The flu wrote to members. They finally wrote back.

The Situation

Flu vaccination campaigns are the wallpaper of health plan marketing. Members get institutional reminders every fall, and every fall most members ignore them. We also had a structural problem: the campaign had to be unified with the government division's work on a two-month pivot, one creative platform across Medicare, Commercial, and Medicaid.

The Diagnosis

The reminders failed because they sounded like an insurance company. A member ignores an institution out of habit. The message needed a voice she'd actually read.

The Strategy

We personified the flu itself. "It's Me, The Flu" let the villain do the talking, which made the message impossible to mistake for billing mail. On the structural side, I worked the unification with the government division so the divisions shared one creative platform while the segmentation stayed tailored underneath, and the pivot landed inside the two-month window.

The Result

Flu shot claims increased 3% among low-risk members and 1.5% among high-risk, test versus control.

• 113 million impressions, up 173% year over year.
• Paid digital engagement up 64%.
• 12.2 million members reached by email.
• In-app personalization influenced 170,000 additional vaccinations.
• The campaign won an award and the concept ran again the next year.

The Principle

Members don't answer institutions. They answer voices.