Colorful and personal
Kaiser Permanente (KP) mails a 12-page quarterly newsletter called Partners in Health, offering lifestyle advice and tips for interacting with the KP health system. The piece is unpretentious, colorful, and personal, if unambitious. I recently received the Spring 2007 issue.
Printed on a lightweight paper stock, with a simple adhesive binding, the newsletter puts a personal face on a large and complex organization. The cover includes a portrait of a real KP staffer, plus member-focused coverlines, including “You Are What Eat” (on nutrition), “Be a Hero” (on organ donation), and “Reward Yourself” (on volunteerism). The member focus continues until page 7, where it’s interrupted by a four page advertisement for KP Optical Stores. (Considering the brevity of the newsletter, I would recommend only one page dedicated to the Optical ad (in a right-hand position), with a compelling promotional offer. As it is, the four-pager does include a 40 percent discount offer, but it appears on the last, left-hand page of the spread.
Partners in Health succeeds in a few important ways: It personalizes the KP brand. It provides multiple member touchpoints with phone numbers and web addresses. It’s relatively low-cost (with inexpensive, lightweight paper), and it generally provides a member-focused perspective.
Partners in Health could do a better job of integrating with the KP.org website. While the articles provide web addresses for services, the content doesn’t continue online. I couldn’t even find any of it online through the KP.org search. This is a missed opportunity to attract and retain members online. For every member that becomes accustomed to visiting kp.org, Kaiser Permanente has the opportunity to save money by encouraging member self-service and by providing a richer menu of educational materials.END
David M. Kalman is the president of Terrella Media, Inc. and editor of BrandMagnet.
The Partners in Health Cover (click to zoom)
