The Canadian Cancer Society predicts 1 in 3 Canadians will develop cancer in their lifetime

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1 The Canadian Cancer Society predicts 1 in 3 Canadians will develop cancer in their lifetime The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada estimates that 1 in 4 Canadians has some form of heart disease, disease of the blood vessels or is at risk for stroke Despite the increase of serious illnesses like cancer and heart disease in Canada, many people survive years after their diagnosis. That s the good news. The bad news is the unexpected costs that come with surviving a serious illness when provincial health care plans fall short. Even the most generous group benefit plans also fail to completely cover the soaring costs of specialized drugs, full-time nursing care, wheelchairs, and transportation and accommodation at out-of-town treatment centres. In 1996, Canada Life introduced critical illness insurance in Canada as a way of paying those kinds of expenses. Given the uncertainty of the Canadian health care system and an aging population, Canada Life had been trying to spread the word through the trade media with limited success about the need for Canadians to take charge of their healthcare needs. Then in September 2001 Canada Life added a new medical service to critical illness insurance called Best Doctors. With Best Doctors built into the plan, a policyholder could now get a lump sum payment and automatically access a second medical opinion from Harvard-based physicians about their condition following diagnosis. Further, Best Doctors would provide the names of 3 top medical specialists (as ranked by other physicians) for treating their condition locally, in the nearest urban center or with the top ranked physician in the world. As the first insurer to bring this comprehensive package of services to Canada, Canada Life now had an opportunity to finally break through into mainstream media. It was also a chance to demonstrate to Canada Life senior management how vital and persuasive the media can be as a third-party endorsement to the public. Until then, senior managers were not convinced of the media s value as a channel through which to inform the public about a new service. Media Objectives To raise awareness among key audiences about the chances of developing a critical illness and the potentially large and unexpected financial costs associated with illnesses. Target all Canadian top tier print and broadcast media and obtain at least 10 hits in the top tier media in the general news or health sections of media across Canada To help increase awareness among key audiences that their health benefits may not cover all their needs if they become critically ill in Canada. Develop a media kit that outlines these details and serves as quality reference for top tier media in the general news or health beats across Canada. To increase awareness in the financial services; industry and the broker community that Canada Life is a leader in providing innovative critical illness insurance that protects Canadians in the target market audiences. Obtain coverage in all key industry trade publications covering the financial services area, including Advisors Edge (online or print) and The Insurance Journal. 1

2 To help convince Canada Life senior management about the benefits of channeling important health information through the media to Canadian target audiences. Ensure senior executives participate as experts or attend the media conference launching the product. Target Audiences Male and female Canadians ages who have standard group benefit plans and know very little or nothing about the benefits of a comprehensive critical illness package with Best Doctors and/or think they re adequately covered Male and female Canadians ages who have no group coverage and know very little or nothing about the benefits of a comprehensive critical illness package and Best Doctors Insurance brokers who remained unconvinced of the benefits of CI coverage and do not present it as an essential part of their clients financial/risk management portfolio Insurance brokers who are convinced of the benefits but want consumer awareness to grow before pitching the product Our Approach In the summer of 2001, polls consistently ranked health care as the top concern of Canadians. Our approach to the Critical Illness/Best Doctors program fed into that interest with eye-opening information about gaps in health care coverage and the vulnerability of some Canadians if they were diagnosed with a critical illness. With the addition of Best Doctors, Canada Life s new critical illness product offered an unprecedented way for Canadians to combine financial coverage with access to medical specialists at home and around the world. Key to our approach was to turn the spotlight on renowned medical specialists who endorsed and spoke compellingly about the need for the program. Harvard-affiliated physicians, as well as experts in health care systems around the world, brought credibility to our message that Canadians need to be proactive in taking charge of their health needs. The Campaign Media conference A short media conference announcing the new partnership was slated to take place from the Canada Life head office. A conference in which media could meet face to face with critical illness experts and senior management from Canada Life, and Harvard-affiliated doctors from Best Doctors, reinforced the combined financial and medical dimension of the new critical illness product. Co-branded media kit Each press kit folder (enclosed) contained strong, factual Canadian information on critical illness trends, health costs and gaps in insurance coverage along with new research conducted by Statistics Canada, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, the Canadian Cancer Society and original case histories from Best Doctors. Our kit stressed the value of information over promotional corporate backgrounders. Contents of the kit were picked up and featured prominently in media coverage. 2

3 Creating a buzz Leading up to the announcement, our objective was to secure attendance at the press conference without disclosing the exact nature of the announcement. A media advisory was written and sent to all mainstream GTA media promising to feature commentary by Harvard-based and Canada Life medical and product experts. National press release by Canada Life A press release was disseminated nationally by Canada Newswire in English and French immediately following the announcement at the press conference. Our Role Selling the concept to management Our client at Canada Life recognized the great potential of using the media as a communications channel. Our first role, as external media specialists, was to help her spread that enthusiasm to upper management levels with a solid media strategy. The strategy highlighted Canadians thirst for health care news and concerns surrounding declining quality of care. We also highlighted examples of other successful media campaigns that supported product launches, including the tremendous success that Best Doctors had had with media around the world. Also included were Canadian statistics that could be worked into key messages and picked up by the media. Finally, the strategy emphasized that a media campaign would demonstrate to brokers, a key distribution channel of critical illness insurance, the high priority Canada Life was placing on the new comprehensive product. Plan and orchestrate the press conference, including setting the agenda, date and time, program content writing media advisory, prepping participants and experts from Canada Life/ Best Doctors to ensure our messages were crystal clear. Create solid key messages that highlight the products benefits to Canadians for our experts to use as reference along with a series of tough Q&As that prepped them for challenges in front of cameras. Plan and write all media materials, including national press release, contents of press kit, media advisory and additional materials as requested by the media. Pitch the campaign directly to key mainstream and trade media in the Toronto area over the phone the day before the press conference. Our pitch clearly highlighted the benefits and need for the product and backed it up with strong statistics and factual information. Many media were averse to promoting a product but were sold on our story once we provided them with our solid, factual information. Limitations Budget and personnel resources The budget and allocation of internal support reflected management s lukewarm buy-in to the media campaign. The budget was capped at $10,000 for all aspects of the campaign (outlined above), excluding the costs of disseminating the release via Canada Newswire. Assistance inside Canada Life was limited to basic graphic design for materials, internal support in corporate communications to help shepherd content approvals, and AV support for the press conference. 3

4 Risks Bad publicity This is a risk to any campaign, but perhaps more to an organization like Canada Life that s wary of media exposure. The program was at risk of being perceived as an American pay for health care solution, which it clearly is not. Our U.S. medical experts were briefed on Canada s strongly held value of universal health care access. Using Best Doctors success stories from the U.K. where universal health care is offered -- we sought to deflect comparison away from the United States. All spokespeople - Canadian and American were briefed by us on how to address the issue head on. Indeed, the Toronto Star was prepared to cover the story as an example of two-tier health care, but questions were effectively answered and the issue was contained. Poor attendance at press conference While the costs of the press conference were minimal, the internal stakes were high. Canada Life had never called a press conference and tapped the knowledge of senior managers and experts as participants. They were not comfortable exposing themselves to the outside world. Internal reputations were at stake, and strong attendance and a successful campaign were a must. Sept 11th Two weeks before the Sept 26 th launch, this attack threw countless personal and professional lives into crisis. One week passed before any semblance of stability resumed in Boston, where the Best Doctors head office is situated. Ongoing uncertainty in the weeks and days leading up to the press conference placed great pressure on the campaign. Reports of terrorist activity dominated all media. Several contingency plans were developed in the event of new terrorist developments and travel restrictions for U.S. participants. We needed to be ready to pull the plug on the media conference up until the final minutes, while still ensuring some level of coverage for the program. Measuring program success Strong press coverage 21 top tier media and the two critical trade media picked up the story and, more importantly, supported our messages and covered it from the angle we developed. We overwhelmingly surpassed our objectives. Taken as a whole, more than 3 million Canadians across Canada heard the Critical Illness/Best Doctors story. It was the most widespread, positive media coverage Best Doctors had seen with a single product launch in any country. Excellent conference attendance representatives of 13 news organizations attended the conference, including Global News, which ran a 5-minute evening news segment, which ran across Canada and the Toronto Star, which ran an article on page 3 of the front section. The key senior managers of the Canadian Division, including the executive vice-president, attended and/or participated in the media conference. Internal recognition Our client, a critical illness product specialist with 22-years at Canada Life, received a direct call from the president and CEO of Canada Life expressing his congratulations and personal interest in the program. This was the first call our contact ever received by the president. She has since been promoted to lead a new subsidiary of Canada Life that offers critical illness insurance and other enhancements to group benefit plans. Broker Awareness - 4

5 Client: Joanne Regan-Scott, former Project Manager, Critical Illness Phone: (416) ,