Immersive event meets invaluable sales tool

Challenge

20 years experience, 1 entirely new approach

Each year since 1990, Cardinal Health hosts its Retail Business Conference (RBC), an event dedicated to the community of independent pharmacists. These businesses are primarily family-owned, and rely on Cardinal Health to source their medical and retail products at a competitive price. The annual event gathers its community to gain valuable knowledge, purchase key products for their businesses, network with peers, and have fun.

When the 2021 event couldn’t be held in-person as planned, the Cardinal Health team knew they had an opportunity to completely reimagine this hugely anticipated event. Cardinal Health worked with its long-time partner, Freeman, to explore virtually endless possibilities.

Solution

Elevating interaction in a digital space

We worked closely with Cardinal Health to design a virtual experience centered around its objectives. The goals were clear from the get-go:

• Creating a single sign on, cohesive user experience was crucial
• Getting inventory back into attendees’ pharmacies at a discount
• Making sure attendees could easily order the products they needed through the platform
• Providing continuing education (CE) credits during the event
• Creating an entertaining and memorable experience

“We were looking for a partner who could integrate the APIs and create a cohesive experience — we knew our audience was expecting a lot and we had to deliver. Freeman had the technology we needed and the expertise to bring the vision to life.”

– Brad Copeland, CMP, HMCC, Advisor, Marketing Operations – Cardinal Health

Together with Cardinal Health’s production, ordering, and CE partners, we built an immersive virtual experience for the 4-day event. The experience featured a main stage (including a performance from Jennifer Hudson), health and wellness area, live continuing education classes, solutions showcase, exhibit hall, and leaderboard.

We designed the solutions showcase created by Freeman to make the biggest positive impact on attendees. It featured an interactive virtual pharmacy and an interactive solutions environment. Both areas included clickable hotspots, and attendees were able to explore information, check out products, and purchase items directly through the platform.

Result

The experience that keeps on giving

RBC 2021 brought its community of business owners together virtually and gave them an unforgettable experience that had legs beyond the show dates. In addition to well-attended sessions and virtual engagement opportunities for exhibitors, Cardinal Health was able to host a multi-day event that was engaging, profitable, and even met 70% of its revenue goal.

On top of that, Cardinal Health expanded its investment by evolving the virtual event into a digital portfolio for the sales teams.

“The virtual pharmacy and solutions environment were so impressive that we are keeping them as a sales tool beyond RBC. I envision our sales team walking our customers through our solutions in this dynamic way during customer visits. I anticipate an increase in solution sales using this tactic.”

– Conni Catlett, Director, Pharmaceutical Distribution Marketing – Cardinal Health