For release: October 30, 2007
NEWS RELEASE
For more information contact:
Lisa Bondurant, The Communications Group
501.376.8722 (office)
501.425.8092 (cell)
lbondurant@comgroup.com
The Communications Group Selected to Develop WellPoint Wellness Program
October 30, 2007; Little Rock, Ark. -– Alpana Adair, Wellness Program Manager for WellPoint, is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, but one of her latest projects was produced in Little Rock, Arkansas, and she still has never seen the people she worked with.
Over a year ago, Adair was searching the Internet for a new idea to promote an internal wellness program for her company’s 40,000 employees in 14 states. WellPoint is a Blue Cross or Blue Cross Blue Shield licensee in 14 states and the leading health plan in the U.S. with approximately 34 million medical members.
She randomly found what she was looking for at the Healthy Arkansas website which featured a series of radio commercials written and produced by local advertising agency, The Communications Group. The spots were designed to promote the release of the “Better State of Health Guidebook” in 2005.
The spots caught Adair’s attention because they featured a fictitious family called “The Unhealthy Family,” plus the 60-second commercials sounded like a 1960’s era sitcom complete with very wholesome actors and the perfunctory laugh track.
Neal Moore, creative director for The Communications Group, who wrote and produced the series, grew up watching shows like “Leave it to Beaver,” and “Father Knows Best.”
“The spots were designed to give absurd examples of unhealthy living, “said Moore. One example on the spots had “mom” offering her family “cardboard casserole” cooked in a microwave and their kids fearing for their health because of the non-nutritious food they are being fed. Another had the mom telling the dad and daughter “remember you two, no helmets,” as they preparing to take a motorcycle ride.
Adair contacted Moore and the two collaborated on the development of “The Unhealthy Workplace” series for WellPoint. The Communications Group wrote and produced the series focusing on nutrition in the office setting.
“We chose familiar situations such as the vending machine area, the company pot luck and staying at your desk for lunch,” said Moore. The call-to-action of each spot is to visit WellPoint’s “wellness section” on the company’s intranet site. “At that point, we hope our employee will pick up some of the information we have on nutrition, exercise and healthy living,” said Adair.
The first of the four spots was rolled out recently via an email to WellPoint’s employees. One spot per week will be sent to the employees. “All they had to do was click on a link and the spots played at their desk,” said Adair. “We wanted something to drive the message home, cause them to react positively, all in an entertaining way,” said Adair. “If we had just sent them an email that said visit the wellness section, we don’t feel it would have been near as effective.”
“It’s the first time we’ve ever been asked to produce commercials for the intranet,” said Moore. “It was fun to work with Alpana. They were willing to step out and try something different. Hopefully the message will help some of their employees make healthier choices. And hopefully, we’ll even get to see each other face-to-face someday.”
The Communications Group has specialized in healthcare and healthcare-related outreach programs since 1987. The firm represents ARKids First, Breastcare, Healthy Baby and the Happy Birthday Baby Book and recently launched a new diabetes initiative for the Delta Regional Authority called “Healthy Delta.”