• by Tanya Gazdik , October 2, 2013

National dental insurance provider United Concordia is launching a cause marketing campaign designed to directly engage consumers while promoting better oral hygiene.

The multichannel campaign supports three relevant national charities intended to make the connection for consumers between oral and overall health. United Concordia will distribute $25,000* at the end of the 60-day campaign among the American Diabetes Association, March of Dimes and the Arthritis Foundation. 

Consumers are invited to “like” United Concordia’s Facebook page and cast their vote through Nov. 30 for one of the three national charities.

Visitors who “like” United Concordia’s Facebook page will also learn about the connection between oral and overall wellness.

Participants have the chance to share the program with friends via Facebook, Twitter and email, and are able to vote once daily. The program includes a running tally of votes to let participants know which charity is on top at the time of their visit. At the end of the program, the charity with the most votes will receive $20,000; second place, $3,000; third place, $2,000.*

A QR code is available for individuals interested in voting via their smartphones, which will take users to a mobile-friendly Web site. Visit the “Champions for Wellness” Charity Program for more information and to vote from your mobile phone during October and November.

United Concordia teamed with digital engagement provider ePrize to power the "Champions for Wellness" campaign, which consumers can access on the Web and on mobile and social channels.

The mobile nature of this campaign is indicative of the larger transformation occurring in the health insurance industry, where providers are evolving from traditional B2B organizations to being more consumer-oriented, says Beth Rutherford, a marketing communications consultant at United Concordia.

“We have never done a campaign like this,” she said. “It's also the first time we're leveraging ePrize's new mobile SDK technology, which will allow us to seamlessly lift in future campaigns to our mobile app without rolling an update.”

The marketing is aimed at socially active and highly engaged consumers who have a propensity to support a program that helps charities, she tells Marketing Daily.

“The ultimate goal is to explain how oral health is linked to overall wellness,” she says. “We have conducted a study showing that oral health can help lead to lower medical costs and better overall health.

in addition to Facebook and Twitter, the company is using a mobile-optimized site that consumers can access via Facebook to engage.

“We're also combining a variety of outreach tactics (such as press releases and email blasts) to spread the word about the campaign and United Concordia as a dental wellness company,” Rutherford says.

Editor's note: The story has been amended to correct information that was wrongly transmitted to Marketing Daily.