In this pitch to seniors, Medicare's the brand

Drug benefit focus of marketing plan

ALTON, Ill. -- Robert Baker sat in the gymnasium of a former elementary school recently, waiting for someone to explain the new Medicare prescription drug benefit that took effect last Sunday.

• "I'm completely in the dark," the 77-year-old retiree said.
• "All I know is the government says you've got to get in on this plan."

Baker and his wife eventually spoke with a counselor trained to demystify the program's complexities. But the young woman was not a social worker or senior-center aide. She works for Relay Event and Marketing, a company better known for promoting Budweiser's sponsorship of NASCAR and an ''It-Girl" fashion contest to increase awareness of Midori melon-flavored liqueur among females and ''alternative males" age 21 to 29.

Tim Mauer, Relay's executive vice president, said it makes sense for a company that builds brand awareness for products like beer and soft drinks to promote Medicare.

• When it comes to event marketing, it's not that much different," he said.
• The concerns of the target demographic -- that's where it all starts."

How Relay won a contract worth more than $5 million to educate senior citizens about the drug benefit, called Medicare Part D, is part of a larger story playing out across the country. As more people sign up for the coverage, spending on prescription drugs is expected to rise. Over the next 10 years, the government will pump about $70 billion into the program annually.

Pharmaceutical companies, which stand to earn billions in new revenue, have spawned a lucrative cottage industry educating seniors about the new benefit. Industry-funded advocacy groups and outreach programs have sprung up across the nation. In turn, that has generated business for companies like Relay that don't have any experience with healthcare issues.

The company, based in Chicago, is part of Publicis Groupe, a French company that claims to be the world's fourth-largest communications and advertising firm.

On its website, Relay recounts a typical ''successful mission": popularizing Courvoisier cognac among African-American men age 21 to 34. Courvoisier ''diplomats" in 10 locations were dispatched to offer complimentary cocktails at promotional events. The diplomats also spent ''promotional dollars to provide accounts and consumers with a consistent, meaningful Courvoisier experience." The company even created a character named Fonzworth Bentley as brand spokesman.

Relay says it held 200 events over six months, uncorking 1,200 bottles of Courvoisier. The result was a 7 percent sales increase compared to the same period the year before.

The My Medicare Matters campaign Relay is now promoting is decidedly less flashy. The company painted 37 white vans with the program logo, and outfitted them with computers. It recruited regional managers like Kara Bernsee, 26, who had worked in social services and saw a job posting for the national Medicare outreach program on Monster.com. And it trained dozens of ''educators," who learned about the intricacies of Medicare Part D during a week-long seminar in St. Louis.

At events like the one here, the staff -- wearing fleece vests emblazoned with the My Medicare Matters logo -- assembled five computer-equipped kiosks. Fabric dividers provided some privacy. The setup made the drab gymnasium -- with its baby-blue cinderblock walls and snowflake decorations

look like a job fair.

After getting some basic information about each person's drug regimen and existing coverage, the Relay educators used Medicare's web-based plan comparison tool to help narrow choices.

After her session, Mary Lou Ewing of nearby Wood River, Ill. said she found a plan with a $13 monthly premium. ''I can handle that," said Ewing, 78, who underwent triple bypass surgery four months ago. ''It was very helpful, and they answered all my questions."

Relay's Mauer said that kind of outcome makes the Medicare work more fulfilling than, say, helping Allstate Insurance find prospects among Hispanics age 21 to 45 by setting up foosball games around the perimeters of playing fields at Allstate-sponsored soccer tournaments.

• "Sometimes we're out there running programs where we're promoting new products," he said.
• "Here we're truly helping people. That's what gives us goose bumps at the end of the day."

Many drug companies have contributed to the education efforts, individually and through the industry's trade group, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. The Relay program got its start last summer when drug maker AstraZeneca PLC of London -- the world's seventh-largest drug company with sales of $21.4 billion in 2004 -- donated $10 million to the National Council on the Aging to educate seniors about the drug benefit. The council, based in Washington, D.C., is a respected, 55-year-old nonprofit that advocates for elders and supports numerous community service organizations. The council, in turn, teamed with Access to Benefits Coalition, a group funded by the drug industry to ensure seniors make use of subsidies and free drug programs.

Together, the organizations developed the My Medicare Matters program. The effort aims to conduct 5,000 community events in 27 states before May 15.

Locally, Action for Boston Community Development Inc., an antipoverty group, is scouting locations and will participate in the events.

Tony Zook, president of AstraZeneca's US operation, said in a statement that the firm is funding the effort because the new benefit ''can make a tremendous contribution to millions of Americans."

Along with other big pharmaceutical companies, AstraZeneca worked to influence the design of the federal drug program as Congress and healthcare advocates battled over how it would work. Drug companies wanted it to be delivered by private insurance companies. They opposed any provision that would allow the government to negotiate prices on behalf of Medicare, which could control drug costs.

According to Senate lobbying records, AstraZeneca spent nearly $4.3 million on lobbying from 2000 to 2003. Promoting the private delivery of the drug benefit, the model ultimately adopted, was among its top lobbying priorities.

The company's in-house lobbyists also opposed legislation that would have required it and other manufacturers to sell drugs to Medicare beneficiaries at discounts similar to those offered in other countries.

AstraZeneca's drugs include Toprol XL, a blood pressure medication that is among the 10 best-selling drugs for seniors in the nation, and Nexium, a treatment for acid reflux disease.

Carla Burigatto, a company spokeswoman, said AstraZeneca supported the ''private market model" because it provides more choices for consumers than a government-administered plan.

But the very success of the drug companies' efforts spawned the need to educate seniors. My Medicare Matters is an attempt to clear up the confusion they helped create by lobbying for an approach that created so many choices.

In most states, seniors are faced with selecting a plan from dozens of options. They must compare premiums, drugs covered, and varying levels of insurance payments based on their annual spending. Many say the process is overwhelming and has created widespread anxiety.

The program at the senior center here was typical of the Relay program, according to participants. Bernsee, the regional manager, said that during the afternoon, 28 counseling sessions were held, each averaging 45 minutes.

• Each case is different," said Bernsee.
• "With everyone being on different medications, there's no way to narrow it down."

Social workers at the Alton event said they were not concerned by AstraZeneca's funding of My Medicare Matters or its vested interest in the drug benefit. ''I'm so grateful to have the support and the technology and the people," said Courtney Tierney, chief operating officer of the Area Agency on Aging of Southwestern Illinois. Looking out over the Relay kiosks, she said, ''This is like the cowboy who came to town in the nick of time."

Jeffrey Krasner can be reached at krasner@globe.com.

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