 "Reaching the population known as 'young invincibles' is an
important part of our effort to educate and enroll all of Illinois'
uninsured population," said Jennifer Koehler, executive director of
Get Covered Illinois. "We know that to effectively reach young
invincibles — who are 53 percent of our uninsured residents in
Illinois — we have to work with nontraditional, and especially
digital, sources for news and entertainment. That's where The Onion
fits right into our outreach strategy."Beginning this week, the
partnership calls for The Onion to run banner ads on its website
featuring a man who is forced to sell his action figures to pay his
medical bills because he failed to get health coverage. The Onion
will also create a video, an editorial and a custom "news" section
about Get Covered Illinois that will appear online as the March 31
enrollment deadline nears.
"This is a great opportunity for Onion Labs to work with Get
Covered Illinois and do what The Onion does best — create
irreverent-yet-relevant comedy and put it to work for an
organization that wants to reach millennials," said Steve Hannah,
chief executive officer of Onion Inc.
The Onion audience is comprised of mainly young adults between
the ages of 21 and 34, who are influential trendsetters, affluent
and highly educated. According to ComScore, more than 60 percent of
Onion readers are college and graduate-school graduates.
"Get Covered Illinois understands their target demographic and is
taking a creative approach to tailor a message to that audience that
goes beyond traditional marketing," said Mike McAvoy, president of
Onion Inc. "We are excited that Onion Labs will be able to raise
awareness about the March 31 enrollment deadline for federal health
coverage in an entertaining way."
The marketing agreement comes as Get Covered Illinois enters a
crucial two-month outreach push leading up to the March 31 federal
deadline for health coverage in 2014. Enrollment increased sharply
across all age groups in December once improvements were made to the
federal website.
In addition, Get Covered Illinois is engaging younger residents
across the state through digital, radio and TV advertisements and
promotions, both online and in person. Video content targeted to
young people will launch on Get Covered Illinois' Twitter and
Facebook pages. Since December, GCI's Facebook followers have
tripled to more than 4,800. More than 40 percent of Get Covered
Illinois' Facebook followers are between the ages of 18 and 34.
[to top of second column] |
 The next key enrollment deadline is coming up this week, with
Feb. 15 as the last date that consumers can apply for coverage
beginning March 1. The full enrollment period for the Health
Insurance Marketplace lasts six months and runs through March 31.
Get Covered Illinois is urging health care consumers to take
advantage of the assistance that is being offered via the Web, over
the phone and in person through hundreds of community partners
across the state:
-
Visit the website
at www.getcoveredillinois.gov (which includes a Spanish-language
version).
-
Call the Get
Covered Illinois help desk at 866-311-1119. Operators are
available each day from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
-
Meet in person
with a specially trained "navigator" who can help you understand
your options and even help you enroll at one of the hundreds of
partner sites across the state. There are more than 1,500
navigators throughout the state, and they can be located by
visiting the website and entering your ZIP code, or through the
help desk.
[Text from
file received from
Get Covered Illinois]
Follow Get Covered Illinois on social
media at:
Onion Inc. is a Chicago-based digital media company comprised of
The Onion, its sister pop-culture publication, The A.V. Club, and a
full-service creative agency, Onion Labs. Founded in 1988, The Onion
has become America's most recognizable and prominent source of
satirical comedy, with daily coverage of politics, technology,
sports, business, entertainment and more. The Onion and The A.V.
Club combine to receive an average of 19 million monthly visitors to
their websites and account for over 3.3 million Facebook fans, 5.6
million Twitter followers and more than half-a-million YouTube
subscribers. Onion Labs was established in 2012 and creates branded
entertainment, integrated video series and custom advertising
programs for brands. In its short time in existence, Onion Labs has
worked with companies such as 7-Eleven, Adobe, Clorox, Home Depot,
Lenovo, Microsoft, YouTube and many others.
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