Florida Blue: Meet The Man Behind The New Brand

June 11--When the state's largest health-insurance provider decided to drop its cross and shield in favor of a friendlier face, the decision was not made lightly. And the change didn't happen overnight. The man behind the new brand is Mark Lee, vice president for brand development for Florida Blue, formerly Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida. Lee spoke with staff writer Marni Jameson about the transition.

CFB: You don't take a company that's been in Florida for 70 years and change its name overnight. How long has this been in the making?

The name change was official April 2, but the repositioning of the company has been underway for several years. We are going from being strictly a health-insurance company to a company that focuses on health solutions. The rebrand reflects that changing focus.

CFB: Why Florida Blue?

In 2006, we launched our Florida Blue retail centers. The interactive stores provide a great way for us to interact with consumers. Since that's the direction we're heading -- of getting out into the community to help communities achieve better health -- we decided about a year and a half ago to rebrand the whole company with that name. The name Florida Blue is simpler, friendlier and easier for people to say and remember. Plus it puts Florida first.

CFB: Describe what you mean by repositioning?

Our goal is to become more personalized in our approach to consumers, and to let consumers know about our more affordable options. There's a perception out there that we're expensive, and we want to address that. Our brand refresh started in 2011. We launched an advertising campaign reintroducing ourselves to Florida as a company focused on personalization and community involvement. We introduced our new tagline "In the pursuit of health."

CFB: How is Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida -- now Florida Blue -- different from all the other Blue Cross Blue Shield plans across the country?

Blue Cross and Blue Shield is headquartered in Chicago and is an umbrella company that has 39 independent plans nationwide. One of those is in Florida. We pay a licensing fee for that association. Though here our brand name has changed to Florida Blue, our company's legal name remains Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, Inc.

CFB: Making a change of this size doesn't come without some risk. What were you worried about?

The biggest risk is that we were walking away from a well-known name. We worried about losing members. To offset that, we tried to reassure our members that none of the products, plans or services we offer were going away. The only change is that we're adding more relevant services to meet the changing needs of our members. Our goal is to ensure a seamless transition to Florida Blue without losing the equity of the cross and shield.

CFB: Which is considerable, I understand.

We are the largest insurance provider in the state with 30 percent of the market share. We serve more than 4 million members.

CFB: Not too many consumers think of health care as a retail product. Why a store?

The pace of change in health care is translating into increasing responsibility for the consumer. Our Florida Blue retail centers give consumers a place to ask questions about plans and buy insurance. It lets members pay claims, ask coverage questions and identify health needs through on-site, personal-health assessments. That way we can help members come up with a game plan to address health issues they may not even know they have, such as hypertension or diabetes.

CFB: As you evolve your brand, what do you want to make sure your members know?

That Florida Blue is truly involved in communities and counties across Florida. We live here. We work here and we aren't going anywhere.

[email protected] or 407-420-5158

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