Invacare 2012 Annual Report Download - page 16

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numerous trade shows and conferences on a national and regional basis in which Invacare products were
displayed to providers, health care professionals, managed care professionals and consumers. “Yes, you can.®”
continues to be Invacare’s global tagline and is used in company ads and on the Invacare global website as it is
indicative of the “can do” attitude of many of the people who use the company’s products. In everything it does,
the company strives to leave its stakeholders with its brand promise of Making Life’s Experiences Possible™.
The company also continues to improve performance and usability of www.invacare.com and its related
websites. Throughout 2012, the company increased participation in online forums and engaged customers by
utilizing social media tools, including a Facebook®page and YouTube®channel. These moves toward a more
customer-centric approach allow the company to provide a customer interface that better addresses customer
needs.
In addition, the company uses the Internet to drive consumer awareness of its products. In 2012, Invacare
launched a corporate blog dedicated to the Invacare brand promise of Making Life’s Experiences Possible™with
the hope of having a central location to house all of the company’s efforts towards helping people live life to the
fullest. Located at www.invacareconnects.com, it features articles, videos and photos surrounding Invacare’s
efforts in community events, sponsorships, work with paralyzed veterans, personal stories from Invacare
associates on how they are Making Life’s Experiences Possible and other work done to further the brand
promise. In addition, the company launched the Do More With Oxygen™ website
(www.domorewithoxygen.com), which is Invacare’s first step in creating an online community targeted towards
those who are affected by respiratory ailments, specifically COPD. The audience includes people with respiratory
ailments, caregivers and respiratory therapists. Visitors to the site can view videos, download guides for topics
like “COPD 101” and read daily blog posts to learn more about traveling with COPD, how to live a healthy
lifestyle or even how to care for a loved one dealing with COPD. Invacare is taking the lead by creating an
environment for those dealing with similar ailments to come together and learn more. Ultimately, the website
advocates an active lifestyle that can be achieved through portable oxygen devices such as the Invacare®XPO2®
portable oxygen concentrator. The contents of Invacare’s corporate blog website and Do More With Oxygen™
website are not part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
The company also drives consumer awareness of its products through its sponsorship of a variety of
wheelchair sporting events and support of various philanthropic causes benefiting the consumers of the
company’s products. The company continued its sponsorships of individual wheelchair athletes and teams,
including several of the top-ranked male and female racers, hand cyclists and wheelchair tennis players in the
world. The company continued its support of disabled veterans through its sponsorship of the 32nd National
Veterans Wheelchair Games, the largest annual wheelchair sports event in the world. The games bring a
competitive and recreational sports experience to military service veterans who use wheelchairs for their mobility
needs due to spinal cord injury, neurological conditions or amputation. The company also proudly sponsored
athletes who competed in the 2012 Paralympic Games in London.
Europe
The company’s European operations consist primarily of manufacturing, marketing and distribution
operations in Western Europe and export sales activities through local distributors elsewhere in the world. The
company has a sales force and where appropriate, distribution centers, in the United Kingdom, France, Germany,
Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Austria, Norway and the Netherlands, and sells
through distributors elsewhere in Europe, Middle East and Africa. In markets where the company has its own
sales force, product sales are typically made through dealers of medical equipment and, in certain markets,
directly to government agencies.
Commercial efforts are focused primarily on the following product areas: power wheelchairs, manual
wheelchairs and homecare beds in all markets. Portable oxygen concentrators or Invacare®HomeFill®oxygen
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