Branding: “Getting” The Consumer

 The iPhone is so wildly popular because Apple “gets” its customers. Apple knows its customers love beautiful design and bells and whistles that make you say “wow,” and thrive on multi-tasking. Dawn dishwashing detergent “gets” that its customers don’t want to spend a long time at the sink scrubbing greasy pots and pans.

But do hospitals, by and large, “get” that their customers don’t want to use their services?

In this business, we’re often too busy boasting about our newest technology, expert physicians and caring staff to remember that our clientele, by and large, never wants to have heart surgery, undergo chemotherapy or have bands surgically placed in their stomachs.

We’re better off to build our hospital brands around the life our patients will have after using our services: busy, active, and feeling well.

Pardee Hospital in Hendersonville, NC gets its audience: active people who love being well. That’s Pardee’s brand promise: Keeping you well. Below are several ads in their brand campaign. Working with Pardee’s marketing team, we photographed physicians in popular hiking and fishing areas in the Hendersonville area.

Another healthcare brand that “gets” its users is Centra, a 3-hospital system headquartered in Lynchburg, VA. Centra realized its brand was the people: the people who dedicate their expertise and care to patients. Centra, like so many hospital brands, is a reflection of the region. This television spot communicating Centra’s brand by celebrating the people.