ShareIndiana Association of Area Agencies on Aging (IAAAA)
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Client: IAAAA, also known as Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP), works to help Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries in Indiana avoid, detect and prevent health care fraud. In doing so, they protect seniors and help preserve the integrity of these vital assistance programs.
Challenge: While SMP does tremendous work on behalf of senior citizens, this can be a difficult group to reach. And although their Internet use is on the rise, seniors generally are not easily accessible online. SMP depends heavily on traditional media coverage to truly reach its base.
Solution: One of SMP’s goals is to generate calls by seniors to its 800 help line. Bohlsen Group created talking points for each press release to prepare the 16 area SMP chapters for consumer response. We also prepared a large media buy to occur during the open Medicare enrollment period to warn against fraud. Supporting these efforts were community outreach for volunteers, copywriting for a new supplemental brochure to the national SMP version, website copywriting and, for tech-savvy seniors and their adult children, a social media plan.
Results: The first three press releases resulted in 60 news results, including CNBC, Bloomberg Newsweek, AARP.org and media across Indiana and in Louisville. Bohlsen Group tracks ad equivalency for use in SMP’s government reports; these three releases resulted in more than $170,000 in ad value. More importantly, the first release generated so many calls from seniors that SMP had to hire help to cover the phones.
“If I had to tell someone the best business decision I've made, it would have to be hiring Bohlsen Group. Every expectation I had, they have met and surpassed in such a short amount of time. I'm excited about the places my program is going, due to having Bohlsen Group as part of my team.”
– Tamra Simpson, SMP Program Director, IAAAA