Covered California, the Golden State's health insurance exchange, has moved its $50M-per-year marketing account to Campbell Ewald and a team of minority-focused subcontractors, following a review.
Sister interpublic unit Weber Shandwick was the two-year incumbent for the three-year contract, working for the exchange from its launch.
The exchange tapped Los Angeles-based Campbell Ewald for its plan to reach key target demographics like Latinos, Asians and African-Americans, said CC executive director Peter Lee.
CE Subcontractors include Casnova Pendrill (Latino marketing), InterTrend Communications (Asian and Pacific Islanders) and Lagrant Comms. (African-Americans).
Ogilvy PR, meanwhile, retained the exchange's $2M-a-year PR account with a new, three-year pact. It has worked the account since 2012. Its team includes T&T PR (African-American outreach) and Imprenta Communications Group (Asian-language media).
Ogilvy/Sacramento leads the account, with support from Los Angeles and San Francisco. Ogilvy PR/West regional manager Nathan Friedman said the firm is “extremely proud” to continue the work. Ogilvy is part of WPP.
CC, which says 1.3M Californians have signed up for insurance through its marketplace, released RFPs for the two accounts in March, looking for "fresh, innovative ideas" to move its successful early years forward.
Lee praised Weber Shandwick's ad and marketing work. "They worked hand in hand with us to reach millions of Californians under extremely tight deadlines and helped to launch one of the most successful marketplaces in the country," he said.
That effort signed up nearly 500K people for the fall 2014 enrollment period, with particular success among the state's robust Latino population.
Lo Isidro, senior director at Real Chemistry with more than a decade of strategic communications and PA experience, has joined Narrative Strategies.
Nelson Fernandez, former North American chair of APCO Worldwide and managing director of Burson-Marsteller, has joined Volunteers in Medicine Berkshires as director of communications and PA.
Lilit Bargar, who was most recently an EVP in the healthcare practice at Weber Shandwick, comes on board at GCI Health as EVP, corporate practice lead.
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