• by Laurie Petersen , September 11, 2013

Aetna has taken the next step in its $50 million campaign for health care innovation with the launch of Our Healthy.

Developed by Ogilvy One, the campaign kicked off on Sept. 3 and represents the company’s call to action to transform the health care system in areas such as payment reform, digital disruption, consumer empowerment and Big Data. It runs through the end of the year.

Peter Brodnitz, head of advertising and brand for Aetna, told Marketing Daily this phase of the campaign focuses on health care policy influencers, Wall Street, CEOs and CFOs of large companies and provider groups.

“Our Healthy [in response to the first consumer phase of the campaign What’s Your Healthy?] is a more efficient system, covering more people and empowering to live in a more healthy manner,” he says.  “We want this to be what “Priceless” is for MasterCard [endurable across the entire enterprise and in all lines of business]. The terrific thing about Aetna is once we decide something, it might take a while to decide, but everyone jumps on.”

In addition to the Web site ourhealthy.com, there is an in-app version providing interactive and playful activities for iPad viewers of The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg BusinessWeek apps. Ads also appear in the print editions of those publications, along with The New York Times and Forbes.

“To us, this campaign is more than just advertising,” Brodnitz says. “It’s a call for Americana to step up, think about and act healthier. We really see this as an opportunity to help influence popular culture and get people more engaged with their health.”

The “Our Healthy” Web site (ourhealthy.com)  features a video interview with Aetna leaders such as CEO Mark Bertolini and discusses what Aetna is bringing to the table in Accountable Care Solutions.

“Unless you fix the health care system, you can’t fix the economy,” Bertolini says in the video, adding that reducing costs just 20% would cover the Affordable Care Act for everyone.

The video cites a report by the Institute of Medicine that more than $760 billion in waste is created annually in the system.

“There really is no system in the health care system,” the CEO adds.

The home page has a rotation of images with the headline “Rebuilding the system. That’s our healthy. What’s yours?”

Brodnitz said the timing is not specifically pegged to the opening of the Obamacare health insurance exchanges on Oct. 1. However, affordable outcome-based incentives are all over the news. Aetna has 27 accountable health care agreements with hospitals and health care providers across the country.

Self-monitoring technology is a rapidly growing industry and Aetna’s Healthagen sells health technology services such as a mobile app for patients to assess symptoms and find doctors.

Transparency in the health care cost system is leading to such startup initiatives as ClearHealthCosts.com, which reports the “real cost” of buying different procedures a la carte. A search through its database reveals a wide disparity in pricing based on type of facility and region. That site was started by a former New York Times reporter Jeanne Pinder.