Patricia Uhrich, Author at DCI

November 19, 2019

That’s the Spirit! Creative ideas for giving back during the holidays

Feeling challenged to come up with an event more interesting than a toy drive or canned food collection? Look no further than the agency world. Marketers are known to turn their fundraising up to 11 during the holidays (perhaps they feel a bit guilty for all of the crass consumerism). Last year for example, a Toronto agency auctioned off some of their prestigious awards via Instagram (including this gold Clio) as a means of raising funds for their favorite non-profit. If you’ve been following Direct Choice, then you may recall voting for our Ugly Sweaters or Holiday Album Covers to raise money via Facebook. Both of those holiday campaigns motivated our staff, friends and clients to join together for a good cause. This doesn’t mean you have to create a social media campaign to get creative. Consider these alternatives: Auction off some perks within your organization During a holiday party, you could auction-...

October 3, 2019

in Uncategorized

by Patricia Uhrich

Medicare Advantage Plans Enter a New Age of Innovation and Competition

When your business is heavily regulated by the federal government, innovation and progress don’t come easy. Such is the case with Medicare Advantage (MA) plans which provide health coverage to 22 million Medicare beneficiaries. Everything about operating these plans (benefits, rates, marketing campaigns, etc.) happens under the watchful eye of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Last year, MA plans received some good news. CMS announced that plans could add supplemental benefits for home care and adult day care in 2019. Now, CMS is allowing MA plans to expand coverage in 2020 with benefits that are “not necessarily health-related but have a reasonable expectation of improving or maintaining the health.” Watch for new plans and new benefits coming in 2020. According to Home Health Care News, there are at least 16 new MA plans becoming available during the 2020 Annual Election Period when members can switch MA plans. Added competition is...

August 12, 2019

in Marketing

by Patricia Uhrich

Non-traditional cures for summertime marketing blues

Reaching people by traditional media in the summer can be difficult. Your audience may be on vacation or enjoying the outdoors near home but away from their screens and mailboxes. Fortunately, there’s still time to reach them via some non-traditional outdoor advertising. Whether at the shore or the ballpark you’ve certainly noticed some creative skywriting, banners, blimps, etc. vying for your attention. The question is, are they worth the investment? They must be paying off for someone. Here’s what we know. Blimps If you want a modern airship like one of the 246-foot Goodyear Blimps, be prepared to shell out $21 million. Most advertisers simply rent a blimp from AirSign that gives them a flying 128-foot billboard with a price range of $200k to $400k per event. Mind you, these are piloted airships with custom skins that are typically reserved for big-budget brands. The return? Besides undeniable visibility that you can’t turn...

July 17, 2019

in Marketing

by Patricia Uhrich

Taking cues from nature to give marketing a boost

Continuing along the “green” path established in our previous post, Tapping into Conscious Consumerism?, we’ve been looking into the ways in which the natural world influences marketing. Engineers have long been exploring biomimicry to advance technology and develop new products. Velcro is one of the earliest examples. It was created when a Swiss electrical engineer looked into how seeds clung to his clothing and his dog when he walked in the woods. More recently, scientists have been researching mother nature’s DNA molecules as an incredibly compact and stable source of massive data storage. In the marketing world, we have been tapping nature, often unknowingly, through rules that have developed over time. Of course, there’s always room to learn more… We are all flower children Humans are not unlike bees and butterflies when it comes to bright colors. The plants apparently know this, using yellows, blues, pinks, and purples to stand out from the background...

Author: Patricia Uhrich

That’s the Spirit! Creative ideas for giving back during the holidays

Medicare Advantage Plans Enter a New Age of Innovation and Competition

Non-traditional cures for summertime marketing blues

Taking cues from nature to give marketing a boost

directchoiceinc

Author: Patricia Uhrich

That’s the Spirit! Creative ideas for giving back during the holidays

Medicare Advantage Plans Enter a New Age of Innovation and Competition

Back-to-College: Reaching tomorrow’s most valuable consumers today

Non-traditional cures for summertime marketing blues

Taking cues from nature to give marketing a boost

directchoiceinc