THFP’s First Birthday
In early 2017, I was tasked with throwing a “First Birthday” party for a health insurance provider that was a client of mine at the time, Tufts Health Freedom Plan (THFP). Although their relationship with the agency I worked at preceded my time there, by 2017 I was the lead account manager, running the account solo. Despite their strong strong first year, THFP was weary of the dreaded “sophomore slump,” and wanted to make a splash in early 2017, a time that’s traditionally slow for all insurance providers.
After a bit of brainstorming we decided a first birthday party was our best bet.
Who
NH Insurance Brokers and State Officials.
In addition to THFP’s upper management and sales people, 100 insurance brokers from all over the state were invited. We also extended invitations to a few state officials who deal with insurance and healthcare. Despite a challenging day, weather wise, the turnout was great!
What
Tufts Health Freedom’s First Birthday.
A party to celebrate THFP’s successful first year in New Hampshire.
When
Thursday, March 9, 2017
Where
LaBelle’s Winery in Amherst, NH.
We settled on this venue a few reasons, but their location just a few minutes from Manchester, as well as the abundance of parking on site were the two factors that ultimately lead us to choose them.
How
Branding, Food, a Celebrity, and Giveaways!
After choosing a location, date and refining a list of invitees, the real work began. It was my job to get the most out of the allotted budget.
Branding
The only direction I received from my client when planing this party was that they wanted their Logo EVERYWHERE, and from their perspective that made total sense since they were investing many thousands of dollars into this party. As a designer, though, I was afraid the whole thing would become borderline tacky if I didn’t push back a little. Ultimately, we struck a great balance. There was a 10′ x 8′ backdrop with THFP’s logo covering it (more on this later), feather flags adorned with the their colors and logos, small table tents on every table, a green carpet leading guests into the function room, and, most importantly, a large birthday cake with the THFP logo screened on the front.
Food
Everybody likes good food, and LaBelle’s delivered! I opted for a buffet style dinner over a traditional seated dinner as both a money-saving move, and since the party was 4-hours long, and invitees were encouraged to come and go as they pleased.
Celebrity
Our “hook,” so to speak, was that we invited Sebastian Vollmer, a former Patriot and two-time Super Bowl Champion to be our guest of honor. All of our pre-party publicity ($7,500 media buy, mostly digital/social media, with a bit of print in business-specific publications) teased a “special guest,” and Vollmer was a hit. He was kind enough to bring his Super Bowl XLIX ring (shoutout Malcolm Butler) and was more than generous with is time, taking photos in front of our 8′ x 10′ branded banner, and answering partygoers football questions.
Giveaways
After everything else was paid for, we had about $5,000 left in the budget, so I suggested we buy some high end items to raffle off, since everybody likes free stuff! Two hours later, I purchased a pair of premium tickets to 3 different Boston sports games, as well as a few stay and play/ski packages for two New Hampshire resorts. Each attendee was given 10 raffle tickets to fill out (name, contact info, etc.) and enter any or all of the drawings with. Despite a Super Bowl Champion being in attendance and an open bar, the Celtics-Cavaliers floor seats were the talk of the party!
Vollmer was kind enough to let us pose with his Super Bowl XLIX ring!
Results
The party was a huge success
It’s a bit difficult to quantify the success of a party like this, as insurance brokers won’t come out and say they pushed a client to work with a certain broker because of a party, but as of late 2017, THFP has successfully avoided the sophomore slump they were afraid of, and six brokers who attended the party wrote their first policy’s with THFP.