If men could get pregnant, birth control would likely be as easy as buying a vending machine candy bar. So the Pill Club, a D2C company designed to make birth control as convenient as possible, is making the point with a plan to set up a uterus-shaped vending machine at a busy street corner in San Francisco
The San Francisco-based company says the activation is in keeping with its fresh and feisty personality.
“Women still face unnecessary, outdated barriers to getting birth control, even though 11 million Americans take it every day,” says Liz Meyerdirk, chief executive officer of the telehealth start-up. “So this vending machine is a nod to how easy it should be.”
The event, tied to World Contraception Day, is also a way to acquaint passers-by with what gives the brand such appeal to its Gen Z audience. Besides birth control, the machine is stocked with condoms and individual packets of lubricant, the affirming stickers it’s known for tucking inside every care package it mails, and period-care products.
There’s even a phone case that doubles as a holder for BC pills.
Meyerdirk says the activation gets to the Pill Club’s brand essence: The credibility of quality healthcare, plus surprise and delight. “Our customers love that our monthly care packages include surprises,” she says, which might range from chocolate to a clay mask to a trial size of Midol
The bottom line, she tells Marketing Daily, is that people are busy. And the more people get used to the ease and convenience of telehealth, the more they’ll use it — just like groceries online or having takeout delivered.
“Right now, most people think they need to get birth control via an annual visit to a healthcare provider and a trip to the pharmacy each month. That’s 13 trips you have to make a year. Wouldn’t you rather have it mailed to your home? People want to avoid all those various logistics.”
Even if you don’t have a uterus, marketing lessons abound:
- They know their target market. Busy Gen Z women
- They know their prospects pain points: convenience, lack of education
- They are successfully removing the barriers to the sale, making their product accessible to their target market
This is why it is vital that YOU know who your target market is, their pain points and how you will eliminate the barriers to the sale.
