DECENT
case study
Outreach + Media Drive Successful Launch of Health Insurance Disruptor
goal
The health insurance startup called Decent launched with a simple and disruptive vision: affordable health insurance for the self-employed. Decent chose Austin as its first city to offer its health plans because of its dynamic and thriving entrepreneur and freelance communities. The company tapped MedVoice PR to make its brand known. With a short window – open enrollment was just two months away – MedVoice PR immediately got to work.
strategy
Unique with Decent versus other clients is that we had just 45-days to create maximum impact. Most persons make their health insurance choice during open enrollment from November 1 to December 15 which meant that we needed to generate attention and awareness quickly and from many different angles. We began with messaging.
execution
We knew we had some challenges to overcome. First and foremost, insurance isn’t the most exciting topic (you can almost see the listeners’ eyelids get droopy once the words “health plan” is mentioned). We needed concise and compelling messaging, short enough to fit in a headline or tweet.
With messaging ironed out we quickly rolled out our three-pronged approach: Earned media, Paid Media and ‘Boots on the Ground’ Outreach.
On the earned media side, we crafted compelling press releases and story pitches to reach a diverse array of local media – from print to online to TV. The aim was to drive website visits by via a regular stream of news stories.
Through paid media, we boosted brand awareness through outdoor billboards in dense areas of Central Austin and radio ads on the local NPR-station which complemented Decent’s robust digital campaign.
Health insurance is rarely a “rash” decision. In-person connections and speaking opportunities would build credibility and trust. We identified associations and networking groups of specific professions with high rates of “1099” workers – such as real estate brokers, lawyers and entrepreneurs – and connected through happy hour sponsorships and speaking opportunities.
