When Ohio was finally ready to enforce Bill 107, which required the state's Bureau of Workers' Compensation (BWC) to mandate that employers choose a managed care organization (MCO) to handle their workers' compensation claims, PR and marketing professionals at a leading MCO in the area quickly switched gears.
HomeTown Health Network, a Massillon, Ohio-based MCO, knew that once legislation was finalized (the bill was initially passed in 1993), it would have to zoom into fifth gear with a marketing campaign that would catapult its Premier Comp division into the state's top choice for workers' compensation insurance.
When the plan debuted in 1995, Premier Comp targeted large employers (3,000 employees or more) that already had health insurance. But a year-and-half later in November 1996, with only six months lead time, Premier's new target expanded to small employers (1-499 employees) that were often unaware that workers' comp insurance had been mandated.
Low awareness of the bill's implications among employers made the campaign especially challenging. "Most employers had heard of the legislation, but were confused about when it would be implemented. So we had to first educate them, then sell them on why they should choose Premier Comp," said Michele Ewing, account supervisor at Youngstown, Ohio-based Ira Thomas Associates Inc., the network's advertising agency.
Educate and Sell Strategy
The twin marketing objectives of educating and promoting would have to be achieved within a narrow window of opportunity (November to February) and with a marketing budget that doubled to $50,000.
Since the market would soon be flooded with competitors, time was of the essence. In fact, soon after the bill was officially finalized, 57 newly formed workers' comp networks emerged to zero in on the hundreds of thousands of employers that would be vulnerable to the legislation.
Competitively, HomeTown enjoyed a favorable advantage as an established statewide MCO with an impressive record of controlling healthcare costs. Both marketing and PR efforts would capitalize on this status.
From a marketing standpoint, Premier Comp's direct mail-dominated campaign relied on the wealth of employers names HomeTown already possessed in its database.
The direct mail program was rolled out in three phases to reach 10,000 Ohio employers. The messages became progressively stronger with each phase. Starting with a postcard that informed employers of the legislation, then a letter that emphasized the bill's implications, and culminating with an urgent correspondence that reminded employers of the March deadline to select an MCO, Premiere Comp's name eventually became top-of-mind.
One of the most successful components of the direct mail campaign was a hotline it used for employer inquires that was answered by a person, as opposed to a voice mail, according to Stephen Elkins, Premier Comp's director.
During the last phase of the campaign, print was used to remind employers about the deadline for selecting a workers' comp MCO and why they should choose Premier Comp. The ads ran in regional newspapers like Small Business News, the Beacon Journal and the Repository.
On the PR side, the agency relied on HomeTown's active on-going relationship with local media to get the word out about Premier Comp. "HomeTown was seen as an authority on managed care by the media; this reputation helped us with story pitches," said Ewing. The PR campaign enjoyed timely, prominent coverage through stories that ran in Associated Press (Ohio), the Gongwer Report, a state government news publication, and the Akron Beacon Journal, the largest daily in HomeTown's territory. Ultimately 15 stories were written about Premier Comp, reaching close to 290,000 people.
To supplement the direct mail and newspaper campaign, an aggressive outreach program was executed through seminars and on-site promotional materials that included posters, brochures and ID cards.
The Premier Comp campaign greatly exceeded marketing expectations. At campaign's inception, Premier Comp's goal was to secure 14 employer contracts. By mid-February, the network generated more than 600 employer contracts. "The direct mail program was so successful, our sales team never had to make a cold call, they were so inundated with calls [50 to 100 calls/day] from the literature we mailed out," said Elkins.
The campaign also caught the attention of Public Relations Society of America's (PRSA) Pittsburgh chapter, winning first place in the new product category for 1997. To date, over 3,400 employers have signed up, representing 20,000 to 30,000 employees. (Ira Thomas Associates Inc., 330/793-3000; Premier Comp, 800/776-4771)