Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina: Treating the causes behind the rising costs of healthcare
Safeguarding and bolstering the reputation of the state’s largest health insurer in a time of crisis.
client:
blue cross NC
Project:
“treat the cause” reputation campaign
Role:
integrated campaign team lead; strategy lead
date:
2022-2024
Context
In 2022, in the aftermath of the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, many North Carolinians were facing a wide array of financial hardships, including high drug costs and a lack of job security. In-depth research including focus groups, surveys and interviews uncovered that frustration with health insurers was on the rise, and both opinion leaders and the general public were looking to the government and health insurers to work together to address the high cost of care.
The Challenge
Safeguard Blue Cross NC’s reputation as the state’s largest health insurer and provide ground cover for key organizational priorities.
The Solution
Develop a new brand reputation campaign called “Treat the Cause” to show how Blue Cross NC is already taking tangible steps to address affordability concerns while still acknowledging the frustration people feel with the complex health care system, inflation and the pandemic.
I led an integrated team through each stage of the full campaign life-cycle, beginning with in-depth audience and message testing research to identify a campaign concept, creative direction, and key messaging pillars to reach our target audience of key stakeholders, opinion leaders, and decision makers.
Our team designed and built a custom campaign microsite that could host new, original content to position Blue Cross NC as partners in identifying and treating the root causes behind rising costs in health care.
Creative assets included videos, animated static and banner ads, articles and infographics, and audio spots with placements across digital and traditional media as well as sponsorships of key outlets and newsletters that were most widely read by our target audiences.
The Results
Our team created an in-depth custom reporting program synthesizing both paid media metrics and results from a brand lift survey that our team developed and implemented to assess impact of the campaign on people exposed to our advertising.
Data indicated that the campaign contributed to substantial lifts in the audience’s awareness and perception of the brand, leading to demonstrable lifts in reputation. These results were even more significant given the challenging media environment during that time, as other organizational success metrics dipped.
Over the course of the campaign, we continued to optimize, update, and adapt the campaign messaging and tactics to stay lockstep with Blue Cross NC enterprise priorities.
“Treat the Cause” won the PR Daily News Award for the Brand Reputation Campaign of the Year in 2024.