How mailing a self-sustaining ecosphere helped Anthem National Accounts boost its b-to-b business.

Early in 2008, benefits administrators at large corporations across the United States unwrapped an unusual gift that arrived in the mail: an ecosphere — a glass globe containing self-sustaining shrimp and algae, with the message “Simple … is more complex than it looks.” The source of this generosity? Anthem National Accounts, a division of Blue Cross and Blue Shield.

The company’s “Ecosphere” campaign, which won a silver ECHO Award at the 2008 DMA Conference, was designed to call attention to Anthem’s efforts to make its services more user friendly. And since health insurance is regarded as anything but simple by most benefits managers and customers — who are often bogged down by cryptic medical bills and impenetrable bureaucratic processes — the ecosphere hit just the right note.

Prior to launching the campaign, Anthem conducted interviews with target groups. Officials found that, although users appreciate large doctor networks and innovative offerings, they really crave a health insurance plan that’s easier to use.

So, to set itself apart in an undifferentiated space, Anthem began to focus heavily on user ease and accessibility. For example, the company initiated a rigorous training system for its customer service representatives so that now, when customers call with questions, only Anthem agents who are prepared to deal with a variety of issues pick up the phone, eliminating the hassle of transferring calls and the need to speak with multiple reps. The company also took steps to make its online experience smoother for the end user.

The company’s next challenge was to communicate those changes to benefits managers. “We have spent a lot of time, research and effort to make ourselves easier to engage with,” says Kelly Colbert, director of marketing. “The purpose of this campaign was to herald that message.”

The “Ecosphere” campaign targeted benefits administrators at corporations with 5,000 employees or more. But Colbert knew it would be no easy feat cutting through the clutter to reach this audience. “These names are on every insurance carrier’s target list,” she says. In other words, yet another beseeching e-mail would hardly do the job.

After several rounds of brainstorming with its agency, Wikreate, Anthem landed on the ecosphere metaphor. Ecospheres are enclosed, balanced ecosystems: the shrimp, algae and bacteria sustain each other in filtered water. With a little natural or artificial light, the ecosphere will easily go on regenerating, good as new, for two years or longer.

As the campaign’s promotional packaging announced, ecospheres may appear simple, but below the surface complex biological processes are at work — much like Anthem’s new image of a simple-to-use service supported by complex, comprehensive offerings.

In addition to the glass globe, the mailing included a brochure explaining the history and function of an ecosphere and information about Anthem and the campaign’s microsite.

The glass globes had the added benefit of being aesthetically attractive and soothing to look at. Colbert says the company received e-mails and phone calls from recipients who wanted to express their appreciation. Anthem also heard from administrators who weren’t on the target list but caught wind of the campaign and were nonetheless hoping to get their own ecosphere.

But the real payoff for Colbert was in the actual response rate. The campaign started in January 2008 and ran for about seven weeks. In its first four weeks, the campaign generated response from about 22 percent of recipients — more than 580 percent greater than the average response for dimensional mail. The average time that respondents spent on the microsite was 3.5 minutes, with 50 percent of respondents leaving testimonials about the microsite’s video.

Colbert also credits a carefully researched target list for its successful response rate. Prior to the campaign launch, Anthem conducted extensive outbound telemarketing to expand its data on prospective clients. “With high-impact dimensional mail,” Colbert urges, “you want to spend the extra money to vet the list.”

Despite the positive results and the fact that Anthem has conducted dimensional mail campaigns in the past, Colbert admits this campaign was not an easy sell initially. Senior managers were concerned about the ecosphere’s portability — would it remain intact en route? They also wondered if the concept effectively imparted Anthem’s message.

Colbert says the creative team answered the first concern by designing safe packaging specifically for the glass globe. The second concern was resolved, according to Colbert, when Wikreate sent senior Anthem managers samples of the ecosphere. Once they saw the globe, they were convinced that the ecosphere could both grab attention and impart their marketing message.

And while some dimensional mail efforts can be pricey, Colbert says the little glass globe “was relatively not that expensive,” pointing out that ecospheres are fairly common in science- and nature-themed gift shops nationwide.

In fact, for Colbert, high-impact dimensional direct mail was the obvious channel, given the difficulty in snaring the attention of benefits managers and the nature of the campaign’s “simplicity” metaphor. An electronic image of an ecosphere or even a printed illustration of an ecosphere would not have had nearly the same effect, she argues.

“You can only create that disruptive experience by harnessing the potential of high-impact direct mail,” Colbert says.

• Dubbed “Simple is more complex than it looks,” the Anthem campaign generated an early response rate of 22 percent, more than 580 percent greater than the average response for dimensional mail.
• Campaign respondents were driven to an accompanying Web site, where they spent an average of 3.5 minutes.
• About half of all respondents left a testimonial on the site.