Case Studies

Oxford Health Plans

When Oxford Health Plans stock dropped from $84 a share to $14 a share in late 1997, many wondered if the managed care giant would survive. Most Wall Street analysts bet that Oxford’s customer base would defect to competitors such as Aetna or Empire Blue Cross. Without the $4 billion in annual revenue provided by its one million members, Oxford would surely collapse and die, the analysts predicted. In addition, the media pummeled Oxford with a round-the-clock barrage of stories about "the troubled managed care giant," creating an enormous challenge for the media relations team.

Faced with a customer retention task of truly Herculean proportions, Oxford quickly developed an integrated marketing communications strategy to address its various customer groups, each of which had unique concerns and specific needs. The strategy featured a core central message and highly customized content for each audience. Several methods were used to help provide immediate updates and rebuttals to the information portrayed in the media. They included such simple tactics as talking points for customer-facing employees to a newsletter published in conjunction with any material updates to the company turnaround plan.

Customer Audience	Customized Message Points
Members	Oxford will continue providing premium health care coverage and value-added services to its members.
Brokers	Oxford is financially sound and has a turnaround plan in place.
Benefits Administrators	Oxford is financially sound and will be able to meet its commitments to its members.
Providers (Physicians, Hospitals, Labs)	Oxford will make good on outstanding claims, reduce claims processing time, and provide interim cash payments to providers until existing claim disputes are fully resolved.
Investors (Institutional, Individual)	Oxford is fixing its IT problems, securing temporary financial assistance in the form of bridge loans, restructuring operations to eliminate unprofitable programs, and refocusing efforts on returning to profitability in the near term.
Government (Local, State, Federal)	We will cooperate fully to provide you with whatever information you need.
Media	Oxford is working diligently to correct internal problems and remains confident about the future.
Employees	Expect restructuring; Oxford management will help affected employees find work within the company or provide outplacement services and severance benefits packages.

Oxford’s marketing communications strategy proved a masterpiece of communications integration and set the gold standard for customer-focused, needs-based marketing communications strategies. Even more important, however, it set the stage for Oxford’s recovery and return to profitability in 2000. Among its most important customers — large employer groups — the company was able to maintain its 90%+ retention rates.