Inc.
Reimagining the Customer Engagement Model
Treats. Discounts. Door-to-door delivery. Michael Coffey has proven to be a true disrupter by reimagining how the healthcare industry interacts with patients—through the simple act of offering things consumers love. Roche’s “ACCU-CHEK To:” program packages diabetes monitor test strips with an assortment of complimentary, diabetes-friendly snacks, skincare and other lifestyle products, and sends them directly “To:” customers’ doors each month. Oh, and by the way, Michael and his team conceived and launched the program in less than six months.
To add to its appeal, the package was given a premium lifestyle look and feel—with aspirational messaging and helpful information sprinkled throughout. Michael wanted to be sure the package emphasized patient enjoyment—not the disease state. The result? Patients can’t get enough of the program.
To celebrate National Diabetes Day on November 14, 2014, Michael developed a social media campaign, in which Roche offered 1,000 ACCU-CHEK To: boxes for gifting purposes on Facebook. All the boxes were gifted within mere hours! The giveaway was so popular that another 400 boxes were gifted to surprise ACCU-CHEK US’ Facebook subscribers in January 2015. What’s more, the initial private community pilot was so well received—and product demand by patients outside of the pilot program was so compelling—that the program went public two months earlier than scheduled.
The program received an unsolicited glowing review from diabetes blogger ThePerfectD: “I’ve signed up this week because I believe that they’re doing something right. (A great price. A great idea. A great program.)”
But that’s just the start of the disruption. Michael is expanding and amplifying the program in 2015 through extensive promotion, customer relationship marketing and on-going community-driven content.