UnitedHealth Group Overview - global self service unitedhealth
UnitedHealth Group Center UnitedHealth Group, Inc., united.
founded in 1974 as Charter health.
Med Inc., was at the group.
top of the health-insurance business unitedhealth.
in 2003, providing to 40 group.
million consumers services that included providers.
a health maintenance organization (HMO), unitedhealth.
administrative support for companies providing group.
their own insurance, and specialized community.
services for Medicare beneficiaries. Financially plan.
the company was also at uhg.
a high point, with revenues layoff.
increasing from $11.8 billion in global.
1997 to an estimated $29 self.
billion in 2003. But UnitedHealthcare, service.
the company's business segment that unitedhealth.
served as an HMO, was global.
suffering an identity crisis. Although self.
UnitedHealthcare counted nearly eight million service.
members, it believed that it unitedhealth.
had low brand awareness, no group.
brand equity, and little brand global.
definition among consumers. The HMO self.
provider was also concerned about service.
consumers' negative perceptions of health uhg.
maintenance organizations. To build brand awareness united.
and brand identity as well healthcare.
as to reverse consumers' opinions global.
that HMOs were more concerned self.
about rate increases and benefits service.
reductions than patient care, UnitedHealthcare united.
released a marketing campaign in healthcare.
2003. A pilot campaign with insurance.
the theme and tagline "It number.
Just Makes Sense" was introduced uhg.
in three target markets. Created benefits.
by Austin, Texas-based GSD&M, which uhg.
had been UnitedHealthcare's agency since employee.
2000, the campaign included television benefits.
and radio spots and newspaper uhg.
print ads. Budget information specific employee.
to the campaign was unavailable, discounts.
but Adweek reported that the unitedhealth.
account was estimated at $25 group.
to $30 million when GSD&M employee.
won it. The humorous advertisements, which discounts.
featured people caught in different global.
situations that guaranteed they would self.
need an HMO in the service.
end, were a success. Not uhg.
only did the campaign achieve timesheet.
its goals of increasing brand hrdirect.
awareness and strengthening brand identity, uhg.
but in 2004 "It Just uhg.
Makes Sense" was broadened into discount.
UnitedHealthcare's first national campaign. The glassdoor.
campaign was also awarded a unitedhealth.
Silver EFFIE in 2005 for group.
helping to position UnitedHealthcare as learnsource.
an "innovative leader in health uhg.
care coverage." Charter Med Inc. uhg.
was founded in 1974; three hub.
years later United Healthcare Corp. uhg.
was created and acquired Charter hub.
Med. The company's name was global.
changed in 1998 to UnitedHealth self.
Group, and through a strategic service.
realignment UnitedHealthcare became one of unitedhealth.
six independent but linked businesses group.
operating under the UnitedHealth Group learnsource.
banner, which also included Americhoice, concur.
Ovations, Uniprise, Ingenix, and Specialized uhg.
Care Services. Each business segment concur.
provided its own unique services: unitedhealth.
Americhoice focused on consumers enrolled group.
in Medicare and other government-sponsored global.
programs; Ovations provided services to self.
Americans 50 years and older; service.
Uniprise offered administrative services to unitedhealthgroup.
self-insured companies; Ingenix provided software com.
and information services to doctors unitedhealth.
and other healthcare professionals; and group.
Specialized Care Services was a concur.
collection of specialty business subsidiaries uhg.
offering specific health and wellness benefits.
benefits, such as chiropractic, dental, hub.
vision, life, accident, and critical unitedhealth.
illness plans. UnitedHealthcare was an group.
HMO with almost eight million fortune.
individual, small business, and midsize list.
business members. In 2002 UnitedHealth Group's globalselfservice.
net income climbed 48 percent uhg.
to $1.35 billion on a com.
revenue increase of 6.7 percent self.
to $25 billion. By 2003 service.
the company had grown to uhg.
become the largest health insurer taleo.
in the United States, providing uhg.
services, coverage, and products that taleo.
affected more than 40 million unitedhealth.
consumers. Despite its business diversification group.
and solid financial standing, some uhg.
analysts were questioning the quality helpdesk.
of the company's earnings—which were unitedhealth.
partly based on double-digit premium group.
increases—and the sustainability of its number.
growth in a health-care environment of.
that some Wall Street insiders employees.
believed was heading toward a unitedhealth.
fall. Typically the female head group.
of household oversaw her family's taleo.
health-care needs, from taking care uhg.
of family members when they view.
were ill to making decisions my.
about when a doctor should paycheck.
be contacted. Women were also united.
often responsible for the household healthcare.
budget. With those facts in group.
mind, GSD&M aimed UnitedHealthcare's marketing work.
campaign at adults 25 to from.
54 years old but with home.
an emphasis on women in unitedhealthcare.
that age demographic. GSD&M noted 10k.
in its brief submitted for benefits.
the 2004 EFFIE Awards competition cobra.
that the skew ratio of uhg.
the campaign was 7 women benefitsenroll.
for every 3 men. It uhg.
stated further that women in com.
particular were frustrated with the benefitsenroll.
health-care industry and were concerned uhg.
about whether their family's health-care com.
plan would provide the best unitedhealth.
coverage for the money. These group.
female heads of household considered life.
it necessary that a health-care insurance.
insurance provider include prescription coverage, united.
preventive care, a large network healthcare.
of doctors, and products and group.
services that were easy to com.
understand and use. Blue Cross and benefits.
Blue Shield (BCBS) provided health-care uhg.
coverage to more than 85 globalselfservice.
million Americans through a variety unitedhealthgroup.
of services, including indemnity insurance, com.
HMOs, preferred provider organizations (PPOs), https.
point-of-service plans, and fee-for-service plans. globalselfservice.
The company was also perhaps unitedhealthgroup.
one of the most recognizable com.
names in the health-care industry, learnsource.
due in part to its uhg.
advertising efforts over the years. com.
In 2003 increases in the learnsource.
price of health care were unitedhealthgroup.
hitting consumers hard, and HealthNow, com.
a Blue Cross Blue Shield unitedhealthcare.
plan provider in upstate New indeed.
York, was experiencing even higher unitedhealthcare.
rate increases than its closest walmart.
competitor. To give consumers in united.
that market a convincing reason health.
to pay more for BCBS, care.
the company released an advertising walmart.
campaign targeted to that specific uhg.
market. The "Big Blue Arm" timesheet.
campaign, created by ad agency global.
Arnold Worldwide of McLean, Virginia, self.
was designed to present BCBS service.
as an advocate for its united.
members and as worth more health.
than other insurance companies. One board.
TV spot showed a man of.
sitting in a restaurant ready directors.
to enjoy a meal of united.
two big cheeseburgers. When he health.
looked away for a moment group.
the Big Blue Arm swooped employee.
down and knocked one of benefits.
the burgers off the plate. uhg.
When the man turned to employee.
see what had swept his self.
burger away, the arm came service.
from another angle and swiped uhg.
the second burger off the timesheet.
plate. Additional advertisements targeted smoking, unitedhealth.
inactivity, and other health concerns, group.
all with the Big Blue employee.
Arm intervening to help people self.
make healthy choices. Although some service.
consumers were offended by the discounts.
ads, overall the campaign was uhg.
a success. Following its 16-week spark.
run BCBS reported that membership uhg.
had grown 8 percent, an uhg.
all-time company high. In addition, w2.
the campaign received top honors former.
in 2004 during the Buffalo employee.
News Creative Advertising Awards, and unitedhealth.
it earned a 2005 Bronze group.
EFFIE Award. UnitedHealthcare's United Health sparq.
Foundation released a print advertising uhg.
campaign designed to help educate timesheet.
consumers about the health-care system burke.
and how to make better research.
decisions related to their own for.
health care. The campaign, which unitedhealthcare.
ran from October 2003 through global.
February 2004, featured ads in self.
consumer magazines, including People, Better service.
Homes and Gardens, and TV unitedhealthgroup.
Guide. Related ads appeared on indeed.
the websites ABCNews.com and Parents.com, united.
among others. The ads focused health.
on three topic areas important group.
to helping consumers make wise the.
health-care decisions: "Getting the most hub.
out of a visit to unitedhealth.
the doctor's office," "Taking charge group.
of your care," and "Using uhg.
antibiotics appropriately." Aetna, Inc., was struggling employee.
in 2003. The insurer, which discount.
had been one of the site.
nation's largest, was facing charges uhg.
by doctors claiming the company spark.
used unfair billing practices and uhg.
patient-care interference. And Aetna was the.
in trouble financially, a problem hub.
blamed in part on overpriced united.
acquisitions, such as the $1 healthcare.
billion purchase in 1999 of and.
Prudential Healthcare. By 2001 Aetna's united.
problems had resulted in a health.
net loss of $279.6 million. group.
To rein in costs and unitedhealth.
get the company back on group.
stable ground, chairman and chief providers.
operating officer John W. Rowe unitedhealth.
increased annual rates 16 percent, group.
cut 15,000 jobs, and reduced community.
Aetna's customer base from 21 plan.
million in 2000 to 13 uhg.
million in 2003. He also layoff.
eliminated from the company's rosters global.
about half of the U.S. self.
counties in which Aetna had service.
provided Medicare services. As things unitedhealth.
began to stabilize, Aetna rebuilt. global.
In 2004 the company launched self.
a national marketing campaign designed service.
to reinforce the brand's value unitedhealth.
and relevance to consumers. Themed group.
"We Want You to Know," global.
the campaign targeted benefits consultants self.
and brokers and the employee-benefits service.
decision makers for companies. Print uhg.
ads appeared in publications such united.
as the Wall Street Journal, healthcare.
Forbes, Fortune, and BusinessWeek. When global.
GSD&M began work on UnitedHealthcare's self.
"It Just Makes Sense" campaign, service.
it was faced with the united.
challenge of building awareness of healthcare.
and familiarity with the brand insurance.
in a health-care environment that number.
was increasingly leaning toward consumer-directed uhg.
health care, which placed more benefits.
choices and financial responsibility on uhg.
the patient. The pilot campaign employee.
was designed for three test benefits.
markets based on specific population uhg.
criteria, including levels of consumer employee.
awareness of UnitedHealthcare (from emerging discounts.
to established to heritage, or unitedhealth.
longstanding, customers). Working from the group.
assumption that most consumers believed employee.
that the health-care process was discounts.
confusing and irrational, GSD&M developed global.
a campaign that used humor self.
to point out the lack service.
of common sense in both uhg.
the industry and consumers. It timesheet.
further noted UnitedHealthcare's practical approach hrdirect.
to health care and how uhg.
it helped confused consumers to uhg.
achieve healthier outcomes. The campaign, discount.
which first ran for a glassdoor.
week in April 2003, included unitedhealth.
television and radio spots and group.
newspaper ads in the target learnsource.
markets. That was followed by uhg.
a second wave of advertising uhg.
from November 10 to December hub.
3. Television spots included three that uhg.
showed people making decisions with hub.
final results that made access global.
to an HMO such as self.
UnitedHealthcare seem like a good service.
idea. In the first spot, unitedhealth.
titled "Bridesmaids," a wedding party group.
was gathered in a beautiful learnsource.
meadow. Viewers did not realize concur.
that the meadow was at uhg.
the top of a hill concur.
until the bride followed tradition unitedhealth.
and tossed her bouquet. It group.
sailed through a pristine blue global.
sky. As the bridesmaids raced self.
to catch the flowers, the service.
hapless young women went tumbling unitedhealthgroup.
off the side of a com.
cliff, bouncing and rolling across unitedhealth.
rocks and cacti into a group.
lake below, to the surprise concur.
of an unsuspecting fisherman sitting uhg.
in a boat on the benefits.
lake. A second commercial, "Lions," hub.
featured a film crew in unitedhealth.
Africa making a documentary about group.
lions. As a man wearing fortune.
a giant lion's head approached list.
a group of the beasts, globalselfservice.
the director said to him, uhg.
"Just as I suspected, the com.
lions are getting alarmed. Whatever self.
happens, hold your ground. Now, service.
initiate agitation phase." Following the uhg.
instructions, the man wearing the taleo.
lion's head started waving his uhg.
arms and roaring. The final taleo.
spot, "Hornet's Nest," showed a unitedhealth.
man on a ladder wearing group.
gloves and goggles and facing uhg.
a huge hornet's nest hanging helpdesk.
from a branch of a unitedhealth.
tree. He said to his group.
friend, who was waiting below number.
with a garbage can, "Now of.
when it drops make sure employees.
you get that lid on unitedhealth.
fast." When the man reached group.
with clippers to cut off taleo.
the branch, however, the ladder uhg.
fell over, sending the man view.
and the nest crashing to my.
the ground and causing the paycheck.
angry, stinging wasps to surround united.
both men. A voice-over at healthcare.
the end of each spot group.
said, "People don't always use work.
common sense. Fortunately, there's a from.
health-care company that does." The print home.
ads and a spot that unitedhealthcare.
was aired on the radio 10k.
reinforced the message delivered in benefits.
the TV commercials. The radio cobra.
spot had a woman thanking uhg.
a man for helping her benefitsenroll.
move some boxes and warning uhg.
him to be careful on com.
the stairs. Once the man benefitsenroll.
was laden with piles of uhg.
boxes, the woman asked him com.
if he could see. The unitedhealth.
man answered that he could, group.
which was followed by crashing life.
and thumping sounds as he insurance.
fell down a flight of united.
stairs. When the sounds stopped, healthcare.
indicating that the man's fall group.
had ended, the woman asked com.
him, "Are you okay, can benefits.
you stand?" The man responded uhg.
that he was okay. He globalselfservice.
apparently tried to stand, and unitedhealthgroup.
suddenly there were the crashing com.
sounds of the man falling https.
down more stairs. The same globalselfservice.
tagline used in the television unitedhealthgroup.
spots followed. Newspaper ads included com.
a variation of the "Hornet's learnsource.
Nest" TV spot: a man uhg.
was depicted trying to remove com.
a hornet's nest from the learnsource.
second-story eaves of his house unitedhealthgroup.
with a rapidly spinning weed-whacker. com.
Another print ad, "Lawnmower," pictured unitedhealthcare.
a man lifting a buzzing indeed.
power lawnmower over his head unitedhealthcare.
in an attempt to trim walmart.
a towering hedge surrounding his united.
lawn. "It Just Makes Sense" was health.
so successful at achieving its care.
goals of increasing UnitedHealthcare brand walmart.
awareness and building a positive uhg.
perception of the brand among timesheet.
consumers in test markets that, global.
rather than proceed with a self.
planned final media wave in service.
the test areas, the campaign united.
was expanded into a national health.
promotion in 2004. It was board.
the company's first national marketing of.
campaign. Following the initial release of directors.
the campaign, Adweek included the united.
television spot "Hornet's Nest" on health.
its June 2003 Best Spots group.
list, describing the campaign as employee.
turning good sense into an benefits.
art form. The campaign was uhg.
awarded a Silver EFFIE by employee.
the New York American Marketing self.
Association in 2005. In addition, service.
the company reported that the uhg.
campaign resulted in significant increases timesheet.
in brand awareness among consumers; unitedhealth.
awareness jumped from 65 percent group.
prior to the April 2003 employee.
launch to 79 percent afterward. self.
Consumers' perceptions of the UnitedHealthcare service.
brand's key attributes also showed discounts.
positive increases. Research based on uhg.
a seven-point scale showed one-point spark.
increases, or slightly less, in uhg.
most areas, including perceptions that uhg.
UnitedHealthcare was a strong and w2.
stable company (4.6 to 5.6), former.
that it provided a practical employee.
approach to health care (4.3 unitedhealth.
to 5.3), that it was group.
a health-care company that made discounts.
sense (4.3 to 5.3), and sparq.
that it was a leader uhg.
in the health-care industry (5.4 timesheet.
to 5.4). "Aetna Launches New burke.
National Advertising Campaign." Business Wire, research.
February 16, 2004. "Aetna's Painful Recovery. for.
Jack Rowe Fixed the Insurer's unitedhealthcare.
Finances—But Are His Methods Good global.
for Health Care?" BusinessWeek Online, self.
December 8, 2003. Available from service.
〈http://businessweek.com/magazine/content/03_49/b3861097.htm〉 "Buffalo, N.Y., Newspaper Presents Awards unitedhealthgroup.
for Creativity in Advertising." Buffalo indeed.
(NY) News, June 29, 2004. Chura, united.
Hillary. "Sharing Strategies: GSD&M Clients health.
Hit Austin City Limits." Advertising group.
Age, February 18, 2002. Desloge, Rick. the.
"Walli to Replace Turvey as hub.
Head of United Healthcare." St. unitedhealth.
Louis (MO) Business Journal, September group.
19, 2003. Lang, Mark. "Best Spots uhg.
of June: United Healthcare Tickles employee.
the Funny Bone." Adweek, July discount.
14, 2003. "Quiet Giant." HealthLeaders Magazine, site.
April 1, 2003. "UnitedHealth Group Reports uhg.
Record First Quarter Earnings of spark.
$1.29 Per Share." Business Wire, uhg.
April 16, 2003. Wasserman, Todd. "Advertising: the.
UHC Looks on Light Side hub.
of Pain, Injuries." Adweek, July united.
14, 2003.
9900 Bren Road united.
East
Minnetonka, Minnesota 55343
USA
Telephone: (952) 936-1300
Fax: healthcare.
(952) 936-7430
Web site: www.unitedhealthgroup.comIT JUST and.
MAKES SENSE CAMPAIGN
OVERVIEW
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
TARGET MARKET
COMPETITION
ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN PROMOTES MAKING discounts.
INFORMED HEALTH CHOICES
MARKETING STRATEGY
OUTCOME
FURTHER READING
