Kaiser Permanente Marketing Plan: Strategy and Analysis
This paper presents a two-part marketing plan for Kaiser Permanente, one of the United States' largest non-profit health care organizations. Part A establishes foundational assumptions, conducts a PESTLE market audit of the health services industry, and evaluates the company's competitive landscape relative to rivals such as Sutter Health, UCSF Medical Center, and Blue Shield. It then prioritizes three core marketing objectives drawn from the Raube and Upshaw case study and specifies corresponding marketing actions, including partnerships with sporting goods retailers, social media accountability metrics, and gamification strategies. Part B summarizes these findings in an executive format, reaffirming the communication standards and strategic priorities. Together, the plan argues that Kaiser Permanente's continued growth depends on leveraging social media platforms, expanding its Thrive wellness initiative, and adapting to demographic and regulatory shifts.
- Introduction and Planning Assumptions: Company background, scope, and planning assumptions
- Market Audit: PESTLE Analysis: PESTLE framework applied to health services industry
- Marketing Strategy and Social Media Engagement: Social media platforms and physician community engagement
- Competitive Benchmarks and Marketing Objectives: Competitor benchmarks and prioritized marketing goals
- Prioritized Marketing Actions: Three specific actions tied to top marketing objectives
- Limitations and Global Considerations: Implementation constraints and absence of global scope
- Executive Summary: Part B: Condensed strategy recap for leadership audience
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What makes this paper effective
- Integrates quantitative data — multi-year revenue tables and regional membership figures — to ground strategic recommendations in measurable organizational performance.
- Applies a structured PESTLE framework systematically to the health services industry, connecting each macro-environmental factor directly to Kaiser Permanente's specific situation rather than treating the analysis abstractly.
- Draws on a named case study (Raube and Upshaw, 2014) as a backbone for objective-setting, then updates and extends those objectives to reflect regulatory changes such as the Individual Mandate repeal, demonstrating critical engagement with source material.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates applied strategic analysis: it moves systematically from environmental scanning (PESTLE) to competitive benchmarking, then to objective prioritization and specific action planning. Each recommended action is paired with a rationale grounded in cited evidence, showing how academic sources can directly inform practitioner decisions rather than serving merely as decoration.
Structure breakdown
The paper is divided into two parts. Part A builds the plan from the ground up: assumptions → company background → market audit → strategy → due diligence → goals → benchmarks → prioritized objectives → specific actions → limitations → conclusion. Part B condenses these findings into an executive summary format, restating assumptions, strategy, and the top three prioritized objectives with their proposed strategies. This two-part structure mirrors real-world marketing plan documentation, where a detailed analytical section is accompanied by a concise leadership-facing summary.
Introduction and Planning Assumptions
For nearly three-quarters of a century, Kaiser Permanente (hereinafter alternatively "Kaiser" or "the company") has provided quality health care to a growing number of customers (About us, 2018). Today, Kaiser has more than 12 million members, and its future appears bright provided the company can capitalize on its core competencies using a marketing plan that focuses on achieving its current and future organizational objectives. The purpose of Part A of this marketing plan is to provide a framework in which the company can achieve its current and future marketing objectives in an increasingly volatile and competitive marketplace, based on the assumptions listed below.
Statement of Assumptions
The following assumptions apply to this marketing plan:
The marketing data provided by the company and third-party analysts are accurate and complete. Current trends in changing demographics in the U.S. population will create an increased demand for geriatric health care services as the Baby Boomer generation retires in greater numbers and lives longer lives compared to just a half century ago. The company's current leadership will continue to oversee Kaiser's operations in an effective and informed fashion. There will be no significant downturns in the U.S. economy during the next 10-year period.
Initial Information
Founded in 1945 and currently headquartered in Oakland, California, Kaiser was originally focused on providing industrial health care programs for blue-collar workers in the construction, shipyard, and steel mill trades who were employed by the Kaiser industrial companies during the Second World War (About us, 2018). According to Raube and Upshaw (2014), the company has transformed itself from this original business model to become one of the leading non-profit health services organizations in the country today. Kaiser has consistently provided its members with high-quality, integrated health care coverage since its inception (Raube & Upshaw, 2014). The company's chairman and chief executive officer, Bernard J. Tyson, is highly rated as effective and committed to the organization's stakeholders by its employees, and the company has consistently grown under his leadership (Kaiser Permanente overview, 2018).
The company has been a leader in the health care services industry in a number of ways over the years, including being the first organization to introduce: (a) prepaid health plans that distribute costs to members to make them more affordable; (b) physician group practices that facilitate the delivery of health care services; (c) wellness programs designed to keep its members healthy and reduce corresponding medical costs; (d) an integrated delivery system that provides more efficient care at reduced costs for members; and (e) electronic medical records (Raube & Upshaw, 2014).
The company also maintains a loyal social network following, and Kaiser Permanente had nearly a third of a million "fans" on its Facebook page alone by April 2018 (Kaiser Permanente overview, 2018). The company's estimated annual revenues are currently $72.7 billion, and Kaiser has approximately 21,275 employees (Kaiser Permanente overview, 2018). The company is comprised of the following entities: Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and its subsidiaries; Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc.; and the Permanente Medical Groups (Fast facts about Kaiser Permanente, 2018). These three entities form the focus for the company's marketing programs (Raube & Upshaw, 2014).
The company's operations are currently limited to the U.S. market. Current total membership in its health care plans by region is as follows: Northern California, 4,284,011; Southern California, 4,538,427; Colorado, 671,254; Georgia, 374,000; Hawaii, 255,828; Mid-Atlantic States (Virginia, Maryland, D.C.), 783,094; Northwest (Oregon/Washington), 606,511; and Washington, 711,465 (Fast facts about Kaiser Permanente, 2018).
The company's annual operating revenues have grown significantly over the past five years: $53.1 billion in 2013; $56.4 billion in 2014; $60.7 billion in 2015; $64.6 billion in 2016; and $72.7 billion in 2017 (Fast facts about Kaiser Permanente, 2018). These figures reflect a significant and sustained increase due in large part to the efficiency of the company's operations, the high quality of the health care services it delivers, and the effectiveness of its marketing initiatives, which are discussed further below.
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