Company: Makovsky Integrated Communications
Company Description: Founded in 1979, Makovsky is one of the world's leading independent communications consultancies, building businesses and reputations with ideas that cross the boundaries of traditional, digital, social and experiential media. We specialize in integrated communications programs for the financial, professional services, health, technology and energy sectors.
Nomination Category: Marketing Campaign Categories - Industry
Nomination Sub Category: Marketing Campaign of the Year - Healthcare - Services

Nomination Title: Affinity Health Plan - Marketing Campaign

Tell the story of this nominated marketing campaign for the judges (up to 525 words). Describe the genesis, planning, execution, and results to date of your campaign. If applicable, remember to describe what's unique or innovative about your campaign:

SITUATION:

Affinity Health Plan has been providing access to affordable, high quality health care for people in New York City, Nassau, Suffolk, Rockland and Orange counties long before the Affordable Care Act.

Enacted in fall 2013, President Obama’s highly anticipated health care reform was poised to make a big splash, completely changing the way the public thinks about healthcare coverage.

For health care providers, the competition for awareness was fierce. Media inventory was being snatched up and television, radio, print and online campaigns were taking aim at an impressionable audience.

Affinity Health Plan has a successful history, but it had very low awareness. Affinity needed to elevate its brand visibility in a hurry. It needed a campaign to introduce their plans under health care reform and launch a new website to help retain current members and expand their community.

All in two months.

EXECUTION: Uniting a city.

We created the Affinity Community™.

We identified real members of the Affinity community, seeking them out in all five boroughs and photographed them for the campaign. We held a mirror to our people and our neighborhoods, showing Affinity’s longstanding local commitment to the New York Metropolitan area.

Then we took to the streets. A citywide print campaign showcased Affinity plans and featured our diverse community. To reach them we placed ads in the Daily News, AM New York, El Diario, Amsterdam News, Caribbean Life, Russian Bazaar and Sing Tao Daily.

Out-of-home ads graced New York’s most traveled subway lines and stations. And expansive billboards lined the highways from Long Island to Westchester.

Radio spots featured diverse voices from members of the community. We cast Asian, African American and Hispanic talent for spots that aired on 10 local stations and ran the spots in English and Spanish for maximum penetration.

Social media had a huge impact for a minimal cost. We posted waves of messages to Facebook and Twitter that drove traffic to the website in record numbers, linked to relevant health articles and drastically grew Affinity’s online fan base.

Digital banners highlighted key facts and benefits of Affinity, yielding high click through rates and driving traffic to our brand new website.

A completely redesigned, responsive website simplified the process of choosing a health plan and is user- friendly, color-coordinated experience helped visitors identify the right plan for them.

RESULTS:

In 60 days, we redesigned and re-engineered the Affinity brand. We added a vibrant color palette to help advertising differentiate itself amongst a sea of insurance options.

We simplified the complex messaging of Health Care Reform. Step-by-step instructions made it easy for members to click their way to a more affordable health plan.

A high-impact multichannel advertising campaign, driving traffic to a sleek simple website experience, quickly caught attention and drove enrollment.

Page views for the website spiked. So did social traffic, mobile usage and unique visitors.

Subway ads, station takeovers and billboards displayed the real faces of New York City, which started conversations and boosted awareness in the community.

Affinity’s call center volume and site traffic has increased 30% since the campaign launched, and membership has increased month over month since the launch of the campaign.

Upload a collection of supporting files and web addresses to our server to provide more background information to the judges. You may upload any number of attachments and URLs through the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above. (Do NOT list your URLs below.)

2. Provide a brief biography of the leader of the team that planned and executed this marketing campaign (up to 125 words):

Because a strong corporate brand is at the heart of Makovsky's approach to integration, our digital branding practice is comprised of award-winning strategists, writers and designers who have developed identities and infrastructures for some of the world's most recognized brands.

Our agency specializes in brand positioning to create compelling company identities that cross all disciplines, media and technologies.