Hospital Branding

In both the spirit of the holiday's and the celebration of the Beatles now available on iTunes, the title of this post seems right. It also seems to fit what we're hearing and seeing more of these days from hospital systems - the "Unified" approach to brand strategy and architecture. There are two models that have been most prominent over the last decade; the endorsed model and the unified model. The endorsed model keeps the equity of each individual entity and provides a "seal of approval" in the form of a master brand that serves to connect all the pieces. BJC in St. Louis is a good example of this approach - and illustrates the pivotal decision point when evaluating both strategies - when you have the power of individual brands such as Barnes-Jewish Hospital, Missouri Baptist Medical Center, or St. Louis Children's Hospital, chances are you're not going to lose them in favor of a master brand. The "BJC" seal shows the connectivity and...

Hospitals have become very complex these days. Not the cause of reform, or receivables. Not the technology, nor the patient records. The branding. Yes, the branding process has become so complicated that hospital marketers and their organizations are oftentimes overlooking the "DNA" that differentiates their brand from the competition. Instead of focusing on real points of difference, and interest to customers, branders are obsessed with trying to be something they are not or trying to cram 20 pounds of brand promise into the proverbial 10 pound bag. There's the case of the smaller, rural hospital that wants to be world-class. Um, no . The cancer center with a great and relevant donor name that wants to be known for its "care." Don't think so , and please read this blog post on the seven deadly words in hospital advertising. The world-class medical center that wants to be transparent. Okay, I see you, now what? And what does that mean to me? So co...

In today's economy and with looming reform implications, hospitals are not shy about accepting generous donations from trust funds and those who want to leave behind a legacy presumably from years of wonderful care and service. Development departments are busier than ever raising much needed funds to further develop or build new hospitals, research programs, and update existing facilities. And for those very large gifts, there's an expectation and agreement that the donor's name will appear on the facility so - for generations to come - they will always be remembered for their generosity. Corporations are even getting into the game by donating millions to a hospital for naming rights. I guess when all the ballparks are sold out, it's time to turn to local healthcare providers. Here in Chicago, we've seen countless examples of this, from the new Willis Tower (formerly Sears) to U.S. Cellular Field (formerly Comiskey Park). At least Wrigley Field is still holdin...

A recent conversation with another long-time advertising professional made me think. Actually, made me talk about the "old days" when word-of-mouth advertising was often cited as a top selection factor for various products and services. For ad professionals, this always made us cringe. We would develop unique strategies, create breakthrough work, and place it with innovative media ideas. Yet, when research was conducted, many consumers would often cite "yellow pages" and "word-of-mouth" as reasons for having awareness of a company, service, or product. Yikes! Cringe! Fast forward a few decades and "word-of-mouth" and "yellow pages" are still major factors - but now in their digital avatars of "social media" and "internet." And now, instead of a cringe factor, it's a "cool factor." And, it's a fact of life in brand-building and advertising strategy. Mass media is still being used to create broad-base...

Live from Customer Based Marketing Strategies 2010 Posted using ShareThis

(As recently published in Healthcare Marketing Advisor, February 2010, by Rob Rosenberg - President, Springboard Brand & Creative Strategy, Ltd.) Ironically, the most effective way for marketers to break the mold and breakthrough with consumers is to start with a well-defined strategy and creative brief. The tighter the strategy, the more liberating the opportunity to create outstanding advertising campaigns. The irony is that advertisers (and many creative people) feel that tight strategies actually stifle the creative process and limit the number of "big ideas" that can be generated for an ad campaign. The opposite is true. A clear strategy actually opens the world of big ideas and you won't waste time by thinking execution before strategy. The idea is to execute the strategy, not strategize the execution. Consumers are bombarded with over 3,000 messages a day in some manner, so you have to break the mold to be noticed. But that doesn't mean you have to bre...

We've heard it before. "I was presenting the strategy to my leadership team and suddenly they had the "ah-ha" moment and got what I was saying." Or, "finally had that "ah-ha" moment and came up with a big creative idea!" Call it what you will - "ah-ha" moments, "connecting the dots," or "putting the pieces together," they all imply a breakthrough in thinking or understanding. They can be the best of times and strike when you least expect them (and that's why we keep pens and paper on the nightstand). Or they can be the worst of times, and those are the ones you need to watch out for. For example, you're presenting a brand strategy or ad campaign to your hospital's CEO. A good portion of your discussion is based on the market situation, competitive insights, brand landscape, communications objectives, and other great information. Then, the moment of truth. You transition from the comfort of fac...

In the early 80's, a big idea was often expressed in the confines of a folded cocktail napkin (that had the luxury of expanding when you were really on a roll). Creative people going back and forth with black marker on white paper, often shredding or smearing before making it back to the office. With the death of the "three martini lunch", so came the end of the cocktail napkin era of thinking big about your brand idea and message. Next came the "matchbook" generation. We were all challenged with coming up with an idea that could be expressed on the inside of a matchbook cover. A smaller landscape than the napkin, but not limiting in terms of the "bigness" of a good branding, advertising, or PR idea. We were told, "if it's really big, you can write it on a small space." But, with the death of cigarettes in the workplace (a good thing), came the end of the matchbook era. So, no cocktail napkins, no matchbooks. How did we next expres...