Reaching high-risk members during the COVID-19 pandemic with offers of support, local artwork, and pro-social public health messaging. More than 240,000 Californians received the mailer with messaging in English, Spanish, and Chinese, plus ongoing ad campaigns and radio public service announcements.
From leading social impact research to supporting member, employer, and provider engagement, we have served many different consulting roles with Blue Shield of California through a partnership that began in 2018 with the nonprofit health plan.
Creating a statewide public health campaign
Outcomes
The completed campaign resulted in 15,400 new social media engagements, a 53% increase in new unique traffic, and a 46% increase in new enrollments for the digital health tools in 2020. The Wellvolution team reported it was their most successful member engagement campaign.
Roles
Creative StrategyPrint CampaignPatient Engagement
Categories
Design
Engagement
San Bernardino County, Riverside County | Artist: Belen Ledezma
Sacramento County | Artist: Franceska Gámez
San Diego County, Orange County | Artist: Hannah Gundrum
Los Angeles County, Ventura County | Artist: Sally Deng
Kern County | Artists: Sarah Nobles & Kei Deragon
Santa Clara County | Artist: Harumo Sato
Orange County | Artist: Larissa Marantz
Pulling inspiration from historical art poster campaigns developed for victory gardens, polio research, and other public health projects, we commissioned custom artwork from eight diverse women artists who are deeply involved in their local California neighborhoods and have a distinct style aligned with the Blue Shield brand.
Our objective was to create “fridge-worthy” postcards showcasing art that members would not only want to proudly display, but that would also help them feel more connected to the world while socially distanced and encouraged to build healthy habits.
Over the course of only a few weeks, our team sourced and vetted nearly a hundred candidate artists in our nine target counties for this campaign. We navigated the Blue Shield of California team through artist selection, creative briefs, and revisions. Our team also partnered closely with the health plan’s legal advisors to develop an innovative framework for contracting, co-promotion, and licensing with the artists as well as rapid compliance sign-off on the final creative, including for Medicare members.
We worked closely with the artists — some of whom were first-time commercial collaborators — to creative direct the poster illustrations that were recognizably local and met the creative brief of showing “food as medicine,” community connections, and outdoor exercising.
This engagement campaign included communications across direct mail, social media, paid media, and radio PSAs. Additionally, Uncommon Bold coordinated internal communications, media relations, and influencer marketing. The artists themselves shared messaging about the Wellvolution project with their followers.
Eighty-seven unique posts were launched across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. The campaign, from planning to execution, came together in just a few months — well under the usual year-long process for large health plans launching projects of this size.
Uncommon Bold Team
Emily F. Peters
Brand Strategist
Joanne Lam
Creative Director, Designer
Claudia Gutierrez-Smith
Operations Lead, Artist Coordinator
Christina Vanvuren
Brand Strategy
Jennifer Smith
Communications
Lucy Sansom
Proofreader
Blue Shield of California Team
Alexandra Connor
Marketing Strategy Principal for Digital Therapeutics, Virtual Care, and Behavioral Health
Angie Kalousek
Director, Mind-Body Medicine
Dominique DiCristo
Brand Manager
Local Artists
Belen Ledezma
Franceska Gamez
Sarah Nobles
Kei Deragon
Sally Deng
Hanna Gundrum
Harumo Sato
Larissa Marantz
Additional Collaborators
Jessica Bari
Emphasis Media
Matthew French
Solera Network
Joey Gonzales
Lahlouh
Kim Kellogg
Kellogg Communications
