On March 23, 2010, U.S. President Obama signed into law the Affordable Health Care Act (ACA). Its intent was to provide reasonably priced health care insurance for all Americans. However, it was seen as confusing and left people more unsure of their health care system than ever.

In late 2013, ACA implementation was fast approaching, Aetna’s recent acquisition of a competitor (Coventry Healthcare) was nearing finalization, and totally new methods of going to market were on the horizon. Aetna needed to show that even with all this uncertainty, they WERE ready and poised for growth.

The goal was to differentiate from the competition and connect with THE investor and B2B stakeholder community that had long ignored Aetna, despite its formidable stature in the industry.

To achieve this Ogilvy developed a thought leadership campaign, “Our Healthy.” This campaign was at its core, a rallying cry to transform the health care system. IT worked hand-in-hand with Aetna’s “What’s your healthy?” consumer advertising platform. “Our Healthy” was Aetna’s answer to the very question it had been asking consumers.

The work spanned targeted print, digital and PR. On every measure it beat established benchmarks:

• Aetna’s stock price increased by 8.2 percent over the course of the campaign

• More than 7.5 million impressions generated in earned media

The “Our Healthy” campaign launched on September 3, 2013 and ran through December of that year. This timing coincided with the busy sales and enrollment season, increased national discussions about health insurance after the passage of the ACA, and the completion of Aetna’s acquisition of Coventry Healthcare. Targeted paid advertising included placements in industry magazines, manifesto ads in the Wall Street Journal, high-impact digital ads (including an in-app dynamic experience) in the online properties of these publications, as well as targeted social media content on LinkedIn. All media drove to an interactive online experience at ourhealthy.com that explained Aetna’s vision in greater detail through dynamic content, videos and infographics.

The campaign had a tone and manner that had not been used before in the health insurance industry. With provocative headlines, honest evaluations of the current state of health care in America, and bold promises for the future, Aetna stood out from its competitors. The photography showed real people pulled from the street instead of the usual stock used by health insurers.

This campaign was, at its core, a call to action. It was a rallying cry to transform the system.

Engagement:

- With average time-on-site averaging well over 3 minutes throughout the campaign (versus a 1-minute industry benchmark), engagement was 10 times greater than expectations.

- More than 10 percent of visitors viewed at least one video on the site, with a video completion rate of 69 percent (versus a 30% industry benchmark).

- The rate of social shares from the site was four times the industry benchmark (2% versus 0.5% benchmark) and included Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Business results:

- Aetna’s stock price (NYSE:AET) rose 8.2 percent over the course of the campaign (September through December 2013). Consequently, many large investment firms began analyzing and reporting on Aetna’s performance during this period, including Goldman Sachs and Bank of America.

PR earned media:

- The campaign was reported on by publications including The New York Times, industry publications and business and financial sites (ibnmoney.com, bullfax etc.). This coverage generated more than 6.0 million earned media impressions. At least 1.6 million impressions were also generated through Twitter shares of the media coverage.