Submitted by Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners

Hear Me

Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners built #HearMe for Blue Shield of California, a women's healthcare advocacy platform the agency reports garnered over 200M media impressions.

The campaign garnered over 200M media impressionsmedia impressions

Case in 60 seconds

Blue Shield of California needed to increase brand preference while being outspent five times over by the competition, so the work could not rely on paid weight and had to earn attention instead.

The campaign appears to turn on a mismatch the page states directly, because women are the primary household healthcare decision makers while not having access to the same quality healthcare men do, which gives the brand a subject rather than a claim.

#HearMe was built as a platform for women to advocate for themselves, using other women's stories as the encouragement to do so rather than positioning the insurer as the voice of authority.

The agency partnered with the LA Times to launch the campaign and add weight to the story's importance, then took to social with influencer stories to help ignite the social conversation, with Venus Williams's own experience among the stories carried.

The agency reports the campaign garnered over 200M media impressions, became one of the most-read health care articles according to Health Leaders Media, and was covered by publications across the country.

Strategy Breakdown

The primary strategy-learning section — interpretation, not a press-release summary.

Women as the primary household healthcare decision makers.
The page states that women, despite making the household healthcare decisions, do not get the same quality of care men do, which is a tension the brand could name without appearing to sell against it.
Health insurance preference was being contested by a competitor spending five times as much, so the brand needed a story the press would carry rather than a message it could afford to repeat.
Blue Shield of California takes the role of convener of the advocacy platform rather than protagonist, since the stories carried are women's own, including Venus Williams's experience.
Based on the available evidence, the work assumes women will advocate for themselves once other women's accounts make the disparity legible, which is why the platform leads with stories rather than instruction.

Creative & Execution System

Partners

  • Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners (lead_agency), LA Times (media)

Participation mechanic

  • #HearMe was set up as a platform for women to advocate for themselves and share their own healthcare experiences, with other women's stories acting as the encouragement to speak.

Creator role

  • Venus Williams — creator

Results & Evidence

MetricValueResult type
media impressionsThe campaign garnered over 200M media impressionsimpressions

Why Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners's strategy worked

  1. 1

    A brand outspent five to one can substitute editorial credibility for media weight, because a news partner lends the story an importance a purchased impression does not carry on its own.

  2. 2

    Naming a disparity the audience already lives with gives a category brand something to say, which reads as more durable than a preference message competing on the same terms as a larger spender.

  3. 3

    Sequencing a press launch into influencer storytelling appears to treat the article as the proof point and social as the amplifier, so the conversation has something specific to form around.

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