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What would cause Kaiser Permanente to pump up its budget for this year's "Thrive" advertising campaign by roughly 12.5% to the tune of about $45 million? The bad press that the Oakland, CA-based health maintenace organization (HMO) received earlier this year about its Northern California kidney transplant scandal. "Obviously, the kidney thing hurts," Debbie Cantu, Kaiser's vice president of brand marketing and advertising, said in a September interview with The San Francisco Business Times. "But we believe the brand is strong and that this investment is an investment in the future."