The healthcare world saw many dramatic shifts in 2020 but one that is often overlooked is the extensive disruptions for medical conferences. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, doctors, nurses, and medical professionals in every sector of the healthcare industry were not able to meet in person, learn from each other, and connect on top healthcare issues that persisted in addition to the onset of a global medical emergency. 

As a result, healthcare conference organizers shifted to a virtual model to continue to share the emerging information about community healthcare in the United States. The American Public Health Association (APHA) was one of those organizations that shifted their October 2020 conference to a virtual format. HealthMerch was ready to support with the custom products needed to create a conference welcome kit for over 5,000 people.

Together, HealthMerch and APHA created a sense of unity and togetherness for all of the healthcare professionals that attended the online conference. The outcome was a custom-designed conference swag bag filled with home office essentials that were customized to match the theme and include valued partners like The California Endowment as well.

2020 APHA Conference Welcome Kit Products Produced by HealthMerch

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We know that everyone likes “free stuff” but the goal for custom promotional products has a deeper importance and significance than most people realize. HealthMerch works with clients like APHA to determine what their goals are and what products and messaging are best to accomplish those. 

HealthMerch created custom products to meet many of APHA's goals including:

  1. Registration Incentives For Early Engagement
    • Providing incentives for early registration is a helpful tool for getting your target audience to commit to attending. While many healthcare workers need CEUs (continuing education units) to stay up to date with certifications, many conference attendees look for alternate opportunities when selecting an event to attend. Ensuring early registration is also an important way that conferences raise money to pay for conferences.
  2. Create a Sense of Community for a Virtual Conference
    • Because this conference was remote for the very first time, the APHA Conference organizers were looking for a way to create meaningful connections between attendees. Knowing that attendees at the conference received the same custom product and gifts was a great gesture to help attendees feel welcome and connected, even from home.
  3. Custom Products Build Brand + Event Awareness
    • One major reason for producing custom products is to generate brand awareness and engagement. All of the products created included the APHA conference logo, name and date for recipients to remember and look back on for months and years into the future.
  4. Create Added Value for Sponsors Through Co-Branded Products
    • Sponsorship is another integral resource for financing a conference. Because sponsors can’t directly engage with attendees in person at a virtual conference, adding another layer of brand recognition and alignment can be hugely valuable for a sponsor. By offering co-branded items delivered direct to attendees, APHA was able to showcase additional value in various sponsorship levels.
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The HealthMerch creative team partnered with APHA organizer to select the products that would work best to accomplish their goals and fit in their budget. HealthMerch was able to consult and support the APHA decision making team by walking them through the following questions:

  1. What items will be the most practical and useful for the recipients in order to elongate the lifespan of each product and thus the impact of the brand engagement?
  2. How do we need to factor in supporting sponsors into brand products?
  3. Is there a theme that products can support or is there an activity during the conference that would allow these products to become immediately useful?
  4. How many items will be included and how will the weight impact shipping costs?
  5. What is the budget per person (including shipping) and how many packages will we ship total?

Based on these factors and other helpful feedback from the APHA conference team, we proceeded to produce customized handouts for the conference attendees that were immediately useful. 

  1. Custom Designed Welcome Postcard
    • In order to explain the virtual event and the products included in the package, APHA put together pertinent information on a double-sided cardstock postcard that was designed and produced by HealthMerch.
  2. Custom Whistle Keychain with Light
    • The theme of the 2020 APHA Conference was “Creating the Healthiest Nation: Preventing Violence”. HealthMerch proposed various products to complement violence prevention including a keychain whistle, 
  3. Custom Stylus Pen
    • Is it possible to have too many pens? We don’t think so. This APHA stylus open is perfect for note taking and the stylus is a great tool to avoid touching public digital services. A stylus is perfect to keep in your purse, bag or pocket to use for signing credit card pads at the grocery store or other essential shopping locations.
  4. Custom Notepad with Sticky Notes
    • Perfect for at home office or medical office, this spiral-bound notebook came complete with multi-colored sticky notes and was sponsored by The California Endowment, a partner and sponsor of APHA conference. Coupled with the stylus pen, this set became perfect for jotting down notes during sessions at the APHA 2020 Conference.
Custom Products Created For 2020 APHA Conference

APHA Custom Products Delivered: HealthMerch Full-Service Shipping and Fulfillment to 5,000+ Homes + Offices

The APHA organizers were no strangers to offering attendees branded promotional items and have annually offered giveaway and handout items for their attendees to pick up at registration. This is where the next hurdle came into place. How to ship packages out over 5,000 locations and who is going to manage that intensive process?

Full-service shipping and fulfillment services is another provided bonus from HealthMerch. As in-person outreach events were cancelled and clinics shuttered, HealthMerch stepped up to help clients deliver their customized outreach and engagement products. 

HealthMerch is able to extend discounted shipping rates to customers because of high-demand. As a result, APHA greatly benefited from this opportunity and the team at HealthMerch designed, produced, assembled and packaged kits that shipped to homes and businesses around the country in advance of the October 2020 APHA Conference. 

HealthMerch Serves the Healthcare Community

HealthMerch continues to offer essential services to clients including creative ideation, extensive product sourcing, design services, as well as specialized support with packaging and shipping. At HealthMerch, we’re dedicated to supporting healthcare organizations and the communities they serve to solve for healthier communities.