Its search for a national agency is driven by a need to present a unified voice, but Kaiser Permanente is looking for more than creative help: PR, direct response and possibly even media buying may become part of the assignment.
“We’re beginning with image/ creative, but we’ll take a look at everything,” said Christine Paige, svp of marketing for the Oakland, Calif.-based health maintenance organization, which claims 8 million members in nine states and the District of Columbia and $22.5 billion in 2002 revenue. (The nation’s largest HMO, BlueCross BlueShield, has 80 million members and $162.8 billion in revenue.) “We’ve had up to now a number of fragmented regional efforts to tell our story. They’ve been on strategy, but we have a commitment to speak with one voice and a stronger voice.”
She added that a doubling of the marketing spend to about $40 million is needed in 2004.
Brandstream, a consultancy based in New York and Seattle, has worked with the client for a year on brand strategy and is handling this search. It has sent a request for credentials to agencies.
The HMO currently works with several regional and specialized shops, including Interpublic Group’s Initiative Media, which handles planning and buying, and Omnicom Group’s Rapp Collins, which handles direct.
Paige said a team from Kaiser will visit the New York and, in some cases, West Coast offices of the following shops this week: Omnicom Group’s TBWA\Chiat\ Day; IPG’s Deutsch, Campbell-Ewald and McCann-Erickson; WPP Group’s J. Walter Thompson and Ogilvy & Mather.
Kaiser Pitch May Become Potpourri
