A new ad campaign from Illinois is making fun of a no-insurance mindset to try to get young adults to sign up for health insurance, using the tag line, “You’ll be okay, probably.”
The ads, which show young people cavorting around Chicago in cardboard splints and other homemade remedies, promote a fictitious “Luck Plan.” The 30-second spots aired on network television in Illinois this week, the first week of open enrollment under the Affordable Care Act. The campaign targets millennials, whose participation in insurance is important to the health law’s success but who have been more reluctant than others to sign up.
The ads, developed by Downtown Partners Chicago, are based on recent research, said Jose Munoz, chief marketing officer for Get Covered Illinois, the state’s enrollment arm.
“To get people’s attention you have to do one of two things — you have to be extremely funny or extremely offensive,” Munoz said. “We went with funny.”
The campaign is part of a $12 million advertising budget to spread the “get covered” message through television, print, radio and social media outlets, along with ads on public transportation and billboards, state spokesman Mike Claffey said in an email. The $12 million, funded through a federal grant, also covers ads targeting African-Americans and Hispanics, two other groups that proved hard to reach last year.
State officials have said Illinois was successful reaching young adults last year, signing up 72,696 people under age 35. Young adults are important for the law because they generally use fewer health care services than older members, which helps keeps rates lower. Last year’s outreach to young adults included humorous commercials and a partnership with The Onion, a Chicago-based online satirical news source that produced creative content for the state. The partnership with The Onion will continue this year, Munoz said.
The “Luck Plan” ads will air during shows young adults watch — ranging from “The Walking Dead” to “The Tonight Show”, Munoz said. The television rollout follows an initial airing on social media, where the campaign has been gathering clicks. More than 15,000 people had viewed it on YouTube by Thursday morning. The state also has a Web page advertising the fictitious plan, along with information about how to sign up for a real plan.
The state plans to ramp up ads when sign-up deadlines approach — including a Dec. 15 deadline to get coverage starting Jan. 1 and the Feb. 15 deadline to sign up for insurance for 2015 or face a fine. In addition to advertising, the state is deploying a network of more than 800 “navigators” to help and encourage people to get insurance.
The campaign targeting Hispanics will include the theme “everyone can be a hero, but everyone needs help,” highlighting the heroic qualities of parents and other everyday people, Munoz said. The campaign targeting African-Americans will feature documentary-style testimonials, he said.
“What we want is something that’s going to catch people’s attention and get them thinking about getting covered,” he said.
This story was produced in partnership with Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation.
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