Hospital Branding

Hospital Branding - A Top 10 for 2012

2011-12-30T12:16:00.000-08:00

At the beginning of each new year, there's a Top 10 list for just about everything - from dieting to garage storage tips. So, while we're still in January, here's our list of Top 10 "Keep In Minds" for hospital marketers to improve their organization's marketing performance based on what we've read, discussed, heard, and pondered about. We hope 2012 brings you great success in the market.

1. Start with strategy. There are still too many organizations jumping right into execution and not enough focusing on "big ideas" when it comes to establishing a unique and strategic brand position. Building a successful brand is more than promotional - it includes five key steps; developmental, inspirational, promotional, operational, and cultural. These steps ensure that your brand delivers on a meaningful promise that you're making to the market.

2. Be consistent. Once your strategy is determined, stay the course! Why are so many organizations eager to change or vary their strategic direction after a brand launch? The old advertising adage still applies, "just when you're getting tired of it, the public is only beginning to see it."

3. Internal audiences first. Make sure your internal stakeholders understand what the strategy means for your organization and how they fit in. There is nothing worse than a friend or neighbor asking an employee what your new tagline means and their reply is, "oh that - just some expensive television commercial." Boom!

4. Social media is your voice, just on a different channel. This one is half pet peeve and half "keep in mind." Social media channels should be supporting your brand message, personality, and strategy. If your brand platform centers around 'scientific medicine," then you shouldn't be promoting physicals and flu shots on your Facebook page. Enough said.

5. Social media is the voice of your organization, not a staffer. Okay, not enough said. One more point to keep in mind. The personality of your social media channels should be that of the organization, not a staffer assigned to tweet and post. Have them keep their personal posts and thoughts on their own pages while keeping your channels focused and in support of the brand strategy.

6. Your website is still a viable "central source." While there's so much attention being paid to social media, don't lose sight of that "dinosaur" known as your website. Facebook posts and Twitter tweets are excellent sources to draw friends and followers back into your website for more information beyond 140 characters. Micro-sites and landing pages are terrific ways to bridge social media channels and support a specific promotional effort.

7. And, traditional media is still viable. Targeted communications on television, print, radio, outdoor, and other traditional vehicles are still pulling their (media) weight for most brand promotions. Think of these media as your "air strikes" while social and digital media make up the ground attacks. These media options still provide an environment whereby emotional and tangible connections can be made to your brand.

8. Brand engagement is a dialogue, not a monologue. Creating a unique community for your brand, and positioning your brand in your community requires a transparent dialogue with your customers. The days of just talking to customers and hoping they'll listen and buy are over (and have been for some time). Look how calls-to-action have moved from "for more information" to "like us," - now that's engagement!

9. " Veja Du" - look at your market differently. This is a wonderful concept we heard at BrandManage Camp last year. Today's organization's succeed by looking at a familiar marketplace and seeing how things can be done or positioned differently. Mix it up this year!

10. What happened to market research? On-line surveys, studies, focus groups, and analytics save time and money. But do they provide the same robust insights that customized research typically generates? We have found that the combination of the two sources usually provide the most effective data. When testing new messaging or creative concepts, there's nothing like sitting across from consumers, or behind the mirror, and hearing them talk firsthand about your brand and react to different ideas. That's insight you just can't buy on-line.

So, there you have it. Our 10 "Keep In Minds" for 2012. We got these in just under the wire, as we're ready to head into February. We look forward to sticking to these resolutions all year and hope your organization does the same.

Rob Rosenberg is President of Springboard Brand & Creative Strategy, a brand development and communications firm with offices in the Chicago and D.C. areas. For more information on Springboard or to discuss this and other ideas, please contact Rob at 847.398.4920 or at rob@springboardbrand.com

Insurance Branding Pays Big Dividends and Offers Premium Learning

2011-12-20T12:49:00.000-08:00

2011 has been a very good year for brand-building. "Backbone" companies such as Ford and McDonald's have recovered and performed well during the economic crunch. We've seen many brands effectively use and blend social media into their marketing strategies and their success is being measured not only in new buyers but in new "friends," "fans," and "followers" as well. And, many brands seem to have re-discovered the power of the "big idea" and not just the "big execution." The most memorable ad campaigns, according to Ad Age and Adweek, seem to be grounded in strategy and not just above the clouds in terms of production value.

With all this in mind, I've picked the industry that I believe deserves the "Big Dividend Award" in 2011. Drum roll, please...and the winner is, The Insurance Industry. Yes, that boring, stodgy, and price-driven category that we support every month in several categories including life, death, health, home, disability, casualty, and motor vehicles.

Why the insurance industry? Here's a closer look at some of the key players and why they have earned "Big Dividends" this year.

Across the board, the brand work in this category has been brilliant. Think about it. We have more famous spokespersons in the shape of ducks, geckos, Flo, and Mayhem than just about any other category. The advertising has remained interesting, memorable, and oftentimes entertaining. These brands have remained consistent and trend-setting in traditional, social, and digital media applications.

Year-End Report Card:

Allstate A+

Enjoy the television commercials and apparently I'm not alone. While the company has 42,000 Facebook "likes," the Mayhem page has over a million. Good work by iconic Chicago agency Leo Burnett.
The "viral" nature of Mayhem is spreading; over 17 million views of his commercials on YouTube.

Geico B+

Even though advertising is all over the place, from geckos to cavemen, from the "little pig" to a "guy under a rock," it's all fun and creative. The consistent use of "15 minutes can save you 15%" is classic brand work.
YouTube subscribers exceed 16,000 and over 36 million combined views.
Twitter and Facebook pages have unique personalities for each of their, well, personalities.

State Farm B

Nice competitive position of "rolling it all together," from home and health to auto and other." Like a big burrito! Catchy jingles and consistent use of "A better state, State Farm."
Strong positioning of the Agent (long a State Farm key attribute) as an expert who can help you navigate through the industry and is there for you - versus saving 15 minutes.

Progressive A+

"Flo" had Halloween costumes in her likeness and her own Facebook page has a fan base of over 3 million.
I like the use of the fictitious insurance "superstore" to position the company as comprehensive and consumer friendly.
Great use of new tehnology and mobile applications - its VIN Capture lets car shoppers take a photo of up to three vehicle ID numbers and compare quotes. Snapshot is a device that records customers' driving habits and rewards them with a 30 percent discount if they make the grade.
Results - for first 6 months of 2011, revenue is up by $400 million, according to Adweek.

Not only have these become iconic and integrated branding efforts, but add to the mix Blue Cross Blue Shield (emotional advertising and interesting on-line applications), Farmer's (strong ads), and Travelers still showcasing its red umbrella (not to mention the great dog-burying-bone spot accompanied by Ray LaMontagne's "Trouble") and you have a sleepy industry that has created a lot of noise in 2011! Aflac!

What can hospitals learn from this year's "Big Dividend" award winners:

Differentiation - Branding still has to help your organization stake a claim and own a unique position. Geico and State Farm are excellent examples of this approach.
Consistency - Whether in digital or traditional media, the name of the game is consistency. Look at how Allstate has integrated social media into their branding mix and how effective it has been. Reminder: Social media should support your brand promise and not be a distinct voice.
Creativity - Thankfully, it's not dead. Push yourselves and agency partners to differentiate with meaningful and relevant messages that engage consumers, not just sell products.
New technology and mobile applications - Look at Progressive and how the company has leveraged new technology to increase revenue by $400 million. Your hospital should be evaluating iPad (and other tablet applications) as well as new media technologies to showcase your new technologies in clinical care.

These are just a few of the lessons learned from an industry that has really stepped it up this year and put many new faces on their products and services. Even the Jolly Green Giant would turn a darker shade of green.

Make 2012 a great branding year for your organization. Best wishes for a healthy and happy New Year.

A Rooney-Inspired Post on Patient-Centered Care

2011-11-10T12:28:00.000-08:00

Andy Rooney died last week. An amazing journalist and beloved host of 60 Minutes, he will be sorely missed. He would start each section with a satirical question to which the answer was so obvious, just asking it would make you laugh. Many times his opening would be "what's all this talk about (insert subject here with ironic twist)" or, "why in the world would people (insert action here with absurd twist)."

A few months ago, Laura Harner - Marketing Manager at Lehigh Valley Health Network in Allentown, Pennsylvania - wrote this blog post for Hospital Branding in Rooney-style on the subject of patient-centered care. In Andy speak, it might have started with this: "What's all this talk about hospitals and patient-centered care? Is this a new concept? Have they been focused in the past on not providing patient-centered care? And if the not on the patient, who is the care centered around?

You can almost hear him ask these questions and, in addition to the smile on your face, put a few thoughts in your head. As the marketing manager with responsibility for the organization's brand, Laura provides some terrific insights on the growing importance and significance of customer satisfaction and loyalty in today's healthcare environment.

So, in Rooney speak, here's her post (and thanks, Laura for taking the time to write it):

The phrase "patient-centered care" seems redundant. Of course hospitals care for patients. But patient-centered care has taken on greater meaning and importance in the wake of HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) scores and their tie to Medicare reimbursements. The data are publicly reported and can be accessed on-line (hospitalcompare.hhs.gov) for consumers to evaluate hospitals. And these scores are causing many organizations, from the top-down, to think about the brand promise and service delivery, now that it's tied to the bottom-line. And isn't it about time!

The task facing healthcare marketers is not only delivering on the brand promise, but determining who in the organization is responsible for it. Some of the most important satisifers are overseen and delivered daily by operational and clinical support staff; from convenient parking, how the phone is answered, to how the patient discharge process is handled. The best brands will succeed when patient experience leads to high satisfaction and the classic loyalty bond, or loop, can begin. This can be a great differentiator in a crowded hospital marketplace.

It's never been more important for hospital marketers to be reminded that true branding is just as much about building loyalty as it is creating that initial patient visit. In a world where consumers have increasing choices and access to information, any brand strategy that does not include consideration of the patient experience and patient loyalty will be missing a major piece of where this market is going.

So what can marketers do to influence customer service, satisfaction, and long-term loyalty? Here are a few thoughts:

Don't wait for monthly or quarterly satisfaction scores. Every day, find opportunities to visit with family members to ask about the care and attention their loved one is receiving. Spend a couple minutes in a waiting area, or listen to what's being said in the cafeteria. These minutes, several times a month, can add up to be a significant investment in understanding your hospital's brand of customer service.
Be a "mystery shopper." Call your own telemarketing center and find out how long you're on hold or how many transfers are made. Park in the visitor lot during peak hours to learn where you end up and how long it takes to walk to the entrance.
Take in the environment - Put on your "visitor hat" and drive the campus and walk the hallways to see how easy signage makes it to navigate around your hospital. Take pictures, make notes and compare these findings to the comments you receive from visitors. Be prepared to respond to feedback and make changes.
Go to where people are today - These days, having mobile applications to pre-register and provide information is just as important as an "Information Desk." There are more portals than ever leading into the hospital aside from the front door.
Visit your own website - Determine what customer service strategies you can build into the site. From ER wait times to real-time consultations, websites are more interactive than ever and often cited in patient satisfaction scores. In fact, some say your website is really your true front door and the first encounter with your brand.

Andy Rooney would probably have been surprised to hear hospitals talk about patient-centered care. But rest assured, Andy, it's good news for patients that the concept is changing and formal processes are being put in place to improve the overall hospital experience. The healthcare industry is advancing the concept of customer satisfaction and making it an influential metric in hospital performance and reimbursements. And that's where hospital marketers, in collaboration with clinical and operational staff, can have a big impact. In today's hospital environment, the clock is definitely ticking. (SFX UP: 60 Minutes "Ticking" sound)

Springboard Brand & Creative Strategy is a brand development and communications firm with offices in the Chicago and D.C. areas. For more information on Springboard or to discuss this and other ideas, please contact Rob Rosenberg at 847.398.4920 or at rob@springboardbrand.com

From I to Them to We: The Revolution of Brand Engagement

2011-10-14T07:33:00.000-07:00

There is a real revolution going on right now among serious branding organizations. It's popping up everywhere, from many of the presentations at Brand Manage Camp (which I attended a couple weeks ago in Vegas) to yesterday's Harvard Business Review blog by Howard Schultz, President and CEO of Starbucks.

It goes like this, to borrow a key quote from the Schultz blog: "It is no longer enough to serve customers, employees, and shareholders. As corporate citizens of the world, it is our responsibility - our duty - to serve the communities where we do business by helping to improve, for example, the quality of citizens' education, employment, health care, safety, and overall daily life, plus future prospects."

From BP to Walmart, Starbucks to Southwest, the most well known branding companies have implemented Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives to either support reputation management or improve on their reputation capital. And it's not only good for our world - it's good for business. Studies show that these types of initiatives increase employee satisfaction and retention, enhance customer loyalty, and build market share. Why? Because people want to be associated with brands that have a soul.

Brand communications programs used to be about "I." The product, service, or company - with the absolute goal of differentiation and market share. Some of the most memorable brands and slogans have come out of this period. Marketers then began to conduct more research and account planners voiced their ideas that brands need to be about "them" - the customer; their needs, ambitions, and emotions. After all, isn't this where a brand lives in the first place - the hearts and minds of your customers.

Now, it's about "we" - as a world, a society, a community. At Brand Manage Camp, I heard Simon Mainwaring speak about "We First," his new best-selling book about how brands use social media to build a better world. Guy Kawasaki spoke about "Enchantment," his new book about the art of changing hearts, minds, and actions through engagement. My friend, Steve Yastrow, author and consultant is out there working with companies on the concept of "We - The Ideal Customer Relationship" from his most recent book.

Is it really a revolution? While it seems like this concept is occurring overnight, it's actually been an astute strategy from leading brands for years. The trick, however, is to implement CSR with brand differentiation in mind. A friend and client, Paul Szablowski - V.P., Marketing at Catholic Healthcare West in Arizona said recently of a current project we're working on, "I don't want to just categorically raise consciousness (about the subject). Yes, I want people's minds and hearts to act, but let's get them to act on behalf of our brand." Well said! It's one thing to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony, it's another to get them to rally together around Coca-Cola.

Hospitals and healthcare organizations are perfectly positioned to take on community-based initiatives beyond the usual walks, runs, and education events. As integral members of the community, your brand - in addition to helping people fight for their lives - should be helping fight for a better lifestyle.

It is about we. And countless case studies and research reports reinforce the theory of "win-win." Not only can corporate responsibility strategies help improve the world, they can improve your brand performance. Now go teach the world to sing!

Putting Character In Your Brand

2011-09-12T15:15:00.000-07:00

From the Marlboro Man to Mr. Whipple, Tony the Tiger or Charlie Tuna, companies have always had a knack for "putting character" in their brands. These characters rank among the icons in the ad business and brought great success to their respective products. What made these characters successful was more than their memorable names and faces. They had unique traits that brought the product's point-of-difference to life. The Marlboro Man was masculine and cool, just like the men who smoked them (or so they thought). Tony the Tiger was "greeeaaattt," just like the taste of Frosted Flakes, and Mr. Whipple was tough on the outside but an ol' softy on the inside (just like the kind of toilet paper we like). The use of characters today, from reptiles to ducks, is alive and well - just ask the brand managers of Geico and Aflac.

So what does this mean for healthcare brands? Should hospitals, for example, create a credible spokesdoctor or a talking thermometer? Maybe...however, the need to express your unique traits and values - and differentiate your brand is absolutely essential. The character of your brand is what makes it special, it's what your organization stands for in all it does and says. The character of your brand are the ideals that permeate every aspect of your organization, its products and services. The part of your business that you would never compromise!

According to screenwriting experts, the ideal amount of traits a character should have is four. Less than three traits, and the character seems flat. More than five and the character is too inconsistent.

The same thinking applies to a brand. What are those four traits that make your brand character stand out from your competition? Oftentimes the answer lies within the history of your organization and goes back to the very essence of its beginning mission and principles...its "DNA." Once identified, the real trick is to determine that one character that people will remember most about your organizational story and act upon. As you know, it's about what your customer feels, not what they know.

When it comes to putting character in your brand, there's another idea that is gaining popularity, that of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Studies show that brands and organizations that have character in the form of a cause or charity will actually benefit from gains in market share, increased customer loyalty, and improved employee retention. Simply, people want to be associated with brands that have character.

As you evaluate your brand and determine its character:

Identify the three or four traits that you stand for in the minds of internal and external stakeholders. These should be unique and relevant. And not generic to the category. For example, "caring," "expertise," and "technology," are merely the costs of market entry in the hospital marketing arena.
Build your brand platform around a single-minded characteristic that tested most positive and motivating in your customer research.
Demonstrate your character, don't just say it. Bring it to life throughout your entire organization in the manner of your workforce and the matter of your environment.
Enhance your character. Find a social cause that epitomizes your brand strategy and demonstrates corporate responsibility.

Brand character comes in many shapes and sizes like the Jolly Green Giant to the little green gekko. But what matters is on the inside - the characteristics, values, and traits that these icons stand for and make your brand distinct. And what counts most is on the outside - the emotions and perceptions that your character creates in the minds and hearts of your customers.

Customer Experience: More On-Line than In-Store?

2011-08-15T10:25:00.000-07:00

At past BrandSmart conferences, sponsored annually by the Chicago chapter of the American Marketing Association, the talk around "customer experience" centered on the Nordstrom Model; a highly interactive, personal shopping journey. From handheld selections to handshakes at the sales counter, this model truly defined every brand manager's concept of customer service.

Something was very different at BrandSmart 2011. Of the eight sessions that focused on brand promise fulfillment, only one talked about meeting customer expectations the "old fashioned way" - through personalized, in-store interactions that support the brand strategy.

BrandSmart 2011 speakers - featuring, by the way, marketers from some of the top brand companies in the U.S., focused on the on-line customer experience versus the "in store" experience as the new model and metric for customer satisfaction and loyalty.

For hospitals and other health-related organizations, this kind of insight from "outside the industry" sheds all kinds of interesting ideas on how to create a positive on-line customer experience in support of your brand strategy.

Think through your brand's on-line customer experience and how it meets or exceeds their expectations and creates differentiation in the marketplace.

As always, start with strategy. Determining your on-line customer experience needs a context. From ascertaining in which on-line channels your brand will appear, to content and "voice," your brand strategy - as always - acts as the guiding light. Inherent to your brand strategy is the promise you're making to your marketplace - make sure your on-line tactical execution both defines and reinforces this idea.
Review from an on-line customer's POV. Just as you walk through the halls or sit in waiting rooms to get a firsthand feel for how your customers experience your "in store" brand, it's a good idea to audit the same with your on-line brand. Is your brand easy to access and navigate? Are icons large enough to see on Facebook and Twitter pages? Is there a consistent "voice" and personality as you move from one social media channel to the next?
Sync on-line content with your brand promise. Seems obvious, but still amazing how many brands lose their differentiation and appeal on-line. What a great opportunity to build into each and every on-line interaction that unique selling proposition that separates your organization from the rest.
Build your on-line platforms from your strategy. Marketers have an abundance of tactics and tools to use to create an on-line experience. While this can be quite liberating, it's often very intimidating. There are many new "apps" out there every day which may or may not make sense for your organization. Once again, go back to your brand strategy - assess what it is you're promising - and make tactical decisions accordingly. In reality, that's liberating!
Speaking of "apps," are you mobile yet? In addition to the majority of BrandSmart speakers talking about the on-line customer experience, all referenced the mobile world and how, increasingly, this will define the on-line world of the future. Look at Google's recent acquisition of Motorola! Is your brand easy to download and read on mobile applications or is it just a smaller version of your web site?
Not an IT issue. As interactive and social media channels continue to define the future of brand marketers, the predictable "taffy pull" is occurring throughout various organizations. Who's in charge? More marketing departments are emerging victorious as leadership recognizes that - from a customer experience perspective - it's not just bells and whistles. It's about the sounds they make and that's for a brand manager to orchestrate.

So, that's the skinny on BrandSmart 2011. Glad a few of our clients could make it this year as we all walked away with a bit of a "d'oh." The new customer experience really does start on-line and the same attention spent on in-store brand support needs to be paid there as well, if not more.

Remember that the front door to your "store," (hospitals included) is a portal. And it's not the only one where customers access and experience your brand. In the future, as in-store is replaced by on-line (RIP Borders), your brand needs to greet customers in new, exciting, and very different ways.

Rob Rosenberg is President of Springboard Brand & Creative Strategy, a brand development and communications firm located in Arlington Heights, Illinois. For more information on Springboard or to discuss this and other ideas, please contact Rob at 847.398.4920 or at rob@springboardbrand.com

Target Marketing or Personal Invasion?

2011-07-17T10:21:00.000-07:00

Implications for Healthcare and the "Loyalty Loop"
It seemed funny at first: An energetic, youthful friend in her early 60s posted on Facebook that she had just earned coupons from a well-known drugstore for products “she may need” – Dulcolax and Depends.

We all had a sarcastic “group laugh” on Facebook. I guess we’ve become almost numb to these highly personal promotions now, and the company probably thought they had hit their target.

I think they actually missed the mark, stepping over a line that we women don’t want crossed, particularly when it comes to our health.

The coupons remind us all that companies know a little too much about our personal lives. As a matter of fact, they think they know us so well that they have earned the right to make intimate suggestions.

Sure, we use the “loyalty cards” to generate discounts in exchange for sharing purchase information. But did this company earn my friend’s loyalty by making presumptions based on her age and trends? Or did they plant a seed of doubt about the wisdom of loyalty cards? Did they annoy rather than delight? Did they invade rather than target?

I’ve benefited – and so have several of my favorite retailers – from this kind of “track and promote” approach. But there’s a difference between a company recommending a pink sweater based on my preferences and telling me it may be time to ask my doctor about a hormone patch. It’s the difference between a targeted message and an invasion of privacy, and in healthcare in particular, we must be vigilant not to step over that all-important boundary.

Especially as we strive to move customers into the “loyalty loop,” we must carefully assess what our customers need and want from us as trusted healthcare providers. We are not selling Capri pants and ruffled blouses. We provide healthcare to people when they are most vulnerable. We must set a high level of customer sensitivity as our guide, seeking feedback from patients and families continually.

It could be the difference between creating a loyal advocate for our own organization and sending a new customer to the competition.

Today's Brand Strategy Requires More Lattice, Less Ladder Thinking

2011-05-31T10:07:00.000-07:00

When media was mass, but predictable, and messaging was broad-based, not entirely personal, brand strategists could use the more structured way of developing a launch plan. One step at a time, each leading to the next, working to the top platform. The "ladder" approach.

Today, media is highly segmented, personal, and available in forms and channels only imaginable to screenwriters. And messaging almost has your name on it. Add event marketing, social media, mobile applications, tablets, community-based networking, internal communications, and customer delivery/satisfaction - to name a few - and today's brand strategist has to step off the ladder and begin thinking in the "lattice" approach. The comparison between the ladder and lattice was first explored by Deloitte as they examined the changing workplace, but certainly works in the context of brand development and implementation.

Organic, green, simultaneous, 3-dimensional, transformational, bottom-up, widespread, and containing several branches, brand strategy is more than integrated - it's interlaced and requires the appropriate structure to make it work.

What's common to both the "ladder" and "lattice" approach to brand development and implementation is "strategy." Regardless of how many outreach channels, messaging options, and networking opportunities you have to launch, there has to be a consistent platform to insure that the key differentiator, promise, and personality of your brand shines through. That's where strategy grows and comes to life. And while the translation of the strategy might vary by audience or channel, the core promise should remain the same.

How to "lattice think." Start with your key brand strategy; promise, differentiator(s), and personality. Once that's determined - and that's the tough part - the implementation begins - and that's the fun part.

Think about all the relevant and meaningful ways your brand can "reach out and touch someone." Explore all, from on-line communities to off-line communications. Map it out using "lattice think." Simply, draw it. If you write it out, you're thinking in "ladder" terms, one step at a time. Draw it out - of yourself and others - and illustrate how the brand platform can move into the marketplace, and your internal workplace.

So, how is "lattice think" different than integrated marketing communications? There are similarities, indeed. "Lattice think" evaluates many of the organic, growth (aka "viral") oriented ways in which the brand strategy can flourish. How messages are intertwined but consistently different. Media outlets are also intertwined and intersect at different points. The latter approach, not to be confused with "ladder think," of integrated marketing communications often features the same message delivered in multiple channels and disciplines. A fine line, yes, but so is the difference between doodling and drawing.

Today's branding environment supports "lattice think." Brands today are:

Organic - developed from the inside with promise and relevance to your customer groups, including internal stakeholders.
Spontaneous - the launch plan just takes off! Things happen that are planned, and not planned. You need a structure to support - not counter - the effects of unplanned activities (they are typically good). You've heard the expression, "a life of its own."
Simultaneous - Unlike "ladder think," brands today require an ongoing barrage of tactics and energy, not spoonful at a time consumption.
Outside the boundaries - what an opportunity today to think "what if!" If you can imagine an idea for communicating your brand promise, there's a pretty good chance you can find a way to make it happen.

New media, channels, social networking, traditional advertising, on-line applications, internet marketing, and all the integrated tactics such as public relations, community events, and customer relationship marketing requires more than integrated thinking. It demands interlaced thinking. And what better visual to have in mind than a lattice to make your brand strategy grow and blossom.

What's Your QR IQ?

2011-04-26T09:18:00.000-07:00

Have you scanned a QR code just to discover where it takes you? Are you savvy enough now to actually use them to comparison-shop? Or are you still wondering what on earth they actually are and what to do with them?

It’s definitely time to get on the bandwagon, according to researchers like Harris Interactive and The Nielsen Company. The use of QR codes is on a meteoric rise in the United States – still lagging behind Japan where they were originally developed – but growing among all age groups. And in healthcare, their potential is almost limitless.

A quick primer and fast facts:
1) QR (Quick Response or Quick Read) codes are 2-dimensional “gateways to information," according to Mobio Identity Systems, Inc. A unique matrix barcode, a QR code can be scanned with a Smartphone App to instantly take customers to an online experience, from videos to coupons – anything you can imagine that would add value and bring to life a static object like an ad, poster, billboard or direct mail.

2) Many researchers are predicting that 2011 will be the tipping point for Smartphones in this country, and 75% of marketers are adding mobile tactics to their marketing mix to take advantage of this technology, says Forrester Research.

3) And in the “good news for healthcare” arena: the majority of those who have scanned a QR code are women heads of household. While the sweet spot is between the ages of 35 and 44, there is also steady adoption of this communications approach among people 18 to 54.

Today, you will find QR codes in TV, print and outdoor advertising. Hospitals and other health organization testing the "QR code waters" are directing consumers to patient education videos, online maps and directions, free health kits and physician appointment pages. At community outreach events, hospitals link patients directly to their services and, at the same time, gather important contact information. And patients are using QR codes to track test results, learn about a particular medication or prepare for a procedure.

Another big advantage of QR codes: the ability to measure impact. But remember a few rules of thumb:

1) Create a compelling "call to action" that helps people break through the unfamiliarity factor.

2) Recognize that your "scan rate" – the number of people who actually take a photo of the code – will be low; the percentage of people in the U.S. with Smartphones is still just 30%, and not all have downloaded a scanning App.

3) Explain what the code is, where possible. Direct mail, newsletters, even posters lend themselves to giving your customers some much-appreciated guidance.

4) Track your results carefully, looking for what works best with your audiences and adjust accordingly.

Hope your "QR IQ" is a little higher now, and if you've used a code in any of your marketing materials, please share your experiences and lessons learned. We look forward to the conversation!

Going Gaga Over Your Brand

2011-03-05T12:28:00.001-08:00

Lady Gaga came through Chicago last week. I was there. I'll let the music enthusiasts and concert goers blog about the show itself (okay, it was fantastic) while I focus on another important aspect of her performance. The Gaga brand.

We often talk about a brand in the context of an expectation, experience, and effect. Against this criteria, this brand is a huge success. The expectation is clearly visible while walking around the United Center "monster" watching...people dressed in Gaga gear from all walks of life. See, the Gaga brand isn't targeting a certain demographic - it's about a way of life that touches monsters of all ages, genders, orientations, body size, etc. Her fans are branded "monsters" to unify and engage their inspiration and aspiration for the brand. Why monsters? The brand promise is being empowered to live life the way you want no matter who you are, how you look, or what you believe in.

Every brand has a destination. In Gaga terms, it's the Monster Ball. Again, a great way to reinforce the brand promise and create an expectation among your stakeholders of the experience. And here, too, she did not disappoint. The show itself is a true branded experience. From the song titles to the stage design to the way she interacts with her audience (inclusive, personal, empathetic, understanding, and evangelical) it delivers on the promise. At one point a couple women who fit the monster bill broke down in tears as Gaga's comments touched them so deeply. She encourages you to be yourself long after the show ends and her tour bus pulls out of town. That's why, during all the Grammy interviews, she kept saying "this is who I am. This is how I dress. This is what I believe." She is true to herself and her brand lives and breathes the promise.

The result of a strong brand is loyalty and advocacy. Recently, a favorite client monster proclaimed that brand success should be gauged on whether or not customers would "protest" on behalf of your brand. Sort of putting your mouth where your money is. When Border's recently announced the closing of many of its stores, for example, there were actual protests and a mass wave of social media demonstrations. If Lady Gaga asked her monsters to protest, all I can say is get out of the way! Brand effect is also measured in repeat sales and I guarantee when her new CD comes out in May, it will break records. Another side effect of a strong brand is measurable in social media. Well, who is sitting among the top spots of all Facebookers with nearly 30 million friends - you guessed it.

The expectation, experience, and effect of the Lady Gaga brand is about as tightly integrated as any. And while you might roll your eyes or look the other way, there are many lessons to be learned from this self-proclaimed fame monster. Lessons healthcare marketers can put into practice so stakeholders and customers go gaga over your brand.

The Heart of Your Brand

2011-02-02T06:41:00.000-08:00

At first, it seemed like another story of "progress meets obstacle." A plan to tear down old buildings to pave the way for a $150 million development project in Baltimore's re-emerging west side hit a roadblock when preservationists came out in force to protect—a former drug store. Really? Then I read further.

In 1955, African-American college students staged a sit-in at that Read's Drug Store lunch counter—five years before Greensboro's more famous event at Woolworth's. The sit-in movement began in Baltimore. This is "not an African-American story, it's a Baltimore story," said David Terry, executive director of Maryland's Reginald F. Lewis Museum.

That sentence caught my eye. A Baltimore story. A seminal event for a movement that changed millions of lives and an entire country. The massive development project slated for the area is certainly important for the city's continued growth. But Baltimore—like a business—grew upon a foundation built over time. Stories of vision, sacrifice, leadership and courage give heart and meaning to the places we choose to live and work.

What Is at the Heart of Your Hospital?
Now consider your hospital's core story. Not just your advertising messages, target audiences, or goals for the future. What is the heart, the reason you exist? And what is the narrative around that story that all employees and patients understand about your organization? Is it being celebrated and nurtured?

The most successful brand managers understand the power and magic of story, which often begins with heritage and tradition. And in healthcare, our core stories can be compelling. Caring for the poor, bringing the highest level of care back to a rural hometown, opening hospital doors to an under-served inner city or, even going further back, beginning as field hospitals that served injured soldiers during the Civil War. These are the building blocks of a common culture that create a rich texture for the messages of today.

Baltimore's leaders and business developers are now seeking ways to embrace the powerful sit-in story as they move into this next phase of the city's evolution. Similarly, brand managers in healthcare must also find, embrace and nurture their organization's story. Too often, we look to the future before understanding the past. We work so hard to identify our goals, that we disregard the foundation that has even allowed us to reach this point.

Passion: Yesterday and Today
At Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN), their founder's passion for better community-based healthcare lives on today in their tagline: A Passion for Better Medicine. Leonard Parker Pool dedicated his considerable energy and resources to bringing advanced medical care to the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania after his wife was diagnosed with cancer. As they drove back and forth to New York City, he pledged to find a better way for his community. Everyone at LVHN has kept Pool's passion alive. Today, the word "passion" truly generates a sense of shared dedication among physicians, employees, even patients, whose stories fill the LVHN website, Facebook page and Employee Forums. At the end of each monthly department head meeting, the COO signs off with energy and stirring music.

And in an interesting combination of "passion" traditions, LVHN has also embraced the historic icon of one of their region's most important companies. The health network recently moved some offices into the former headquarters of Mack Truck, whose brand narrative —The Greatest Name in Trucks—still lives and breathes throughout the building. Given the company's depth of history in the region, LVHN has kept some key Mack Truck symbolism, and employees can point to the Mack bulldog shapes in the marble at the building's entrance; they know that the building is actually shaped like a bulldog; and bulldog tiles greet them in the elevator every day—a reminder of the power of tradition and history.

From Disney to Nike, Apple to Baltimore City, the brand story—the heart—creates powerful connections that open the doors to truly effective culture-building, connection and communication.

"All Together Now" - Unified Branding Taking the Stage

2010-12-02T11:47:00.000-08:00

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 integration of facilities. Other organizations such as Clarian in Indianapolis have gone back and forth on whether the unified or endorsed strategy makes the most sense and recently announced it was changing its name altogether to emphasize the equity in its teaching institution.

For most health systems, where a marquee name might not exist, the unified approach is making a comeback. Across the country, we're reading about health systems that are creating master brands and making them more prominent than their individual entities. Lehigh Valley Health Network (Allentown, PA), Advocate (Chicago, IL), Franciscan (a brand new brand in Indiana) have all taken stock of their individual brands and determined that a unified approach is a more effective and cost-efficient marketing strategy.

From a brand management perspective, both approaches have unique implications. With a unified approach, you're creating a standard promise that should prevail among all entities associated with the brand. McDonald's made a pretty good name for itself in this regard. This, of course, is not easy and makes it quite a challenge from a brand management standpoint. We refer to this as "horizontal" brand management (cuts across the enterprise) and typically is focused more on operational and promotional components than a cultural (service-oriented) element. McDonald's promises fast, quality food products and that's how we judge the brand. Not necessarily on the way we're treated or their level of customer service. In contrast, the endorsed approach is more of a "vertical" brand management model that tends to focus more on the cultural, or customer-service experience. This is made possible due to the limited size and cohesiveness of a single enterprise versus several coming together under one brand.

From a cost efficiency standpoint, the unified approach offers the most economies of scale and is the model of choice for most healthcare providers. Rather than support many individual brands with promotional messages under the endorsed model, followers of the unified approach can put their dollars behind one message strategy.

How to determine if a unified or endorsed model is best for your organization:

. Research to determine the equity of your brand(s) - The best (and only) way to determine the strength and equity of your brand(s) is to conduct market research. This will help you best decide whether a unified or endorsed model is most appropriate for your organization and marketplace.

. Research to determine receptivity to a unified approach - If you're going to employ a unified approach to your brand strategy, test this with key audiences to make sure the name and approach make sense and is not confusing to the consumer marketplace.

. Competition - Don't be a "me too" brand. Take a look at what your competition is doing and if it makes sense to go the other way, do it. Just because the guys down the street have a new, unified name doesn't mean you should as well.

. Capabilities in brand management - Assess your capabilities in both "vertical" and "horizontal" brand management. A "vertical" approach aligns better with an endorsed model and a "horizontal" brand management approach tends to fit with a unified model.

These are just a few of the determinants of deciding which approach to branding best suits your organization. More than likely, the unified model is the best fit and brings everyone and everything in your system together. Just like the music of the Beatles.

"All Together Now." Best wishes for peace and joy this holiday season.

Hospital Branding On Your Watch

2010-10-06T15:03:00.001-07:00

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 complicated! Really it's not, and it's time to share a lesson I learned from attending a brand session a couple years ago. It's time, pun intended.

The speaker, representing several industries outside of healthcare, was raising the flag on similar concerns that marketers are over-thinking their brand promise. Here was his suggested solution. Think of your brand as a watch. Start there to determine your Frame of Reference first, before you move on to determining your key Point of Difference.

There are three broad-categories in the watch space to consider when it comes to determining your hospital brand's context, or frame of reference: The Rolex, The Timex, The Swatch.

The Rolex Hospital

Name brand. Destination brand. This is the hospital that stands for quality and luxury. Your community survey will reveal that you're perceived as very high quality and expensive. But worth it. You might not be the best at delivering options or great customer service, but the prestige factor alone will make up for that. You probably do transplants, have residents running around, valet parking, and lovely waterfalls and piano's. Your doctors are the best, probably not the friendliest, and your hallways are long and most likely difficult to navigate. But, there's ten percent of the population who will go nowhere else and you won't let them down in customer service, patient care, the latest electronic records, and - to the best of your ability - outcomes.

The Timex Hospital

Solid brand. Functional brand. More approachable and friendly than the Rolex Hospital, and probably equal in terms of physician expertise, technology, and overall outcomes. Probably excel at heart care, the basic modalities of cancer treatment, and very solid in orthopedics, OB, and other mainstay products and service-lines. You've been in your community for many years and have worked hard to stay with the times. New facility additions, the latest in surgical techniques and equipment, and a proud workforce. This group represents the majority of hospitals in the U.S.

If you're in the same market as a Rolex Hospital, don't try to out-luxury it. Be who you are and embrace the hard-working, functional, and effective DNA that you bring to the marketplace.

The Swatch Hospital

Lifestyle friendly. Focused on specific user groups. Smaller, easier to navigate, and intuitive when it comes to anticipating and meeting patient needs. Specialty hospitals and institutes would fall into this category. Like the Swatch brand itself, it comes in many styles and price points, but always seems to focus on lifestyle and ease of use. We worked with an Orthopedic Institute in Arizona that fit perfectly the Swatch model. From the moment a patient arrived to the moment they were escorted to their homebound vehicle, everything was geared toward their experience by a staff that knew questions and issues before they were raised. Since orthopedics is all the hospital does, they can be more intuitive and concentrate on the perfect customer experience.

As you read this and think about your own brand, give thought to this analogy and where your hospital might fall. Like anything, these are not absolute and there are always exceptions and middle ground. The examples are used to help hospital marketers make branding a little less complicated and a lot more relevant to your organization.

Sometimes the answer is right in front of you. And there are examples to follow right at arm's length.

The Million Dollar Question - What to do about donor brands?

2010-07-12T15:13:00.000-07:00

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 holding out, save for the big Toyota sign in center field! I guess that's better than Toyota Regional Health System, "Where Quality Sticks."

The million dollar question for healthcare marketers is what to do about donor brands when the development officer runs down the hall and exclaims, "we got a check for ten million dollars for the new Ashdkrebirignsi Cancer Center!!"

This opportunity is especially challenging when the cancer service line already has established a great brand reputation in the market and fits neatly into the organization's brand architecture, accruing the service line back to the enterprise brand and not trying to create a new identity in the market.

Some suggestions:

Be honored! A generous donation to your hospital means that the care and service over the years has been tremendous and someone wants to thank you. It also helps you build or improve your physical plant and invest in new technology making your brand even stronger.

Don't fight naming rights. If the Ashdkrebirignsi's want to put a sign on the building for ten million, the answer is "yes." Naming rights are different than brand names. Consumers in your market will still come to the "cancer center" at xyz Health System or Hospital if your brand strategy has differentiated and included the cancer service line. Especially if you continue to promote the cancer center as part of the overall brand and not as a stand-alone facility!

Stick to the architecture. If the Ashdkrebirignsi's want you to put the family crest next to the name and use their great uncle's favorite type, you probably need to (gently) push back. The simple answer, "we don't want to confuse the public by making them think they are in a different place or part of another health system." It's about way-finding and navigating.

Use the name of the center in promotional and directional collateral. Not as part of the identity system. If you want to mention the name of the cancer (or heart or spine, etc.) center in the body of your ads or informational brochure, go ahead. You should. It should also be included in way-finding materials. If the name is on the building, the name should be found in directional and information materials. Consumers are buying the enterprise brand of cancer care, not the name that's on the building.

If your overarching brand has very little equity in a given service line and the donor name brings with it a perception of innovation and quality, you might want to play it up more in the architecture. The answer lies in market research to test the current levels of equity and knowledge of the donor and enterprise brands.

In spite of the economic crunch we're in, seems like the million dollar question of what to do with donor brands is becoming more prevalent in marketing circles. There is much to take into account (other than the funds) when it comes to deciding how to treat these in marketing communications. If you stick to the basic principals of brand strategy, your story, and architecture, you'll be able to handle the donor name in the most effective and respectful manner. Otherwise, you'll be watching the Cubs play at Toyota Field while enjoying a view of the Chicago skyline from Willis Tower.

Word-of-Mouth Rises Again, Louder Than Ever

2010-04-24T10:11:00.000-07:00

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-based awareness and positioning of new products and services. But word-of-mouth has gone from neighbors talking to neighbors to people all over the globe weighing in on their feelings, likes, dislikes, and other thoughts pertaining to your products and services. Remember the old formula, if one person likes your brand, they'll (maybe) tell someone else. But if they don't like it, they'll tell five people who will tell five other people who will tell five other people. And so on, and so on, and so on. Multiply that by a thousand times and that's the world we live in today and the pressure it places on product performance, brand standards, and integrated communications.

As marketers, we can no longer blow off the value and importance of "word-of-mouth" and talk about how it's all driven anyway by our brilliant mass media tactics. Yes, television, radio, print, and outdoor campaigns do build market awareness and serve to position products and build emotional bonds with consumers. But there's a whole new undertow to customer perception in this current climate that works independent of these broader strategies.

What's a marketer to do? First, be proactive on social media - start the "word-of-mouth" conversations and deliver it in a way that supports your brand promise and personality. Second, integrate your broad-based brand media with your social media strategies - many companies are already using their Facebook and Twitter pages as calls-to-action in their advertising. Third, measure your "word-of-mouth" efforts with more than a grain of salt - it is meaningful and, at the rate it's growing, will soon take over the salt shaker!

Live from Customer Based Marketing Strategies 2010

2010-04-19T20:28:00.001-07:00

Live from Customer Based Marketing Strategies 2010

Posted using ShareThis

Use Strategy to Breakthrough Advertising Clutter

2010-02-26T15:01:00.000-08:00

(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 break the bank or push the creative envelope right off the edge (to the point it makes no sense). A big idea flows from a well conceived strategy and the execution follows.

In healthcare advertising - as George Carlin might have said - avoid the "seven dully words or phrases" - safe, multidisciplinary, "we care", integrated, accredited, comprehensive, and patient-centered.

Know the impact and shelf life of different kids of executions. For example, humor wears out fast but tends to be noticed. Testimonials will last longer but you'll want several to keep the campaign believable and memorable. The "mold" that needs to be broken is the campaign that features healthcare professionals, buildings, scientific language, and the very popular (but forced) classical music - all rolled into a tidy 30-second commercial.

Remember, if you can cover your logo at the end of the commercial or print ad and realize that it could have been created for any hospital, it's not good! And it probably means that the idea started with an execution in mind, and not a strategy.

"Ah-ha" versus "Uh-huh." You might be surprised at the moment of truth.

2010-02-11T07:23:00.000-08:00

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 facts to the translation of brand strategy or creative executions.

You think you want the "ah-ha" moment, but in truth, you might actually be better served with an "uh-huh" moment.

When the boss nods his head and exclaims, "ah-ha!" what he's probably saying is "you know, I was wondering where you were going this entire time and now I finally get it." Whereas the "uh-huh" response usually means "that makes sense based on the facts and data you've presented and the recommendations support these findings. I get it, and I agree."

(I hope those of you reading this are saying "uh-huh, yep, that makes sense.)

In typical advertising presentations, "ah-ha" moments typically follow the creative show. And, unfortunately, it's not because somebody has just presented a whopper of a big idea (so few and far between...). Rather, it's most likely because the strategy has been lost in translation either from the market insights or to the creative execution. So when the creative idea is flashed, it gets a big "ah-ha!" Because now the whole presentation sort of makes sense!

Your goal, however, as branders, marketers, and advertisers, should be the "uh-huh" moment when making a strategic or creative presentation. When you get that response, it means you've done the job of setting up the strategy, clearly describing it, and executing it in a way that tracks and reinforces the direction. Now, please don't take this as meaning the ideas - both strategic and creative - have to be boring and that equates with an "uh-huh" reply. In fact, you have a better chance of selling the big idea if you've made your case and the creative pays off the strategy, and the strategy pays off the marketing insights. When you achieve this, "uh-huh" can be the best reaction you can get!

In the branding and communications business, we're often taught that "ah-ha" moments are when the light bulbs flash. And that's true, but when you're creating and selling an entire branding campaign, you don't want the bulbs to flash too bright when you unveil the big idea. A confident glow of "uh-huh" means you've done an effective job setting up the situation, translating a strategy, and executing an idea.

Make sense? Uh-huh!

Time To Think Even Smaller About Your Brand

2010-01-06T07:27:00.000-08:00

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 express big brand ideas? That's where the "elevator pitch" opened new doors. The strategy must be clear, concise, and unique enough that when asked what we stand for, we can spew it out between floors. But, that's when being social meant actually visiting with people in person. With the onset of social media and the ability to interact on-line, the elevator pitch also has plummeted.

Where does that leave us in 2010? Forced to say more with less! Less media money, less big productions, and less time. But that doesn't mean the big idea or the brand strategy is less important. In fact, just the opposite. Our strategy and identity have to be unique and strong enough that people recognize it in its smallest state (for example, as a Facebook icon or Twitter handle) and opt in to be our friend, fan, or follower!

As hospital branders, now is the time to review your identity to make sure that the smaller it gets, the larger it resonates with your customer base. Both strategically and tactically. Many hospital identities are old enough to have been created on a cocktail napkin. They contain words, images, and all sorts of meaning that could be explained on letterhead, business cards, and advertising messages. But as those vehicles become less relevant in a social, on-line media world of less time and fewer personal interactions, your brand identity must speak louder than ever in terms of meaning, clarity, and differentiation.

Look at your identity as it appears on your Facebook homepage. Does it stand out? Does it represent your brand? Is it recognizable? Is it unique? Is it powerful?

Hospital marketers...we're experiencing brand shrinkage. And we don't have the old cocktail napkin to help figure it out. We don't even have the back of a business card or inside flap of a matchbook. And we certainly don't have precious few seconds of a stranger's time while trapped in an elevator. What we do have is a postage stamp landscape to tell a very big story. The better the brand strategy, the more likely it is to stick.

Organizationalizing Your Brand - Where the Rubber Hits the Road

2009-11-17T14:36:00.000-08:00

Just when you thought it was safe to swallow the concept of "operationalizing" your brand, here's another one to chew on - "Organizationalizing" your brand. A few letters apart, but the two concepts offer a world of difference to your patients and other customer groups.

Before giving these concepts their just desserts (does this eating theme keeping going on?), let's explore the five steps of brand-building; 1) Developmental 2) Internal 3) Operational 4) Promotional 5) Organizational. Step 1 is worthy of its own post and many articles and blog posts have been dedicated to the most effective ways to develop your brand strategy. (If you'd like a refresher course, please let me know). Step 2 is key to your brand's success. Employees and other key stakeholders must not only be educated but inspired about their role in delivering on the brand promise. Steps 3 and 4 are where most hospitals put the majority of their time and money. From letterhead to lab coats, vehicles to name badges, television commercials to tabloids, the operational (including the navigational) and promotional phases of brand-building help tell the story to the marketplace. And, in many institutions, this is the final chapter.

But, and here's the exciting part, this is where the story really comes alive, and like all good ones, should be told over and over to patients, visitors, stakeholders, physicians, and every other target group in your hospitals marketing plan.

Where the brand rubber hits the road...

Speaking of rubber on the road...at the new Iron Horse Hotel in Milwaukee, down the street from the fabulous Harley-Davidson museum, the hotel reinforces the brand story in every way, shape, and form. It's the only boutique hotel in the country that targets the motorcycle enthusiast. From special parking for bikes to "leather-friendly" hooks in the rooms to the lobby decor, restaurants, etc. - this place says "branded" like few others. And "Branded" is even the name of the casual restaurant in the hotel. Visit the hotel for yourself either in person or on-line (www.theironhorsehotel.com) and get your motor running.

From Harley's to Hospitals...

Step 5 in the brand-building process is all about organizationalizing your brand and focusing in on each and every touchpoint to make sure it reinforces who you are and who you're targeting. Start with your brand promise and then take a tour of your own hospital. Keep a list of every opportunity you have to bring your brand story to life in front of your customers. From artwork in the halls to patient education in the rooms - and everything / everyone in between - organizationalizing your brand reinforces your brand position and differentiates the customer experience. And isn't that what being branded is all about?

Well, it's also about a trio of great Kobe beef sliders in the restaurant with the same name that has stools designed for motorcycle riders to stretch their legs while enjoying a meal while their Harley is being washed and their leather jacket is resting on a heavy-duty iron hook.

Hospital Branding - Dig Deep for your DNA, Inspire, and Patience

2009-10-06T07:41:00.000-07:00

Just returned from the SHSMD 2009 conference in Orlando and delighted that - even in today's economy - over 700 hospital marketing professionals were in attendance. Lots of good sessions and energy.

I had the chance to speak on "Operationalizing Your Brand" with Susan Hoffman of Lehigh Valley Health Network. It's a terrific story to share, but in a nutshell, we discussed the need to dig deep within your organization to uncover its true DNA (Differentiating Native Attributes), inspire employees, and have patience. It takes at least two years for the brand to resonate in the market.

Sounds simple, yet many hospital marketers aren't digging deep enough to uncover the DNA of their brand. Rather, they are settling for a strategy and attributes that are either "me too" or "ho hum." My favorite place to help clients look for their brand essence is in the history books of their organizations. There's a reason every company, organization, product, and service was created in the first place - and inherently, that's where their DNA lives and breathes. Apple started in a garage by two young guys looking to change the ease of use and reliability of computers. While the products and messages have changed dramatically over the past few decades, the brand strategy has stayed the same.

Another factor is inspiring the workforce. It's not just acceptable to "educate" employees on the brand strategy - you have to inspire them! Help them see how they fit within the brand strategy and how they impact it everyday. That's what makes the difference between a brand strategy and and advertising strategy - the former is organizational and operational. The latter is promotional.

The final factor to a long-lasting campaign is patience, yes the other kind. Brand-building takes at least two years to make a mark in your market. Too many senior executives are still looking to change things after a year - even if the effort has been wildly effective. The brand strategy should be developed right, from the beginning, and built upon every few months with new employee initiatives, promotional support, operational ideas, and organizational efforts. The strategy should not be re-built after only a few months or a year. That's the difference between an image strategy and a brand.

Dig deep. Inspire your workforce. Have patience. Branding is not advertising and image enhancement. It's the strategy that helps your organization look different, act different, and offer a unique experience to your customers. If the strategy is solid, folks will be anxious to demonstrate it with new messaging and operational ideas. If it's fluid, it can be washed away easily.

What resonates now - hospital messaging during tough economic times

2009-08-26T12:04:00.000-07:00

HealthLeaders Media recently published an article on appropriate hospital marketing and messaging tactics during a down economy. The article appeared in the August 2009 issue of Health Leaders - Springboard and its client, Lehigh Valley Health Network, were featured - click here to read - please add your comments on the blog and share your perspective.

Watch and Listen to the latest Brand 2.0 Webinar here!

2009-07-24T11:20:00.000-07:00

On July 23, Springboard hosted an in depth look at The Service Line Manager as Brand Manager during its latest Brand 2.0 Webinar.

The healthcare service line manager brings top-down and bottom-up understanding of how a service works – clinically and operationally – and where it fits in the organization’s “big picture.”

This latest Webinar offers insights into how some of today’s most successful healthcare organizations are leveraging centers of excellence to take vertical brand management to new heights. It also discusses how economic pressures are putting some Service Line Managers’ jobs at risk – and at the same time, potentially jeopardizing the brand. We also hear from one organization that has successfully stayed the course with their Service Line Management structure, with excellent brand-focused results.

Donna Arbogast from Springboard Brand & Creative Strategy hosted the Webinar.
Panelists included:

Theodore Michalke Managing Partner, NeuStrategy, Chicago, IL
Former Director, Business Development
Chicago Institute of Neurosurgery and Neuroresearch

Kristen DiCicco Senior Consultant, NeuStrategy, Chicago, IL
Former Director, Neurosciences Institute,
Alexian Brothers Health System

The Rating Game

2009-07-13T07:40:00.001-07:00

While driving through a metro area recently, that music popped into my head. You know, the theme that introduced "The Dating Game," the landmark game show of the 60's, 70's, and 80's. A bachelorette would question three bachelors, who were hidden from her view and at the end, choose one to go out with on a date paid for by the show. (Sound familiar? Come to think about it, maybe game shows were the original reality TV that took one episode instead of dragging us through 13 weeks.)

Back to my road trip and why that musical theme popped into mind. On three consecutive billboards (and yes, I do look at them), there were hospital ad messages. In a competitive market this otherwise would not strike me as odd, but it was the content that nearly caused me off the road.

The first billboard claimed "Rated #1 for heart surgery." The second featured a well-known magazine masthead and cited "One of the country's best in neurosciences." The third featured a top percentile in quality rankings. If this was a series for Burma Shave Cream, it would not be unusual. But it wasn't - rather it was for three competing hospitals, all within about 15 miles from each other.

And it was another example of hospitals trying to woo the consumer with virtually undifferentiated ideas and messages.

Can you imagine this script on The Rating Game:

Consumer: Hi there hospitals, you all sound so impressive! (AUDIENCE MAKING "WHOOO" NOISES), I'm looking for a hospital, tell me why I should choose you...

Hospital #1: I'll make you see stars! (WHOOO) See, I've been given a 5-star rating and,

aside from the small print, that's big news!

Consumer: Why thank you, #1, very nice. Hospital #2...

Hospital #2: Ratings, schmatings, I've been published. Sure, there are data to wade through, but once you read the fine print, you'll see why you should choose me.

Consumer: I've always liked a hospital with its name in print (WHOOO). Hospital 3...

Hospital #3: Well, my dear consumer (WHOOO). See, the reason you should pick me is

that I'm ranked among the highest in the country...

Consumer: Wow, by who???

Hospital #3: Right, um, let's just say, by lots of different people.

Host: Wow, so many choices - who will she pick, stay tuned after this message from (another hospital), named best in 12 zip-codes in six sub-specialities!

(CUT TO CONSUMER LOOKING CONFUSED AND SHAKING HER HEAD - MUSIC OUT)

How to avoid The Rating Game

If your hospital has earned high marks in a given specialty or across quality attributes, it is important to bring that to your public's attention. Rankings and ratings have long been a hallmark of the hospital marketing industry.

The problem is that few consumers can truly differentiate one rating and ranking from another because the sources are not well-known and or credible outside the hospital industry. Unlike "Consumer Reports" or "Good Housekeeping," or "J.D. Power," hospital ratings are all over the board and, if you dig deep enough, can find - or create - some statistic to position your brand as "best." Until one source climbs to the top, or regulations arise which require hospital advertising to be substantiated, there's a good chance that your rating message will not get you selected from behind the curtain.

Here are some thoughts for competing in The Rating Game.

Your hospital still needs a larger brand promise - ratings should support your brand promise, not become it.
A ratings message is a short-term opportunity - it has a short shelf-life, and frankly, doesn't need a sustained promotional effort. Make it stand-alone news and then integrate it into your larger program.
Use a medium that can explain the message - billboards merely announcing your hospital's ranking or rating won't do it justice. Newspapers, radio ads, and web sites are better at going into details.
Use social media to encourage customer interaction with your message and get "Fans, Friends, and Followers" to support your claim.

If your hospital has performed well enough to be named one of the nation's best or has a high quality ranking based on key attributes, you should give it a shout out. But don't just yell it louder than the hospital down the street. And don't make it the focus of your brand. It's too transient a message and oftentimes not distinctive.

Make it part of your ongoing brand position and use the right media to make your point. If you just throw it up on a billboard, there's a pretty good chance the guy traveling down the road isn't a healthcare marketing professional humming a game show tune out loud.

Follow your brand strategy, especially while on the road of social media.

2009-06-09T12:19:00.001-07:00

Lots of terrific feedback and post-posting comments about social networking from the last blog entry ("Is your social networking strategy a portal or a porta-potty"). In fact, several requests for a follow-up on how hospitals can differentiate their social networking strategies, much like they do their brands.

Raises a very interesting point. Your social networking strategy using tactics such as Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and others, should stay the course of your brand strategy and become yet another demonstration of your brand promise in the marketplace. Not veer off, exit, or take a sudden turn from your brand pathway.

At the time of this writing, as researched by Ed Bennett (ebennett.org) , 277 hospitals are involved in social networking. Here's a breakdown of how many are using what:

135 YouTube Channels
101 Facebook pages
201 Twitter Accounts
25 Blogs

The list is growing fast and, predictably, so is the "vanilla flavor" (aka undifferentiated) of most hospital social networking initiatives. Take the list above, double it in six months and most likely you will lose your "first in" position in your marketplace and become another "me too."

Since Henry Ford Hospital in Michigan was the first to "tweet" a surgery, many others have followed suit or are considering such a move. Here's the point: If your brand strategy positions your hospital or health network as a leader in technology/surgery, then yes, this is the type of social networking you should employ. It supports your brand promise!

Why would a hospital, positioned as "family friendly," put surgery on YouTube? Doesn't quite make the same sense. Instead, this organization should be seeking ways to use social media to reach out to family members and update them on the condition of a loved one. They could start "fan" pages for their patients so family members can follow their progress. They should be blogging about family health risks and providing links to family "health" trees. All these types of activities support the brand promise and unique position in the market.

That's the point. Your brand strategy needs to stay the course and be supported by ALL your marketing and media initiatives, including social networking. Don't rush in with a "me too" Twitter strategy or Facebook entry. Make it unique to your brand and organization. It will work harder and serve to differentiate your brand - which is the ultimate purpose of a brand strategy.

So, here's a half-dozen steps to take to help maintain the course of your brand strategy in the social networking arena:

1. Re-familiarize yourself with your brand promise - that succinct promise and handshake you make to each of your customers.

2. Discuss with your new "best friends" (IT, web masters, etc.) your organization's brand promise and how it needs to shine through in your social networking strategies.

3. Develop specific goals you want to measure your social networking efforts against, start there - with goals, not the tactics and tools.

4. Then, create social networking strategies and tactics that support your goals and brand promise. Complete this statement: "We can best showcase our brand in social networking by________________, because it will _____________________, and it will differentiate our hospital in these ways; ________________________.

5. Serial execution. Unlike other marketing communications initiatives, this one doesn't go away once it hits the streets. Nope, this execution requires constant (constant!) attention. Assign responsibilities, timelines, and a schedule of tactics and messaging.

6. Measure. Remember that with social networking strategies you can build "Fans" and "Followers" into your marketing plans as legitimate metrics. How cool it is to launch a social networking program and within days, view the number of people who are opting to follow you!

Just like brand management, customer service, product development, and advertising are all designed to support your brand story, social networking and media should do the same thing. Use these new channels to work hard and differentiate your brand, not just compete, twit for tat.

Your Social Networking Strategy: A portal or a porta-potty?

2009-05-04T21:55:00.000-07:00

Someone you follow on Twitter just posted this important message - "I'm going to the gym, it's going to feel great!" On Facebook, Friend 214 placed an important quote from President 16 on your wall.

What did you ever do without social networks?

With millions of users on networks such as Facebook and Twitter - nearly 18 million users on Twitter alone (representing over 10% of internet users per eMarketer, April 2009), social networking has turned into an explosive personal and professional marketing tool. When used properly, these networks have an amazing impact on search engine optimization, brand awareness, and potential sales generation. From a personal standpoint, it is a great way to network with friends and family - and with the fastest growth segment on Facebook becoming Baby Boomers, it's also replacing greeting cards and party invitations!

The key issue is this: Is your social network a portal: providing valuable new ideas and links to your user base, or is it a porta-potty: flushing valuable time and space down the drain.

As a portal strategy, your social networking sites provide newsworthy and timely links to information that you're both interested in and providing to your "followers and friends." I'm finding my own Twitter links (@Robrosenberg) chock full of customized headlines and tips that are targeted right toward me. After all, these are fellow tweeters who I have opted in to follow.

Opposite the portal strategy is the porta-potty strategy; the need to tell the world how you're feeling or what you're watching. There's a place for this, but frankly, most people are washing their hands of this approach. Kind of like the chat rooms of old when AOL first came out - at first it was fun and different, then it gets old and boring.

If you're using social networking for personal reasons, have at it. Tell the world how you're feeling, what you're wearing, and what color best matches your personality. Your Friends will either opt in or opt out, and that's what the space is for.

For business purposes, the use of social networking is a portal that can open many new doors. If you are using it as a porta-potty, don't let the door hit you on the way in.

Brand Managers, Seamstresses, Security Guards

2009-03-31T08:59:00.000-07:00

Quite a diverse group of individuals. Yet, as we heard during Springboard's first Brand 2.0 Webinar, that's precisely who needs to work together in order for a brand launch to be successful. And it's the hospital's brand manager who needs to sew it together.

Brand management, the concept which will celebrate its' 78th birthday this May - after born in the hallways of P&G - is moving forward in healthcare organizations. Hospitals in particular are looking for ways to bring together all aspects of strategic planning, marketing, communications, and patient experience together under the leadership of a brand manager. That's quite an evolution from the mid-80's, when hospital PR departments simply hung out a sign that read "Marketing Department" while changing little else.

Brand managers fall within two categories; organizational and departmental. The organizational brand manager is responsible for how the brand strategy is implemented across all departments, from forms and uniforms to taglines and name tags. This "horizontal" approach is most popular in healthcare organizations. During the Brand 2.0 Webinar, Laura Harner, Marketing Manager at Lehigh Valley Health Network, shared with participants how she sat with uniform companies and the organization's security department to discuss the most practical ways to operationalize the brand identity on shirts and name badges! Attention to detail is what brings the brand to life and impacts the many touch points that patients and visitors have with your organization. Ms. Harner also shared how important it is for hospital brand managers to think through these applications and develop both a promotional and operational budget for your brand launch.

The departmental brand manager is responsible for a more "vertical" approach within a specific service area or facility. Not only are touch points and other operational aspects involved, but also clinical ones. These brand managers tend to work closely with physicians and administration to plot out pricing strategies, promotional mix, distribution channels, and even supply/demand analyses for a particular procedure. These departmental brand managers are closer to their cousins in the packaged goods industry and typically come up through the administrative ranks than the marketing ladder.

Regardless of how your hospital's brand management function is structured, or being structured, the lessons are many.

Inspire employees, don't just educate them. They are the ones who represent the brand every day, every interaction. All it takes is "one bad hair day" to sabotage the promise your brand is working so hard to fulfill.
Budget for both operations and promotions - a brand works just as hard - or even harder - once the customer walks through the door. That's where the experience comes into play to complement the expectations your promotional strategy has created.
If it falls through the cracks, the brand manager better be there to catch it. Nobody else will care as much or care as much for the brand.
Once the brand strategy is determined, use it as a guiding light for all decisions ranging from taglines, graphic standards, and entity marketing.
Brand management is as much about flexibility as it is about standards. A brand is a promise and performance you give to all your customers and oftentimes it requires flexibility and fluid decision making.

Thanks to the panel and participants who made Springboard's first Brand 2.0 Webinar a success. Look for future postings about upcoming webinars this spring and summer.

What's Your Brand Personality?

2009-03-07T07:22:00.000-08:00

When my sons were just 5 and 3, we visited a restaurant with real tablecloths. No vinyl, no plastic – just bright white fabric! To top it off, the host gave the boys paper placemats and crayons. I immediately cautioned them not to make any marks on the cloth. My oldest – a rule follower then and now – proceeded to draw carefully in the center of the placemat. My youngest – not a rule follower then or now – started outlining the placemat with his crayon, getting as close as he could to the edge without going off the paper. And he grinned up at me as he did it!

Their unique personalities were shining through. And if my sons were organizations, we would call their personalities their brands.

The Link Between Brand Personality and Employee Engagement
I could no sooner force them into a different personality mold than I could force a hospital or system to adopt a brand that is created “for” them. Brands are. Brands live within your organization.

At the Forum for Healthcare Strategists conference in Las Vegas last month, a number of marketing executives asked about getting employee “buy in” for their brand. In reality, it’s not about forcing them to “buy into” a brand. It’s about providing them the opportunity to want to support it.

If your brand has been uncoverered rather than created, your employees will feel as if they are looking in the mirror when the brand is revealed. The brand will reflect them and their understanding of the place they work.

Brand personality, then, is the key to employee engagement – striving toward a consistent brand experience, adherence to graphic standards and successful brand management. It all starts by recognizing that each organization’s brand, like every child’s personality, is special and resides within.

We're putting our money where our mouth is.

2009-02-18T12:22:00.000-08:00

A short, but telling post. At every branding conference during the last 10 years, Starbucks has been used as an example of die-hard brand loyalty. The hypothetical question asked was: "If the economy ever turned upside down, what item would you least give up?" "A cup of Starbucks" was always the answer. People felt that at $2.50 or so a cup, it would still give us a taste of luxury in tough times.

Well, guess what. Starbucks has closed and will close hundreds of stores, its stock has been grinded down, and the famed "experience" is now realized while grocery shopping or pulling up in the "Drive Thru."

The lesson? Real fans put their money where their mouths are. The rest of us are quick to find less costly alternatives that still satisfy the basic needs. Now that's something to think about.

SOCIAL NETWORKING MAKES IT POSSIBLE TO QUANTIFY YOUR HOSPITAL BRAND'S FAN BASE!

2009-02-09T13:15:00.000-08:00

In 1993, Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles wrote another book in their series of short reads covering the "One Minute Manager" to organizing for greater corporate efficiency. One of their best selling titles, "Raving Fans, Revolution in Customer Service" caught the interest of many of us in the service sector.

In the classic marketing behavior model, our job as brand-builders is to move customers from awareness of our product/service to loyal users. Along the way, we create preference, likeliness to use, and advocacy. And then we all talked about moving loyal users to fans...customers who would throw themselves on a sword for our services and recommend us to all their friends and neighbors.

Back then, it was all talk because it was difficult to quantify a "fan base." It sounded right in theory.

Hello 2009 and social networking sites like Facebook. Now, it's possible to count your fans and gauge your effectiveness in truly creating a fan base for your organization. Pretty scary - and exciting - isn't it!

At the time of this posting, Mayo Clinic has 4,725 fans on its Facebook page. Interesting posts from patients, family members, and physicians. Its Facebook site includes information on the Clinic, links to various web sites, videos, and more - but most important it has "The Wall." Yes, that empty page where you can write your thoughts, wishes, and other posts. This, brand-builders - is where the proverbial "rubber really hits the road." This, brand-builders, is where your consumers opt-in and voluntarily write their thoughts and opinions on your wall and describe their EXPERIENCE! It's not just about expectations and effect anymore, it's about their experience - the last leg in brand performance that is often overlooked in favor of creating the expectation with television ads or a snazzy web site.

Now, that's a raving fan!

St. Jude's Hospital has over 25,000 fans and it appears that there are many hospitals on Facebook that have created their own pages. By comparison, Target stores has 173,000 fans, Starbucks has 987,000 fans, and Nike has over 1.1 million registered fans, to name just a few in the "power brands" category.

Pretty soon, we'll not only talk about "creating a fan base," we'll quantify it in marketing plans. Not only will this section include raising awareness 8 points, preference 10 points, and contributing to a sales increase of 15%, but it will also include new goals such as "create 10,000 fans by Spring, 2009."

I'm fascinated by this new metric and encourage hospitals to 1) get up to speed on social networking, 2) get your "fingers dirty" by playing around on Facebook and/or other social networking sites to see what "a wall" actually looks like, 3) creating a page, and 4) tracking your fan base.

You'll also receive excellent insight on what people are saying about you without expensive surveys - and you'll enhance your search engine optimization. Lots of good reasons to get exclusively out of the awareness and preference modes and past the loyal users and advocates modes.

It's time to get to the "Fans" level of thinking which might cause you to re-think your approach to your brand.

Taglines are Just the Tip of the Brand Iceberg

2009-01-22T12:15:00.000-08:00

Think icebergs. Nearly 90% of their mass floats below the surface, leaving just 10% (or the tip) in our view. The expression tip of the iceberg implies “a small indication of a larger possibility,” according to Wiktionary.

Now think taglines. Nearly 90% of the work, process, and strategy used to develop these three to six words are below the surface and unseen by the consumer’s eye. And a tagline is a short indication of a larger promise.

The point (or tip) I’m offering here is this: A tagline is what consumers hear and see about your brand through advertising and other communications efforts. Yet 90% of your brand’s promise is delivered under the surface or internally in your organization.

And that can make your brand swim or sink.

In many hospitals, taglines are thrown together to complement a new Web site design or business card. Often, they are bland and not very memorable. Predictably, they include several words that shouldn’t be used by hospitals: “care,” “exceptional,” “advanced,” or “close.” It’s amazing how many hospital taglines are alike and do little to differentiate their organizations.

Great taglines are works of art, carefully crafted to express just the right words, emotions, and actions delivered by your brand. On the surface, they sound so simple and unassuming. Yet, underneath, they are the culmination of a complex branding process and the foundation for an operational vision within your organization. From finance to product development, recruiting to research, the strategy behind your tagline should drive key strategic decisions.

“The Passionate Pursuit of Perfection” is not merely a Lexus tagline, it is a fundamental principle. It steers each and every action within that company.

If you think of your own favorite taglines, the best ones are those that ring true in more than just the advertising, but in the way that product or service delivers. And the experience you have with that company.

To develop the right tagline for your organization, start under the surface, where 90% of your brand mass lives and breathes. Put into gear your own brand development process that includes audits, interviews, and competitive analyses. Once you’ve articulated a strategy and brand promise that fits your organization, then it’s tagline time. By creating it in this order, your tagline will support your marketing strategy and create a deliverable promise to your market. Like its iceberg counterparts, it will remain strong and afloat for a long period of time.

The key here is to put your brand promise–communicated via the tagline–into operations and integrate it throughout your organization.

If you start from the top down, merely throwing words together and calling them your “brand,” you’ll quickly find that your tagline is a titanic disaster that doesn’t resonate with consumers or energize your workforce.

It will quickly sink . . . and your marketing efforts will be stuck back in the ice age.

Brand 2.0: Growing "Brand Roots" in Health Care

2009-01-08T19:35:00.000-08:00

I want to try a vegetable garden this spring, so I bought a ready-made kit to get some small plants rooted this winter. And naturally, that made me think of the next wave of health care branding! Seriously. Establishing “brand roots” is Brand 2.0 – brand management in health care.

While marketing communicators can’t control every aspect of the customer experience, we can help to establish “brand roots” throughout the organization to nurture the living, breathing brand. A brand position is not an end in itself; it needs continuous feeding, care, maybe even some pruning, to keep it alive, energized and growing.

This organic process means helping employees answer questions like:

-- What does our brand mean in my daily routine?
-- What if I don’t even work with patients or the public? How do I “live the brand”?
-- What do I do if I see a gap between our brand promise and a patient’s experience? Who do I turn to? Is there a way to bridge these gaps?

For the marketing communications team, this brand-building process moves the profession into an entirely new arena. No longer the “brochure people,” you are the “keepers of the flame” – or the gardeners who work diligently behind the scenes, nurturing, guiding and encouraging brand growth.

Share Your Experiences!
What are you doing in your hospital or in your role in health care to build brand roots? Have you tried new approaches that have been successful? Have you found obstacles? What are they and what are your next steps? We’d love to hear from any fellow gardeners out there!

The Truth Lies In Your Brand

2009-01-05T10:25:00.000-08:00

This is an idea we were talking about during a meeting today - it involves hospitals being true to their brand and not sabotaging with false claims. Watch for this next week!

Rob

Branding - A new coat of paint or a new foundation?

2008-12-16T10:39:00.000-08:00

I was enjoying lunch yesterday with a client who recently joined her organization. We were discussing brand-building and the differences between the strategic version and the tactical approach.

Where she came from, branding was all about the latter. New colors, a different logo, and yet another round of graphic standards. And that was it. She left, in part, because of her frustration with the organization and its lack of a strategic branding approach. Not just slapping a new coat of paint, but creating a new foundation!

We talked about the strategic approach - whereby the entire organization either changes or is re-energized by a brand strategy.

The strategic approach includes an understanding of your market, customers, competition, and the Mission of the organization. Then it evolves into a brand story which can be told to the marketplace, both internal stakeholders and external customers. After the story is tested for relevance, THEN it's time for the painter to apply the brush.

And it's amazing that when the painter comes in AFTER the brand construction crew, it works better. The colors tell the story, too. The identity brings it to life. It's a beautiful thing!

The last item on our agenda was the CEO. We both agreed that if the CEO isn't behind the brand strategy - doesn't get it or want it - it'll never happen.

Because brand-building isn't about new construction or a paint job. It's about having your house in order. The people act, its furnishings, etc. That's the real art of branding and what makes this business so much fun.

So, don't just open a can of paint. Bring out the lumber and the nails and work hard to build the brand story. Once done, it really is amazing how "easy" other decisions are when the foundation is in place.

Brand on,

Rob

Springboard Brand & Creative Strategy

Doesn't anybody care about taglines anymore?

2008-12-13T09:54:00.000-08:00

So, I've been thinking. Better said, reminiscing. About the days in advertising when taglines really meant something and became the "springboard" (had to use that word) for execution. In fact, the tagline was the connection between the strategy--->BIG IDEA---->Tagline--->Execution. This formula - if there can be such a thing in this business - at least insured the advertiser that whatever was being said about the company it was at least strategically based.

Think of your favorite tag - who else can put their name on it? When it's done right, no other brand! In fact, they really are BRAND lines, not taglines.

In hospitals, there are seven deadly words to include in your tag line - not quite like George Carlin's (RIP) list, but important nonetheless: Care, There, Close, Amazing, Us, Comfort, Rank, and Hospital. Look for the article on this in HealthLeaders Marketing Advisor. www.healthleaders.com

What I don't understand is how many marketers - and their agencies - don't spend time on the brand line and come up with something so similar to something else it makes your teeth hurt. Just like the guys down the street - or a multi-national company in a different category.

Sure, trademark law suggests that you can only copyright something in one category, but I'm just waiting for the next hospital to use "We Just Do It." as their line.

Challenge yourselves, challenge your agencies to come up with something unique, memorable, and strategic -it's not an afterthought. It's the thought that leads to the other executions. More on this later - just had to get this out of my system.

Brand on,

Rob

Springboard Brand & Creative Strategy, Ltd.

15 N. Arlington Heights Road

Arlington Heights, IL 60004

What's the fuss about blogging?

2008-11-07T04:32:00.001-08:00

Okay, so I'm kind of into it. What a terrific way to write down your thoughts and gather the input of others. Welcome, huh, to the world of social networking. What an opportunity for hospital marketing folks to "blog on" and share ideas, thoughts, questions, and importantly frustrations.

Yes, frustrations. We're always trying to one-up the other guy in this field - and others - and often can't let our guard down and fuss. About internal politics (as they relate to clogging the blogging), saboteurs (those in the organization who, for some reason, don't want to see the effort succeed) and/or the complexity of rolling out a new brand. Face it, it's no slam dunk!

So, let's use this blog on hospital branding not only to share good ideas, but to fuss. Talk about what irks you, obstacles, challenges, and let's see how others can help or reply.

Springboard Brand & Creative Strategy is sponsoring this blog, so "blog on" hospital marketers!

Let's get it started

2008-11-06T19:26:00.000-08:00

Testing - this is going to be a great blog about thoughts and observations pertaining to hospital branding. Springboard Brand & Creative Strategy is delighted to start this thing and hopes to keep it going!

Rob