Even the best laid plans for a co-marketing campaign can be fraught with frustrating power plays and less than harmonious compromises if trust, respect and unflinching determination are not established early on, according to the two marketing pros who were the muscle behind the Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Florida/Cleveland Clinic of Florida Medicare Risk HMO effort last fall.
On the surface, the aim of the partnership was to leverage both names in the fiercely competitive South Florida market (a hotbed of at least 10 to 15 Medicare risk products) tapping into the Cleveland Clinic's renowned reputation and BCBS's mass reach. But slightly beneath the surface both companies knew that such a high-profile but non-exclusive partnership could spur new business interest from other providers and health plans, a somewhat testy issue that would have to be confronted less than a year after the campaign's launch.
Under the plan, Medicare beneficiaries in Broward County could join BCBSF's Medicare HMO and select CCF as their exclusive healthcare provider, giving them access to 100 physicians in 40 specialties.
The primary goal was to generate new business from the almost 400,000 Medicare new eligibles in Broward County (as opposed to converting existing beneficiaries) to the tune of 300 per month. However, the campaign fell short of meeting these goals because a sell-in phase was not built in, according to Marianne Eastwood, project analyst for BCBSF. As of June, it has generated 1,000 beneficiaries (off by 500).
Racing against the infamous HCFA clock for the fall launch, which can be a 45-day approval process for each marketing piece, Eastwood and Terri Goren, director of marketing for CCF, were in planning for 10 months.
Initial market research (conducted by Washington D.C.-based Scroth & Associates) looked favorable for the addition of CCF to BCBSF's "Medicare & More" product, which projected that five percent of Broward's senior market would sign up and could penetrate 20 percent of the Medicare eligibles market. However, the biggest drawback to the product was the comfort level many seniors had with their existing physicians. For example, 71 percent said they "would not consider" changing to a different plan that required switching doctors.
Although the campaign was not conversion-focused, BCBSF was looking for a 35 percent conversion rate from its previous Medicare & More plan while CCF expected incremental business.
Unlike many co-marketed HMO projects that bring in marketers on the tail end of the deal to hash out a campaign, Eastwood and Goren began working on the campaign soon after BCBSF and CCF administrators signed off on the deal. Starting from a mutual respect point of origin, Eastwood and Goren's relationship hit some tense stumbling blocks as both parties had to defend as well as compromise each company's priorities. Eastwood, who hailed from a much more bureaucratic company environment, would have to remind Goren that this project, while important, was not the only campaign BCBS had on its plate. And, Goren at points became relentless in her position that CCF's world class name and image were on the line.
Out-The-Box Messages
"From the beginning we knew we wanted to do something innovative, different and out of the box," said Goren. "In this market, [senior] advertising looks the same: smiling seniors on bikes!"
Since BCBSF picked up the marketing tab, the $300,000 campaign used its traditional approach to marketing-targeted direct mail and print which broke in October. The direct mail component targeted 130,000 ZIP codes and emphasized the new CCF option at no additional cost to seniors. But the print creative won Medicare and More praise even from market competitors. "We weren't just announcing a new product, we were announcing a new relationship," said Eastwood of the striking ads that ran in local newspapers like the Miami Herald, and Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel.
Featuring endearing senior celebrity couples - Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, and Gracie Alan and George Burns, the copy makes the branding analogy, "Great on their own. Even Better Together."
Uncharted Next Steps
In spite of their different working styles, Eastwood and Goren's relationship crystallized into a gratifying experience where both got a snapshot view of each other's marketing challenges and they were able to carve out clutter-penetrating campaign that established a top-notch relationship for a Medicare risk product. They are now looking at marketing next steps for 1998, but as loosely anticipated, a new playing field will have to be established.
Goren, in a three-way interview with HPRMN, announced to Eastwood that Prudential and CCF are looking at plans to co-market a Medicare risk plan. Emphasizing the non-exclusive arrangement with BCBSF, Goren explained, "We did carry some risk in aligning ourselves with one payer. We risked alienating other payers - as it turned out they jumped on the bandwagon." Although there is no cap on how many payers CCF will enter into Medicare deals with at this point, Goren said that to respect current co-marketing arrangements, CCF will probably stagger new Medicare product intros and have blackout periods on when beneficiaries can sign up. (BCBSF, 407/228-9242; CCF, 954/978-5160)