Unicare Ad Campaign Wins 2 National Awards

Unicare--a national operating subsidiary of WellPoint Health Networks--announced that it received a pair of national advertising honors.

The Thousand Oaks-based company garnered a medical services gold Effie Award for its “Medical Miracles” 1998 advertising campaign. It also won a Harvey Communication Measurement Award in Human Resource Executive magazine’s 1999 Purchasing Resource edition.

The company said its advertising campaign was noted for “crafting a distinct brand image and addressing consumer dissatisfaction with health-care companies by showing its commitment to empowering members by putting them back in control of their own health care.”

The campaign mainly targeted principal purchasers of health care in a household, as well as company executives who make decisions concerning employee benefits.

“Competition for these awards is tough, and the criteria are rigorous,” said Nancy Kritzler, management supervisor for Rubin Postaer and Associates, Unicare’s primary advertising agency. “We are proud to have created a campaign for Unicare that was acknowledged on its ‘sales-winning’ versus simply ‘award-winning’ performance.”

The campaign used a variety of advertising and marketing vehicles, including 30-second television commercials, business-to-business print ads, and agent and broker recruitment mailings.

Getting results, supported by market research, was a key component in determining the Effie win. After 10 weeks of advertising, Unicare showed a 41% increase in total brand awareness in all its key regional markets, as well as expanded credibility in the marketplace.

The Effie Award is the only national award to honor creative achievement in meeting and exceeding advertising objectives.

The Harvey Communications Measurement Award recognizes advertising that achieves outstanding readership response measured through personal, face-to-face interviews with a national sample of readers of Human Resource Executive.