THE WIN: Fischer & Partners, a Los Angeles-based healthcare marcom firm, became Unicare Life & Health Insurance Company's national PR agency of record (AOR) last month. Unicare, based in Woodland Hills, Calif., is a subsidiary of WellPoint Health Networks, a managed care company that serves 6.7 million medical members and more than 22 million specialty members.
MAIN COMPETITION: This is a unique new business win for Fischer. Instead of competing for Unicare's national PR assignment, Fischer earned it as one of several agencies that worked with the insurance company on various national and regional assignments last year.
When Unicare decided to designate a lead agency to manage its daily assignments (it was often working with three to four agencies at a given time), Fischer had emerged as an agency with "big picture" managed care expertise and a "hands-on" management style, says Cynthia Coulter, WellPoint's VP of corporate communications.
PITCH TEAM: Roger Fischer, president; Robert Berra, senior VP; Aimee Corso, VP, payer provider services group; Louise Kertesz, director of research editorial services.
ASSIGNMENT: Although Fischer didn't do a pitch presentation to get the Unicare national brand assignment, it worked collaboratively with Unicare's corporate team in developing a communications plan, according to Roger Fischer, the agency's president.
To earn Unicare's confidence on a national branding level, Fischer had to demonstrate:
- How it would provide national agency direction to the regional agencies handling Unicare assignments in Boston, Georgia and Texas. The regional agencies include: Clarke & Company in Boston, Hill and Knowlton in Atlanta and Sykes Communications in Houston.
- How it would build national awareness for Unicare as a brand and develop recognition strategies for its individual insurance products and services on the regional level.
- How it would apply its managed care expertise in the competitive California market on a national level.
PRESENTATION: After working with Fischer on building a national communications framework, the agency proved how "hands on" it would be in addressing Unicare's brand issues, says Coulter. "A lot of agencies are too concerned with the 'big picture' and forget about the attention to detail and how to work with the client's day-to-day organizational needs."
The agency also proved its abilities to position key Unicare spokespeople as a resource for the media when topical healthcare issues surfaced-from managed care to quality of care issues.
And since Fischer is located in Unicare's backyard, the proximity worked to the agency's advantage, particularly where crisis communications issues were concerned.
NEXT STEPS: Fischer is working with the three agencies in Atlanta, Boston and Houston on tactical PR strategies involving media relations, speakers programs (to the business community) and positioning Unicare on local healthcare issues, says Robert Berra, the agency's senior VP.
Specific projects include pitching bylined articles by Unicare management to business journals, state associations, employers, brokers and the provider community. (Fischer & Partners, Roger Fischer, 310/577-7870; Unicare, Cynthia Coulter, 818/703-3046)