“Our results with Google TV Ads exceeded expectations, enabling us to drive incremental website traffic while staying well within our cost of acquisition targets.”

An Innovative Prescription

Innovation has been a hallmark of eHealth’s approach to business since its inception. “There’s a real desire among people who work here to reshape the industry and lead through innovation and technology,” says Bruce Telkamp, executive vice president of eHealth.

Founded in 1997 in Mountain View, California, the company was the first to allow individuals, families and small businesses to shop for, compare and purchase health insurance online. It’s also been among the first companies to take advantage of another online innovation – Google TV Ads, a flexible, all-digital system for buying more accountable and better measured TV advertising.

The marketing team at eHealth had some previous experience with TV – they’d run television commercials several years ago – but found the ad creation and distribution more expensive and time-consuming than they’d hoped. They were intrigued by Google TV Ads, which allows advertisers to upload their ads, set their own budget and decide when and where they'd like their ads to air.

“The platform was appealing,” says Jordan. “It’s a one-stop shop. You can plan, bid and track the results of a campaign quickly and easily.”

Free Market

To get started, eHealth needed to create their TV commercial. They chose to use the Google Ad Creation Marketplace, a free service that connects advertisers with qualified ad creation specialists who can provide full-service ad production at an affordable price.

Jordan and his department were facing a tight timeline. They wanted their ad to be ready to air in time for the seasonal surge in consumer health insurance purchasing. “We didn’t have a lot of time,” Jordan says. “So one of the key things we were looking for was to not only find someone quickly, but for them to set up and deliver a finished TV commercial in about a month.”

“With the Ad Creation Marketplace, we could immediately review a wide variety of agencies, check out their capabilities and see samples of their work at different budgets,” recalls Jordan. “We then contacted one company whose style matched what we were looking for and they answered our bid request within 24 hours.”

A Healthy Production

Jordan’s team chose Pixel Brothers, a Chicago-based full-service integrated media agency with extensive experience in TV commercial production.

“As we optimize our campaigns based on the data from Google’s reports,” he adds, “we continue to see better and better results.”

Pixel Brothers also found the process went smoothly. “What’s so great about the Google Ad Creation Marketplace is that it allows advertisers to connect with us efficiently,” says John Patterson, director of business development for Pixel Brothers. “Then we’re able to jump right into productive conversations and hone in on what they need.”

Pixel Brothers worked to understand what eHealth was looking for and offer ideas for how to meet their marketing objectives creatively and on-budget. Dave Moravec, partner of Pixel Brothers and the director and cameraman for eHealth’s commercial, says “They They came to us with a script and a general idea of what they wanted, and then we fine-tuned the idea with them.”

“Pixel Brothers gave really specific, constructive advice,” Jordan notes, “and they found a great crew in our area. When they came out from Chicago to shoot, everything flowed well – and actually finished on time!”

In just over one month from initial point of contact to delivery, eHealth and Pixel Brothers developed a professionally produced, high-definition, 30-second TV commercial. “The whole process – and the end result – exceeded our expectations,” says Jordan. “We were able to stay within our budget without making any compromises on quality.”

The Diagnosis

After Pixel Brothers delivered the final version of the ad, eHealth was ready to launch their campaign.

Jordan explains, “In the past, we had to contact each individual network directly – which was somewhat overwhelming. But this time, we didn’t have to worry about that because it’s all in one place with Google TV Ads.”

After their ad started airing, eHealth was able to track the effectiveness of the campaign and make changes on the fly. “We used a unique URL in the commercial, and then we measured the number of visitors to that site before, during and after the test, and looked at incremental traffic from that test,” says Jordan. “With that information, we were able to determine the cost per acquisition.”

Vital Signs

eHealth was pleased with what they discovered. “We saw a measurable lift in traffic and customers, and we were able to hit our cost-of-acquisition goals,” says Bruce. “Our previous attempts at TV were outside our allowable cost. But Google TV Ads was right on target.”

“The most useful thing about Google TV Ads,” Jordan says, “is that we could optimize and adjust as we went along. There was no lag-time between reviewing our reports and our ability to change our targets and experiment with different dayparts and networks.”

Innovation and technology once again proved a winning combination for eHealth as they launched their television campaign. Bruce explains, “Our results with Google TV Ads exceeded expectations, enabling us to drive incremental website traffic while staying well within our cost of acquisition targets. Google TV Ads will be a permanent part of our marketing mix in 2008.”