Features

Crisis averted

Companies that typically attracted consumers during times of crisis are doing away with brands that focus on protecting people from fear and danger. Instead, a positive new approach is becoming the norm. Brittany Golob reports.

In 2004, the UK’s Vitality health and life insurance launched a unique programme of benefits. It was designed to promote health and wellbeing, benefiting users for getting active, eating healthily and staying fit. The idea was that healthy people will need to use their insurance less, costing less money in the long run.

But the upside was that the Vitality brand became associated with fun rewards, an optimistic, cheeky tone of voice and a positive approach to a healthy lifestyle.

Now, a similar attitude is becoming the preferred route for brands in sectors that typically engaged customers only during times of crisis. Businesses across the legal, insurance, medical and roadside assistance industries are moving past formal, institutional branding and reshaping their strategies to become life-affirming, optimistic companies. This has fundamentally changed the way these brands interact with customers, attract new talent and communicate to their audiences.

These pioneers that are recognising the power of people-centric branding may be the ones who define the next era in their sector’s branding.

Connecting in care

In the US, urgent care provider ConvenientMD saw the opportunity to listen to patients’ needs and set the tone for change in the healthcare sector. Spokespeople from brand consultancy Brigade, which worked with the healthcare company on its brand, said, “Perplexingly, values around good health, relationships, and personalised care were lacking in the space. Everything was about the health transaction, not the more personal health transformation… We saw that ConvenientMD’s value set and brand expression could be a big differentiator.”

Over 10,000 kilometres away in Saudi Arabia, a similar change was taking place. The kingdom’s National Medical Care Co. – now Care Medical – worked with Skyne to address a new phenomenon in medical care in the gulf. It found that patients made decisions around medical professionals and hospitals in the same way that they considered all their purchases. Doctors’ expertise and personalities drove people to engage.

This was a seismic shift in healthcare that represented similar changes in Saudi mindset, according to Skyne’s creative brand strategist, Lubna Farooqui. She said the individualistic, optimistic spirit sweeping the nation was resulting in the need for more person-centric brands, even in traditionally sterile industries like medicine.

Medical care has long been treated almost like a utility. It is a basic need, and it is often served by organisations with brands that are institutional, corporate or national and faceless. Now, where people have a choice, they are opting to use it, making the medical brand an essential asset. Farooqui calls it “healthcare consumerism.” She says, “This very sophisticated health consumer expects the same level of consumer experience that they find in the retail or service world. If they get the best of the best in daily life – from transport to luxury goods to retail services to hospitality – then in consumers’ minds, why can’t they get the best of the best in healthcare?”

Putting people first

Care Medical achieved this by shaping doctors’ personas online and crafting a personal brand experience that reconsidered every touchpoint, from the WhatsApp communication to the website to the waiting room, to ensure clear communications and an individual experience.

Similarly, ConvenientMD focused on delivering more personal care, streamlining the process for patients and providing faster, better service than traditional primary care doctors could under current demands. Brigade advises brands in this space “that being kind, approachable and hopeful can make a big difference. Find a human truth and connect with it deeply, at every touchpoint. When you cut through the marketing metrics and focus on how people want to feel, it always pays off.”

By embracing service industry standards and personalising the brand experience, companies across the insurance, professional services and medical landscapes can form stronger relationships with their customers.

Professional services branding expert Duncan Shaw, co-founder and executive creative director of Living Group, says professional services is all about relationships. By focusing on the people involved, both the companies and their clients will have a better experience.

Living Group’s data found that the people pages on legal firms’ websites were the most trafficked, acting like landing pages in their own right. In the same way that Farooqui and Skyne built up the expertise of the doctors at Care Medical, Shaw advises a focus on improving the personality and humanity that comes through from people profiles in the legal sector.

“Getting law firm Bird & Bird to put their biographies in the first person was earth-shattering,” he jests. Adding, “The penny has dropped that maybe law firms do need to get their humanity across, their authenticity. Maybe that’s what the clients are buying; that person that they can trust.” In law, clients often seek out representation in times of crisis or when in dire need. Making a human connection quickly, and clearly, is one of the best ways to build a strong, trusting relationship.

The UK’s roadside assistance brand, the AA, is another such business that typically sees most of its custom during times of crisis. It has recently launched a new car health product, called Vixa, designed to be a proactive support mechanism for keeping cars in good stead and ensuring people won’t get to that crisis point as often – or at all. The brand is optimistic, positive and friendly. Its tone of voice uses terms like ‘protective car care’ and ‘proactive alerts,’ reaffirming its positioning.

Aaron Cole, chief marketing and growth officer at the AA, says, “Let’s face it, breaking down is never good news. Even if the service and experience from the AA is first class, the effect of your car not working not only can be expensive but also can totally derail your day. Vixa is all about proactive car care, trying to get ahead of troubles, giving drivers a feeling of wellbeing, of being in control.”

Vixa works on building a strong, positive relationship with customers before the crisis point is reached. Shaw agrees that professional services firms should be changing the tone. He says, “There's this sort of misperception that it’s B2B. But it’s really B2H; you’re talking to a human. You’ve got to break down the barrier, be less corporate, be human.”

Adapting the message

And this is not only a benefit to customer relationships; a cheerful, sunny brand and personable, authentic communications have also helped build stronger employer brands. Farooqui says healthcare workers want to work in places where the atmosphere is all about the people. The sense of optimism and independence of spirit that Care Medical has espoused has helped it to build stronger relationships with its own staff. ConvenientMD shifted its focus onto its healthcare providers and the actual care they are able to give to patients. That has created a better experience for patients, and a more fulfilling environment for healthcare workers.

Shaw adds that in the legal sector the employer brand is at the forefront of brand strategy decisions. At careers fairs and for graduate recruitment, firms like Akin – which worked with Living Group – can “dial up” their brand personalities, infuse their communications with colour and flair, and present a more human face to potential recruits. This shows young lawyers what the firm is all about. Then, in more serious situations, the brand can be “dialled down” to accommodate. But having that flex allows firms to speak to all their audiences in the appropriate way, while still putting a personal face on the message.

Vixa takes a similar approach to its messaging and tone of voice. “It is always positive, helpful and straightforward,” Cole says, “but the tone does change depending on the message and channel.” When addressing influencers in the gaming, science, auto and lifestyle sectors, for example, “Vixa turns up in their tone of voice, just as their followers would expect. It’s different to our sign-up journey on vixa.co.uk, but also connected.”

More and more companies in the insurance, medical and professional services sectors are taking this route into branding. Optimistic, positive brand strategies are powering bright, lively visual identities the world over. Aviva’s life insurance refresh, MetLife’s UK brand expression, Zurich Insurance’s rebrand and more are all changing their approach to be more personable, human-centric and proactive.

“It’s not just a utility. It’s not just a functional space. It’s a brand; it’s an experience,” says Farooqui. Putting people at the heart of the brand has the power to transform the professional and medical services industries — bringing a sense of heart and care into hospitals, law firms and insurers, for the good of every audience.

Care Medical: Under the microscope

Saudi Arabia’s Care Medical wanted to ensure its brand was reflective of the Saudi mindset – one that is optimistic, individualist and future-facing. It had to do away with an institutional brand and embrace a future focusing on people.

“Doctors and healthcare practitioners have their own brands. This is about positioning them as experts. Hospitals can then elevate their individual practitioners in their branding so that people feel aligned to the purpose of a single doctor. If you have sort of these avengers-level practitioners in your hospital it also elevates your brand,” Lubna Farooqui, creative brand strategist at Skyne, says.

Skyne built up the profile of healthcare workers through podcast opinion pieces, social media posts and more to ensure patients could find ways to connect with the people behind the Care Medical brand.

Visually, the brand was built around the healthcare star – the medical symbol for life – which was transformed into a heart, representing personal care. This has made the link between health, expertise and human-centric care clear across every piece of brand communications.

Every touchpoint was considered to ensure a personalised, human-centric approach. And, the brand was careful to be representative of the Saudi population, embracing the kingdom’s diversity and multiculturalism.

Hospitals, like Care Medical, are shifting from B2B thinking to B2C mindsets, making space in their brands for consumer engagement, brand experience and personal communications. “Healthcare administrators right now are realising that there's value in improving patient satisfaction specifically. So they’re increasing personal interactions, they're increasing consumer-centric thinking, and they’re optimising healthcare communication channels,” Farooqui says.