THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, December 6, 1994 TAG: 9412060364
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARIE JOYCE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
The fourth time was a charm.
Priority Health Care successfully completed a long-awaited marketing stunt Monday - a six-by-six-foot cartoon advertisement spread on the sidewalk in front of the federal building on Granby Street in Norfolk.
In previous weeks, two acts of God and one of government had washed the picture away before the artist could finish it.
But to a company that has just a few days more to sell its HMO to federal employees, all the effort was worth it. ``We got stuff in the hands of 50 people,'' said Catherine Lewis, Priority's marketing consultant. ``That's 50 more than we would have gotten otherwise.''
Insurance companies are working hard to bag federal employees during ``open season'' - the monthlong period, ending Dec. 12, when those employees can switch health care plans.
It's a tricky business - government regulations limit how companies can advertise to the area's 68,000 federal workers.
But this is big game. Officials at Sentara Health System, for instance, say that federal employees account for roughly a quarter of all its HMO business.
Priority has an even bigger incentive - this is the first year the Virginia Beach company has been offered to federal employees. So they resorted to some innovativehunting techniques.
Lewis planned to attract employees' attention with the mural, then offer them free hot dogs and soda along with literature about the plan.
But Hurricane Gordon pre-empted the plan once, and a soaking rain canceled the rain date.
Last week, city workers showed up with a hose just as the artist put the finishing touches on the mural. Lewis hadn't gotten the right permit. In minutes, all the bright colors and $300 of the marketing budget washed down the drain. The artist got a summons for defacing public property.
On Monday, the hot dog vendor didn't show, but at least the rain held off until the mural was finished.
The biggest challenge may simply be getting noticed. Federal employees in Hampton Roads have more than a dozen plans to choose from.
``We don't really think advertising is necessary, but we recognize that's a decision the carrier makes,'' said David Lewis with the Office of Personnel Management in Washington.
Employees get most of their information on prices and benefits from brochures produced by the companies and federal officials. The format is fairly rigid.
Companies aren't allowed to play up comparisons of their best rates and services. They also can't compare their doctors and facilities to other plans'.
``What they would like to do is show one or two benefits that they may be good at,'' David Lewis said. ``If you let them pick and choose, it would just be this dizzying array of confusing information.''
Advertising targeted specifically at federal employees must be approved by the federal government. Ads can't disparage other plans. And, unlike many private businesses, federal agencies generally don't give out employees' addresses - so direct-mail appeals are out.
There's also the problem of inertia. While employees of some private companies must re-enroll every year, federal workers don't have to unless they are changing plans.
``Oftentimes, people really won't read the information circulated to them,'' said Russ Mohawk, executive director of Priority Health Care.
Priority will spend almost half of its annual advertising budget during the eight weeks around open season. The company has even hired people to wear sandwich boards and pace outside federal installations.
Sentara has been mobilizing its staff to attend more than two dozen health fairs sponsored by various agencies, even though the federal employees aren't required to attend the fairs, and insurance representatives are pretty much limited to sitting behind tables and answering questions.
``It is quite a big undertaking,'' said Sentara official Betty Gillette. But, ``It's our only opportunity to visit with the agency.'' ILLUSTRATION: D. KEVIN ELLIOTT/Staff
John Hickey, left, and Jeff Ringer paint a mural in front of the
federal building on Granby Street on Monday afternoon in Norfolk.
by CNB