“Fresh Thinking” campaign draws attention at 100% Optical 2023

CooperVision’s ‘Fresh Thinking’ campaign draws attention at 100% Optical 2023

Industry-wide survey set to shed light on ways to improve the contact lens patient journey

At this year’s 100% Optical trade show at the London ExCel, contact lens manufacturer, CooperVision, launched its brand new campaign, ‘Fresh Thinking’; a campaign created to spark conversation and gather insights around the current contact lens patient journey, and how it could be evolved to make the experience quicker and easier for eye care professionals (ECPs) and their patients.

The vibrant stand played host to over 700 delegates throughout the three-day event and was awarded ‘Most Engaging Stand’ of the 250 show exhibitors, by the conference organisers.

As the first phase of the Fresh Thinking campaign, the aim of the stand and its staff was to capture ECPs’ thoughts on the contact lens patient experience. A key activity was for visitors to complete an online questionnaire, and for those willing, record a short video of their experiences and opinions. There were also other data capture activities, such as a magnetic voting wall, touchscreen surveys and discussions with the CooperVision business managers and professional affairs consultants.

Stand visitors also got to enjoy some fun activities that brought the Fresh Thinking theme to life: a literal tortuous path with a giant 2.7m ‘buzz wire’ game and fresh smoothies served with themed names such as ‘apple-i-cation and removal’ or ‘one-visit wonder’, finally visitors were encouraged to take a selfie at the stand and use the social media hashtag #FreshPatientExperience, which will run throughout the length of the campaign.

Many of the visitors to the stand took part in both CPD and non-CPD discussion workshops, and a CPD lecture resulting in the delivery of over 450 learning instances on stand, at the AOP Lounge, and the 100% Optical Main Stage, creating over 1,300 CPD points.

This first phase of the campaign has already attracted high engagement levels, with over 200 questionnaire completions, 60 video interviews, over 100 votes cast and over 100 short survey completions. The online questionnaire will continue to be promoted and will remain open until the end of March to capture as many responses as possible. All this data will be analysed and turned into insights to inform a practitioner focus group to discuss the findings, hosted by the AOP, later this spring.

Speaking at the event, Doug Bairner, Senior Director, UK, Ireland and Nordics, CooperVision, commented: “It’s been a great weekend for us here at 100% Optical 2023 and we are delighted to have been able to engage with so many people from within the industry and to have won 100% Optical’s ‘Most Engaging Stand’ award. It has been incredibly interesting to hear from eye care professionals, themselves, what they think about the current contact lens patient journey, and we look forward to acting on the insights we have discovered to help create new and improved ways of working.”

Christina Olner, Head of Professional Affairs, UK&I, CooperVision, added: “We’ve been really pleased with the level of engagement we have received so far and we hope that people will continue to put their opinions forward over the next month. The more people that get involved at this stage, the clearer the picture will be of where we are right now and the better placed we will be to provide a positive experience for our contact lens patients in the future.”

The next phase of the campaign will see CooperVision sharing these findings with the entire industry, before moving to the third phase that will look at options to improve the products, tools and services that impact upon the contact lens patient journey.

For those who were unable to attend 100% Optical and would like to share their thoughts on the contact lens patient journey, with the chance to win one of three £100 Amazon vouchers*, the questionnaire remains open until 31st March 2023 via the campaign page: https://coopervision.co.uk/practitioner/patient-experience-campaign.  

*Prize draw is optional. Draw closes on 31.03.23. Respondents will be selected at random to win one of three £100 Amazon vouchers. Promoter: Flame Health and CooperVision Limited. No respondent information will be shared with CooperVision; responses will be analysed and shared with CooperVision at an aggregated level only. Full terms and conditions here.