Bottle Rocket

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Baylor Scott and White is a nonprofit healthcare system in Texas. Our reach includes the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex and central Texas including Waco, Temple, and Austin. I’m the director and general manager of the digital health office.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Bottle Rocket?

We’ve used them for multiple engagements, but the primary engagement was for our patient portal. We wanted to create a unique ecosystem that created value and was a differentiator from our competitors.

If you look at the healthcare landscape, patient portals are mirror images from one healthcare system to the other based on what type of Electronic Health Records (EHR) you have. For example, if your EHR is Epic, then your patient portal is called MyChart. A lot of our competitors are on Epic so patients would have the same patient portal regardless of where you went. For us, we wanted to create more than just the standard. We wanted to add additional engaging features that set us apart from our competitors.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We explained to Bottle Rocket what we were trying to accomplish. We wanted to create an app that increases engagement. We worked with their strategist to set up a mission statement and guiding principles for the app. We brought our teams together for working sessions including going through current journey mapping for different types of patients. Then we looked for opportunities in those journeys where our patient portal or our app could solve a problem. Maybe we wanted to send a push notification to a patient the day before their appointment to remind them. Or we could push educational content in the mobile app so the patient can be aware of how to better handle and control their conditions.

We had approximately 90 features that we liked based on user journeys and stakeholder and consumer interviews. Then, we talked about the feasibility of implementation and the impact to the consumer and rated them by highest impact and easiest feasibility to implement. That narrowed the scope of features down to 10.

Then they brought in a designer, and we told them what apps we liked that they could look at. We wanted to be unique so we gave the designers flexibility to use their creativity to come up with their own design for our app. Their designers came back to us on a weekly basis to show us modules of the app and to get our feedback. They came back with multiple options that we loved. They talked about what they liked and didn’t like about those to give us feedback.

If we didn’t love some of the designs, they were quick to bring in other designers free of charge. They’re customer-focused and I was very pleased with how they handled that.

What is the team composition?

We had a project manager, account manager, senior strategist, and another strategist. There was one strategist who oversaw the entire department, and the other strategist was the primary leader. We had a designer, and when we did our focus studies and testing, there was another resource for that process.

How did you come to work with Bottle Rocket?

Three years ago, we were interviewing mobile app development companies. We talked to companies that had hired agencies to develop mobile apps about who they recommended. One healthcare system that we highly respect told us to look at Bottle Rocket. They were located close to us, and we interviewed them. We were very impressed with their people and their portfolio. If you look at who they’ve developed apps for, they have significant experience.

How much have you invested with them?

We have spent between $200,000 and $1 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working on this project with them in October 2016, and their portion was completed in August 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We took the app to one of the largest healthcare systems on the West Coast 2 weeks ago, and their CDO [Chief Digital Officer] told us that when we execute it, we will have the best app in healthcare. Another very large healthcare system in the Midwest said that we will be years ahead of other healthcare systems. 

Consumer testing is done after prototypes are developed which use a 7-point scale to rate usability and flow. Our app rated 6.8 on a 7-point scale. That shows the quality of their work. The consumer testers are from many demographics. It ranked highly in comparison to the apps that they’ve created; other apps have ranked in the 95th to 96th percentile.

How did Bottle Rocket perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re really strong. In both engagements we’ve had with them, the project managers have been fantastic. I don’t say that lightly because I used to manage project managers. We used a tool called Confluence, which updates constantly where we added comments and approved their work.

Most of our correspondence was done in person because we’re so close to their corporate offices. We chose to go there more often so we could unplug and focus, and they were more than willing to travel to us as well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their quality is impressive. Everything we’ve received from them has been top-notch. I equate it to going to a Mercedes or Lexus dealership. You expect quality. You’ll pay for it, but quality is what you get. Bottle Rocket isn’t the least expensive, but they provide good, quality work that sets their clients apart. That includes the design, project management, account managers, etc.

I rarely see hospitality in organizations, but that is another one of their strengths. It feels more like a partnership than a vendor relationship. They’re constantly inviting us to events at their place. They bring in speakers and send us articles about things they’re learning that can help us. We have a great relationship.

Their account manager is good at staying on top of things. They make sure they’re meeting all of our needs.

Their execution is another strength. When we set a timeline, they hit it even if they had to pull in additional resources to do so. We didn’t see any scope creep or additional charges. They brought people in and got the job done.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I can’t imagine a better app development company. Bottle Rocket has things they’re really good at. We were able to stretch their capabilities by asking for just strategy instead of strategy and development. That was something they hadn’t done, but they were willing to work with us to figure out a model to make it work. We’ve also asked for QA support, and they’ve been willing to work on different models. My advice would be to find out what makes sense for your company, and Bottle Rocket will work with you to figure out how to meet your goals. Don’t be afraid to ask them questions.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

I work for Kimberly-Clark Corporation, we provide a lot of paper products and are home of some of the most iconic brands: Kleenex, Huggies, Cottonelle, Scott.

What is your position?

I am the senior brand manager on the Huggies product.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Bottle Rocket?

As part of the Huggies brand, we actually have a fairly robust legacy rewards and loyalty program for all those parents that want to buy Huggies diapers and wipes. We engaged Bottle Rocket as we were looking at how to bring innovation to our loyalty program from where we are today, which is a very analog: rewards codes where you would have to enter a 15 digit pin code off of the diaper box. Then you would get rewards points for that. Our question was ‘how do we modernize that?’ We reached out to Bottle Rocket, given some of their best-in-class executions that they’ve had in the past working with other large scale companies. They helped us modernize our rewards and loyalty program.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

The way we look at a lot of our agency vendors is as true partners. When we enroll them and we select them, they go through a very rigorous process. We knew that our rewards program is one of the best in the industry, but we wanted to take it to the next level. We are very judicious about who we are picking as vendors. Beyond vendors, but who could actually be a business partner, and bring innovation? So we look at vendors not just from a can they help us build the app but also can they help with a strategic approach and bring thought leadership to the table.

How did you come to work with Bottle Rocket?

Our agency of record is Ogilvy & Mather. They were looking at partnerships because they were the ones that were running our go-to market strategy, as well as our rewards, sharing the loyalties. They were looking at all the opportunities and vendors and decided on Bottle Rocket for that specific reason. Ogilvy felt Bottle Rocket was going to be the most apt to be true business partners with us. They felt Bottle Rocket could bring the technical know-how and also the vision and help us be brand stewards.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

We spend $200,000-plus per year with Bottle Rocket, as they manage many of our apps.

What is the status of this engagement?

It is an ongoing partnership. Innovation in loyalty programs evolves so quickly, Bottle Rocket helps us move fast, if not lead the innovation and the evolution.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

I can’t share anything quantitative yet because we haven’t launched. We launch on June 29, 2016. Qualitatively, I think it’s been really exciting for me, coming onto the brand and seeing the steps we’re taking to improve the diapers brand.

What distinguishes Bottle Rocket from other providers?

Bottle Rocket has the rigor. In other words, when they started from design and mapping out requirements and making sure that they understood our consumer, we had a fantastic emergence session before we even talked about apps, and capabilities, and how we would do anything. They wanted to understand. They wanted to get inside of the mind of the Huggies mom. That speaks volumes about what we tasked them with. When Ogilvy and Huggies looked at which vendor, or which partner we wanted to bring on board, we needed a partner that truly understood the impact that this brand has on consumers’ lives and the role that Kimberly-Clark wants to have in helping change lives and making lives better. Bottle Rocket understood that and they made sure to understand that first. It’s inspirational to work with a partner that gets the technical check but understands the mission beyond that, that was really reassuring that we made a great investment in Bottle Rocket.

Is there anything Bottle Rocket could have improved or done differently?

I hate to say it, but I think right now I’m wearing the rose colored glasses. They really have come to the table with the full suite of leaders; both technical, creative design, process, project management. Partner is an overused word but they definitely come to the table. They understand the importance of not only having the right product, but they never exceeded the timeline. When they make a commitment and they put something on the schedule, they hit it. If they’re not, they’re very quick about telling you why and when they are going to hit that timeline. Right now, they’re firing off on all cylinders and we’re all holding on and counting down the days. Twenty-three, twenty-two days and counting; that’s kind of the mode we’re in right now.