Omnipod 5 — the world’s first available tubeless, wearable, automated insulin delivery system — is one of the leading pumps on the market. But, for those less familiar with the technology, Insulet has found new ways to reach you.
For instance, if you watch television — namely, the rebooted “Scrubs” series — you would have seen Dr. Christopher Turk (played by Donald Faison) show off his Omnipod on a recent episode, explaining that he didn’t have to worry about the amount of sugar in barbecue sauce because he had his pump at the ready.
Fans of Marvel superheroes may have come across Dyasonic, a comic book hero with type 1 diabetes unveiled last year. Players of the video game “Animal Crossing” might have ventured to “Omnipod Bay” through a new feature announced four years ago.
These efforts come as Insulet looks to enhance its direct-to-consumer (DTC) capabilities, as outlined by CEO Ashley McEvoy at the company’s Investor Day event last fall.
Insulet Senior Director, U.S. Consumer Marketing, Lucas Escobar, is one of the people leading the company’s forays into popular culture. Escobar brings a background in consumer marketing outside of health technologies, including with brands like Dunkin. As a person with type 1 diabetes, Escobar saw an opportunity for Insulet to tap into its brand capabilities to “blaze the trail and open the path for a lot of people with diabetes to adopt technology.”
Escobar spoke with Drug Delivery Business News about the company’s work in popular culture as it spreads the word on Omnipod.
“It’s a personal mission for us, for myself, and I know there’s a lot of other folks in my team and at the company that all ended up here for the same reason,” Escobar said. “There are a lot of us here with type 1, or with a loved one than type 1, and that really kind of brings you home and helps propel the rest of the community.”
The following has been lightly edited for space and clarity.
Drug Delivery Business News: What is the difference coming from other industries to deliver campaigns for medical technology that saves lives?
Lucas Escobar: “I love my job because it is infinitely more rewarding to create campaigns that make a meaningful difference in people’s lives. I didn’t get the same satisfaction when I was doing the work for Dunkin as I do for Insulet. Ultimately, the way to think about it — and to go back to Scrubs and Marvel and many of the things that we do — humans are humans. It doesn’t matter if we’re talking about coffee and or insulin devices. How we feel comfortable with making certain choices in our lives is shaped by what we see in culture. You see a lot of things because you’re bombarded with advertisements all the time.
How do you approach making the invisible, visible?
LE: “[In the case of Dunkin], you see that everywhere. It’s very ubiquitous. They’re doing all these integrations, all these partnerships. It’s all around us. You know what it is. People know what it is, but you don’t see that for medical devices. When it comes to that pivotal moment of making the choice to go on a pump, to use the CGM, there is that gap that you need to address of feeling comfortable with wearing the devices, and often that is shaped by how often you see that in culture, how that is represented, and how comfortable you feel by going out and making your diabetes visible. That’s one of the things that, with the power of our brand, we can bring to a lot of these very traditional consumer and popular culture activations and close that gap for the entire diabetes community.”
How long has this been a mission at Insulet, given the company’s public push toward DTC?
LE: “We are committed to [McEvoy’s DTC mission] and empowering the diabetes community. As the leaders in the pump category, we need to continue to grow the market. To grow the market and to drive penetration, we need to close those gaps to adoption.
“A lot of the time, those gaps are simply people not comfortable with the technology, people not asking their providers or not engaging with their providers, because there is that mental gap that we need to close. We know that, within our DTC arsenal, we have traditional advertising and more educational campaigns. Those have a role and those are important, but those also assume that you are in a place where you’re willing to entertain that conversation and to learn or to take that next step.
“Often, we need to find people with diabetes who are still on [multiple daily injections], who are not using technology. Where they are is not going to be prone to just seeing traditional advertising. Where they are might be watching their favorite TV show. Maybe they’re browsing their favorite Spotify music list of what’s new, reading a new comic book, playing their favorite video game.
“We’re trying to elevate diabetes and diabetes technology in culture and pop culture, in places where almost everybody is, and then bringing them back to the category, to close that gap to adoption for them to get a CGM, for them to get a pump and get Omnipod.”
Tell me a little bit more about Insulet’s most recent effort with the Omnipod appearance on Scrubs
LE: “You thought you were just going to see the Pod on Scrubs, but you didn’t just see the Pod, right? You saw the Pod, and you saw it at a moment that was meaningful. And I think if you read through a lot of the commentary that we’ve seen on the Scrubs activation on social media, people — even people who were watching the show, knowing that they were going to see the Pod — didn’t expect the moment to be so real and so meaningful, right? In that moment, he’s getting asked what people with diabetes have probably gotten asked thousands of times over their lifetime: ‘Can you eat that with your diabetes?’
“It’s a very real moment resolved by something very real that a product like Omnipod resolves. … You can have that spontaneity with an insulin pump. [We’re] trying to find those moments. It takes a lot of work, a lot of dedication, and a lot of partners with aligned values.”
What is the process like to actually make these campaigns happen?
LE: “It’s a fun process, but it is incredibly complex to get to the right place. … We’re again looking at the broader spectrum of culture, because we know diabetes doesn’t discriminate. We want to be showing up on TV, in movies, in music, in comics. We want to find people with diabetes where they are. Then, it’s a process of finding and aligning with partners that share that mission and share those
What has the response been to your campaigns thus far?
LE: “I think the beauty of these campaigns is that we can quantify a lot of it, but what really makes a difference for us and what keeps us moving is the stories that come in every day. Scrubs is just a week old, but I wish I could show you my inbox. The number of stories that come from our field, from our call center … it’s moving the needle and it’s making them take the next step to better care, to make that decision to get on a first insulin pump.
“Marvel has been [in collaboration] for almost a year with our new hero, Dyasonic. The stories of Dyasonic have made a difference, and it’s made a meaningful difference to take the next step for many people, for kids who had that hesitation to wear a pump in school. How do you have that conversation, as a kid, with your peers?
“Creating these assets and these campaigns that enable conversation at their level, in which they’re able to share their diabetes and share the technology that is on their arms or on their stomach or on their legs with their friends at school, at a level that they can understand. That makes the entire difference in the journey. Those stories [showing] the difference that our technology is making in people’s lives, the difference that our campaigns are making in people’s lives by getting them closer to the technology, are pretty remarkable.”
Closing thoughts
LE: “We are committed to empowering people with diabetes with the technology that we’re providing that makes their lives better and simpler. But, we also have the power of our brand, and I think as the leaders, we are leveraging that power of our brand to continue to expand the reach of technology, to expand the adoption of technology, expand the penetration in the market of insulin pumps and of CGMS and of everything as people see themselves represented.
“That is something that you’re going to continue to see from us as the leaders in the space. You’ve seen Marvel, you’ve listened to ‘The Pod Drop‘ on Spotify or Apple Music, you’ve seen our integration with Scrubs. We’re going to continue to blaze those trails, continue to align with the right partners to make sure that diabetes and technology is showing up everywhere, because people with diabetes, frankly, are everywhere.”
