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Using Content Marketing to Inspire Behavior Change that Saves Lives

Kaiser Permanente is one of America’s leading health care providers serving more than 12.2 million members in eight states and the District of Columbia. When Kaiser Permanente realized those members with the highest breast cancer risk were de-prioritizing their own health in favor of their families’ needs, Communications Strategy Group (CSG®) developed an integrated healthcare marketing campaign centered on changing behaviors and inspiring them to get screened.

increase in
mammography rates

of member screening
goal achieved

members screened
for breast cancer

Kaiser Permanente
members

Solving for Kaiser’s Why

Using a persona developed from member data and third-party research, CSG developed a comprehensive campaign to encourage women who fit the profile to undergo breast cancer screenings. Members of the targeted group had low health insurance benefits utilization and were more than two years overdue for a mammogram. This group was made up of 3,526 women in the Denver Metro area between the ages of 50 and 74.

During persona research, CSG also recognized that this target audience was busy. To capture the attention of this audience, CSG planned a campaign that would make it easy for these women to hear Kaiser Permanente’s message in their daily lives and motivate them to take action not for themselves, but for their loved ones. When the results came in, the message of practicing self-care to better care for others showed incredible resonance.

Reaching Women Where They Are

A deep understanding of the target audience allowed CSG to craft a campaign with an authentic feel. The hooks CSG hung the campaign on were an emphasis on convenience, the absence of fees and the benefits a mammogram would bring to the target audience’s families. The plan created opportunities for Kaiser Permanente to communicate with these women at home, at work and when they visited a medical office building to encourage them to seek a mammogram.

Campaign components included posters in medical office buildings; direct-to-member communications, including direct mail, letters and phone calls; worksite communication, including onsite mammograms; and toolkits giving employees at targeted Kaiser Permanente medical office buildings the tools to promote the campaign.

At every opportunity, the campaign prompted women to add “schedule mammogram” to their to-do list. Campaign content featured women in the target age range with a younger family member and it emphasized the ease of scheduling and frequency with which these members should get a mammogram.

Boosting Breast
Cancer Screenings

This campaign vastly
exceeded expectations.

Goal Icon

GOAL:
Increase mammography rates from 62 percent to 67 percent.

Result icon

RESULT: 
Rates increased to 72 percent.

Goal Icon

GOAL:
Screen 476 members for breast cancer by the end of 2014.

Result icon

RESULT:
912 members were screened, nearly double the goal.

We know the best defense against breast cancer is early detection. We wanted an engaging way to educate women about the benefits of regular mammograms and make it easy for them to take this simple step to stay healthy. CSG took the data we had on our target audience and masterfully created an authentic campaign that reached these women at key points in their daily lives.

Yancy Ammons, former health communication and marketing specialist, prevention department, Kaiser Permanente

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