Category: T6 Category Name: Feature Writing Entry Name: Blue

Background: Colon cancer is one of the most preventable forms of cancer, yet it’s the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States. In fact, nine out of 10 colon cancers can be prevented or successfully treated with regular colon cancer screenings. These screenings are typically considered preventive according to Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield health insurance benefits.

The BlueSM article, “A colon cancer screening can save your life,” features the stories of two Wellmark members who recently experienced a colon cancer diagnosis and treatment. Both have powerful messages about the importance of colon cancer screenings and early detection. This article appeared in the print edition of Blue, as well as on Wellmark.com/Blue, referred to as Blue online.

The goal of this tactic was to generate awareness around the importance of colon cancer screenings, and drive traffic back to Blue online. We targeted the audiences below based on how we want people to think, feel and do:

Think Feel Do General Public I know that preventive care,

like a colon cancer screening, is an important part of my overall health and wellness.

I feel like Wellmark is committed to my overall health and wellness because they provide empowering information through Blue, and help me get important preventive care, like colon cancer screenings.

I’m going to consistently read Blue and make sure I get the preventive care I need at the right time, like colon cancer screenings.

Media Wellmark helps me be a better member of the media by providing tips for stories that are important to overall health and wellness, like preventive colon cancer screenings.

I want to help Wellmark spread the word about the importance of colon cancer screenings and early detection.

I’m going to do a story on the importance of colon cancer screenings and early detection.

Internal & External Stakeholders

Information on Blue helps people understand the importance of preventive care, like colon cancer screenings, to overall health.

I feel confident sharing information from Blue because it provides valuable tips and preventive information to help people live healthier lives.

I’m going to encourage people to consistently read Blue and get the preventive care they need at the right time.

Strategy: In order to increase awareness around the importance of colon cancer screenings and early detection, Wellmark needed to drive members and non-members to the Blue online article. The following objectives were defined to support that goal:

• Generate 1,000 page views to the story within six months of publishing. • Achieve an average time spent on page greater than 14 minutes.

The strategy to accomplish these objectives centered on an integrated promotional campaign that spanned across paid, earned, shared and owned channels.

Implementation: Development of the article, “A colon cancer screening can save your life” began in July 2017. It was published to Blue online on Oct. 4, 2017.

In order to drive traffic to this article, create engagement and overall understanding of the importance of colon cancer screenings, several supporting promotional pieces were developed to drive traffic back to the Blue online article. Samples of these pieces can be found in the corresponding attachments.

Promotional Deliverable Implementation Date

Feature Video (“Colon cancer screenings: Craig and Angie’s stories”): This video was created as an engaging and powerful tool to add to the story available on Blue online. It was also teased

Oct. 5, 2017

Promotional Deliverable Implementation Date

within the print edition to encourage readers to view the story online. It includes exclusive details and interviews that are not available in the print or online story. Teaser Video (“Colon cancer screenings: Craig and Angie’s stories” ): This short video was created as a promotional tool for Facebook to drive people back to the Blue online article. Its intent was to convey the emotion of the video and catch the attention of people who are scrolling through their social media feeds, while saving the full video for the article.

Oct. 5, 2017

Healthy Conversations Article: This is an article Wellmark writes and submits to the Iowa and South Dakota newspaper associations each month for local newspapers to use. It highlighted the importance of color cancer screening, teased the two member stories, and drove readers to the Blue online article to learn more.

Oct. 5, 2017

Media Pitch: Wellmark’s public relations team pitched Angie Hunt’s story (one of the members featured in “A colon cancer screening can save your life”) as an exclusive to KCCI (CBS affiliate).

Oct. 9, 2017

Blue Magazine Article (Print): The print edition of Blue mails to members three times per year. This story was featured in the fall edition, which was sent to approximately 345,000 Wellmark members.

Oct. 16, 2017

Social Media (Paid & Organic): Promoted via Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. On Facebook, we promoted this story four times, with 69 percent of the story’s reach coming from paid promotions. After the initial posts, we considered topical rationale for re-promotion, such as Colon Cancer Awareness Month in March and Men’s/Women’s Health Weeks in May and June.

Various Dates

Wellmark.com Banner: This is a rotating promotional area on Wellmark.com, which was used to graphically drive interest to the Blue online article.

Oct. 23, 2017 – Jan. 11, 2018

Inside Wellmark Feature: This is an internal communication tool. The story was placed on Wellmark’s intranet to encourage employees to read and engage with the content.

Oct. 23 – Oct. 29, 2017

Blue TV: This is an internal communication tool. Wellmark places messages on TVs in designated areas through the building to reach employees with important information.

Oct. 23, 2017

Lobby Wall: Employees and visitors are greeted in Wellmark’s lobby by an extremely large TV. This provided an excellent opportunity to share the video to a wide variety of audiences and increase awareness of colon cancer screenings.

Oct. 23, 2017

Budget for this tactic was comprised mainly of internal resources. The print edition has a budget of approximately $110,000. In addition, we had a social media budget of $100 to be used for this story’s promotions.

Evaluation:1

Blue online engagement: The “A colon cancer screening can save your life” article generated impressive engagement on Blue online. Within six months of publishing, the story garnered 3,068 page views, more than tripling our original 1,000 page view goal.

In addition, people spent on average 5:37 on the page. While this didn’t meet our goal of 14 minutes, these results have helped develop future objectives and Key Performance Indicators. At the time these objectives were created, Blue online had only been on its current platform for a few months. Since the average amount of time spent on Blue online during this six-month period was 1:04, 14 minutes may have been too optimistic and 5:37 is well above average.

Social media engagement: Facebook proved to be the most effective way of driving traffic back to Blue for this article. It generated 1,464 clicks to the story, representing almost half of the total page views.

Another significant point regarding social media is the effectiveness of a video teaser. A similar article and member testimonial we did in 2017 also included a video component, but we posted the video in its entirety to social media. While that social media post had great engagement, that article had significantly fewer page views than “A colon cancer screening can save your life”— almost 75 percent less within six months of publishing. Part of this can be attributed to the video teaser that was produced and used as a promotional tool to drive traffic to the Blue online article.

1 Data recorded Oct. 4, 2017 – April 4, 2018