Managing Your Brand’s Health to Enjoy the Long Term Rewards

of Brand Equity

Managing Your Brand’s Health to Enjoy the Long Term Rewards

of Brand Equity

Joel English, BVKSuzanne Hendery, Baystate Health

Congratulations

• The good news is that you have accomplished something by creating a strategic Brand Strategy!

It Was, No Doubt The Result Of Hard Work To:

• Educate leadership on what branding is and isn’t.

• Create a customer-centric brand foundation through research.

• Engage the organization in living the brand.

• Communicate it in a successful way.• Determine means to measure your

brand’s health.

Defining Brand

A brand is a combination of functional, intellectual and emotional

characteristics that defines a certain image or personality which, in turn,

drives a level of affinity (usage) among certain customers.

functionalemotionalintellectual

affinity usagecertain

Organizations can conduct business without strong brands, but this leaves

them vulnerable

The Promise

TheArchitecture

TheExperience

...is that part of the brand/consumer dialogue where the organization actively communicates what consumers can expect when they interact with the brand. The statement must be believable, meaningful, differentiating, and supportable by the organization. This statement determines the brand rules by which the entire organization operates.

...refers to the structure of your brand family.

The naming convention that an organization

uses for all of the brands in its brand

family helps to support both the brand promise

and the brand experience. Names set expectations regarding

the brand dialogue before, during, and

after the experience.

The Brand Dialogue

...is the dialogue the brand has with consumers as they experience the brand. It relates to how the organization operationalizes the brand promise. The goal is to create a customer experience that matches or exceeds the promise made.

BRAND

A brand is a set of expectations and experiences created in a consumer’s mind through a dialogue. The more meaningful that dialogue is, the stronger the brand.

Source: Klein & Partners

You Know The Following:

• Brand strategy is a business strategy not a tactic.• Spending on a building brand equity is a long

term strategic investment, not a short term expense.

• Brand management is a discipline that extends well beyond the marketing department.• CEO as Brand Champion

• Brands built on personality/portrayal have less leverage than those based on a branded experience.

• The most common breakdown in brand development is in an inside out brand, the second is to not operationalize it.

• The bad news is that a lot of hard work is still to come.

Keeping Your Brand Alive and Well:

• Keeping Senior Leadership engaged and on script.• Branding is discipline and process not a

campaign.

• Making sure that experience matches the promise.

• Making sure that the promise is accurately and consistently conveyed in communications.• Keeping it relevant.

Keeping Your Brand Alive and Well:

• Keeping internal politics from diluting or killing the brand• Being “nibbled to death by guppies”

• Adjusting brand/architecture to address new component

• Maintaining the integrity of results measurement

Case StudyCase Study

Baystate HealthSpringfield, MA

Where Do You Start?(the underpinnings of the Baystate brand)

1. A Vision2. A Mission3. Measurable Goals/Strategic Plan4. Operating Principles (Service Standards)5. Service Recovery Program6. Reward & Recognition Program7. Commitment from Senior Management

Baystate’s BrandYear 1

1. Commitment2. Consultant 3. Research

• Exec Interviews/Brand WorkshopHow would org benefit? consumers? What defines a strong brand? Perceptions, the experience, core essence, target segments, uniqueness. How will success be measured?

• Consumer Brand Survey (quantitative)Attitudes, perceptions, experiences (you/competitors), uniqueness, preference, confidence, loyalty

• Focus Groups (qualitative) of Consumers, Employees, Others) How can we exceed your expectations? Nomenclature, architecture

The Benefits of BrandingWhat Our Physicians Said…

“15 years ago, when people thought of ‘Baystate,’ they thought of Baystate West the shopping mall, now we have an identity as the medical center, the leader. It’s generally favorable, and I think it’s advantageous to use the same name for all of us--Baystate, throughout the entire system so that they know we’ve got primary care docs, facilities, acute care hospitals, a children’s hospital, a cancer center, etc.”

Baystate’s Brand Year 2 Checklist

1. Brand Committee• strategy from research• brand promise (test)• Logo/nomenclature

2. Operations Sub-Committees• action• timing • plan, accountability and budget

3. Visual/Message Audit• logo and graphic standards• key messages• training

Baystate’s Brand ‘Promise’

1. Brand Image (Research)• Who you are today (from both internal

and external perspectives)

2. Brand Identity (Promise)• Who you and your customers want you to

be• The essence of the brand• Aspirational but achievable• Enterprise wide• From your customers (not your boss!)

Brand Promise Elements

• Articulates your promise in the context of 3 dimensions• Functional benefits

Single-minded for dependability

• Emotional benefitsAll emotional, ‘those you love will say’ wow’!

• Self-expressive benefitsNike expresses, “I am a performer.”

• The most defensible brands blend all dimensions

The Brand Promise Test

• Is it valuable?• Is it believable for you?• Is it differentiating?• Is it durable?

New Name & Graphic Structure

2. Baystatename

Baystate’s BrandYear 3 Checklist

1. “Living the brand” internal plan• orientation• performance reviews• training• events and recognition• communications (speeches, mtgs, ltrs, etc.)

2. External communications plan • operational changes in place• integrate brand in all messages/advertising

Baystate BrandingTime Frames

Name ChangedBaystate Health Oct 1, 2005Baystate Medical Center “Baystate Children’s Hospital “Baystate Health Ambulance “

Baystate Mary Lane Hospital Jan 31, 2006Baystate Medical Practices Apr-June 2006

The Brand in Action

Baystate’s BrandYear 4 Checklist

1. Evaluate ROI• Adapt to environment• Develop organizational structure to

manage brand long-term• Conduct additional research

(name recognition and recall, awareness, preference, “best reputation measures,” customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, recall of branding attributes, messages)

Hard-Earned Baystate Brand Lessons

1. Customers own the brand, but we manage it2. Experience is the most important driver3. Ask your customers 4. Beware of the silk purse/sow’s ear problem5. A brand strategy is like naming a child6. Research: don’t ask the question if you can’t

live with the answer7. The best brands own the high ground—your

customers and employees must be proud of who you are and what you stand for…always.

Key Lessons Learned

• Keep Senior Leadership engaged• Get the Board on board.• Have your CEO be your brand champion.• Practice the 28 day rule.• Have marketing at the Senior

Leadership table.

Manage The Brand Experience

• Multi disciplinary experience design team including marketing opportunities, clinical/nursing leadership.

• Take on small/self contained experience design assignments.

• Employer branding strategy linked to consumer strategy.• Attract the right kind of people/reward them.

• Survey employees to determine negative word of mouth.

• Script employees.

Is the Promise Accurately Conveyed?

• Don’t over promise – a little aspiration is OK – a lot can be disastrous.

• Focus on creating standards… templates to keep the organization tools within brand standards.• Marketing can only easily control what they do

and they can’t do it all.

• Look for tactical drift.• Voice/tone• From entity to entity or service line to service

line.

Keep Internal Politics From Diluting Or Killing The Brand

• This is very difficult to do – you are often dealing with multiple CEOs and physicians (sometimes board members).

• The role of the CEO is critical.• A sound research foundation is

critical.

Make Brand Architecture Adjustments To Address

• Changes in brand equity.• New ventures/implications.• Risks involved in partnerships.• Changing consumer sentiments/life

style issues.

Maintain The Integrity Of Results Measurement

• Create a dash board group of indicators/research method and stick to it. It should be the first element of brand budget, not the last.• New ideas – flighted research.• Don’t forget new research tools like web

based research.