Still believing…

When Kaiser Permanente launched the Thrive campaign in 2004, it set out to redefine the way people thought about the organization. I wrote, back in 2005: “It makes a world of difference when you’re pushing forward with a cause and people know why you’re doing it. Our cause is helping people live healthier lives.”

There are 13,000 physicians, 30,000 nurses, dietitians, health educators, pharmacists, and other caregivers at Kaiser Permanente who do go to work every day to help our members.

Yet, as Kaiser Permanente spends tens of millions of dollars each year on the Thrive advertising campaign, the organization is increasingly rolling out health plans that seem to be more about revenue and profit than about preventive medicine (or even medicine, period).

It has been disappointing to see the promise behind Thrive weaken, because I recognized it as a campaign that could have really been transformational for the organization, and not just transformational for the organization’s external image.

Still, when I see a piece like Saturday, one of the two new spots for 2007, I realize there’s still hope for Kaiser Permanente, because for all the disappointing and disheartening stories of our failures, there are still so many people we help, every day. But, that’s another story for another day. So, Saturday. It isn’t flashy. It doesn’t try to sell you anything. It’s just a few shots from a day in the life of one Kaiser Permanente member, who happens to be a cancer survivor. It’s not too often that you can call a commercial “beautiful,” but Saturday is just that.

Here’s the longer, ninety-second version of Saturday…

There’s also a shorter, thirty-second version, which you can see here. (I think Saturday is the best spot from the campaign, even better than Signs. On the flip side, the other new ad, Kid Wisdom, is probably the worst. Go figure.)

My first major in college was public relations, so I pay attention to stuff like this maybe more than I should. But Thrive was, and I hope still is more than just advertising. It is a message. It could be a promise, a promise that if you are (or become) a Kaiser Permanente member, we’ll help you live your life healthier, and we’ll help you get better if something bad happens, and we’ll do all of this, in ways that most other healthcare organizations can’t or won’t. Someday, soon, George Halvorson will be gone, and Kaiser Permanente will have member representatives on its board, it will have a physician as its chief executive, it will have an empowered member’s ombudsman, and it’ll have preventive medicine again as a core focus (not as an advertising gimmick).

One day, soon, Kaiser Permanente will again stand for health.