Want to hear hipsters sing about the glories of their state’s Obamacare marketplace? Head to Oregon.
Cover Oregon, the state’s new Obamacare health insurance marketplace, launched a multi-million dollar campaign this week aimed at recruiting more Oregonians to the online marketplace.
The roll-out includes two television advertisements featuring Oregon-themed Obamacare marketplace songs sung by Oregon natives, folk singer Laura Gibson and musician Matt Sheehy.
“Each logger and lawyer and stay-at-home-dad, every baker and banker and Indy rock band, each student and teacher, neighbor and friend will live long in Oregon,” Gibson sings as she strums her guitar.
The television ads, which could double as commercials for an Oregon tourism board, avoid details about Obamacare or the marketplace and instead focus on “living long” and being Oregonian.
WATCH Gibson sing “Live Long in Oregon”:
WATCH Sheehy sing “Long Live Oregonians”:
“We were inspired,” Mark Ray, creative director for Cover Oregon’s advertising agency, NORTH, said in a statement. “We asked local artists to be a part of this movement and, in that way, were able to put dollars back into the Oregon artist community and into a population of people who are traditionally uninsured.”
Cover Oregon’s launch includes television, radio and online ads as well as outreach by their local partners.
The radio and online ads are also original creations by local artists — including Dave Depper’s “Stand Strong,” Lifesavas’ “To The Future,” Vikesh’s “We Feel Free” and Willie Vlautin’s “Healthcare for All.”
“Healthcare for all, that seems fair, Cover Oregon is here. Can’t be excluded for being too sick or too old, or too round too skinny or from the pre-existing fold. Healthcare for all, that seems fair, Cover Oregon is here,” Vlautin sings in his radio spot.
The first phase of the marketing campaign will cost approximately $3.2 million, according to Cover Oregon.
According to its website, Cover Oregon is funded by federal grants through 2014. Come 2015 Cover Oregon will sustain itself through “fees” from health plans purchased in the marketplace.
“It’s our job is to make sure Oregonians are aware of Cover Oregon and the options they have to find the right coverage for them that fits their needs and budget,” Howard “Rocky” King, executive director for Cover Oregon, said in a statement. “That’s why we’re spreading the word through both the media and our growing on-the-ground network of local, grassroots partners and agents.”
Open enrollment in the marketplaces begins October 1 and coverage begins in January 2014.
(h/t Watchdog.org)