Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP)

LIVE WHOLEHEARTEDLY

CHALLENGE

Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP) is among the largest not-for-profit Medicare/Medicaid plans in the nation. With a network of 8,000 providers and 3,000 employees, it serves 1.5 million residents in California’s Riverside and San Bernardino counties. When IEHP started in 1996, the core member target audience consisted of women and children, for whom IEHP’s branding and marketing was tailored using kid-friendly “cartoon” human figures, known as the “blobs.” However, as IEHP grew, evolved, and was guided by a new mission to “heal and inspire the human spirit,” these very human principles were difficult to communicate in the animated world of the blobs. A change needed to be made, with one exception—stakeholders overwhelmingly sought to keep the “heart” as core to the brand, to represent IEHP’s very caring culture and high member satisfaction ratings.

OUTCOME

IEHP and Maricich Health worked together through our strategic and creative process to craft core messages in alignment with the organization’s new mission, vision and values, and with a brand positioning that supported IEHP’s long term community objectives. The resulting “Live Wholeheartedly” brand messaging, new logo, brand style guide, and a comprehensive marketing strategy was instrumental in setting the stage for current marketing efforts. We also named IEHP Covered, the organization’s first ever entry into the Covered California healthcare exchange, and developed a strategic marketing plan for the launch, which helped the organization surpass their first-year enrollment goals. The resulting brand work was launched both externally and internally and has been utilized by the organization’s team members, with great success.