Health care organizations are increasingly developing consumer-focused brand identities. While there is a solid business case for this shift, it’s simply not enough to develop a positioning that evokes high-level emotional themes. Your positioning must be a promise. Defining a promise that is distinct from competitors is challenging enough, but the bigger challenge is to consistently deliver on it. Aligning promise and delivery in health care is a complex and delicate exercise because when a health care company fails to keep its promise—nearly always related to a consumer’s well-being—the consumer tends to take it very personally.
ACCORDING TO A 2006 STUDY PUBLISHED IN THE JOURNAL OF BRAND MANAGEMENT, ORGANIZATIONS CAN LOSE UP TO 40% OF THEIR MARKETING INVESTMENT WHEN EMPLOYEES DO NOT DELIVER ON THE ORGANIZATION’S PROMISES. — Journal of Brand Management, 14, 2006
Consider the recent case of a large, national insurance provider, whose promise is articulated through a symbolic service mark that dramatically illustrated a link to wellness and a caring organizational approach. The company declined a request by a 17-year-old leukemia patient for a liver transplant, because the procedure was deemed experimental. The attending physicians disagreed, which led the family to believe that the insurance company wanted to sidestep responsibility in an effort to control costs. Not surprisingly, this action was interpreted to be the antithesis of the brand’s promise, and this incensed consumers and stimulated unwanted media attention. While it is likely that the incident was based on valid business decision systems, the viability of the brand was compromised by the disconnect in promise and practice. It’s possible that the controversy could have been averted if those who were empowered to make these decisions had the proper tools and information to behave and communicate in a “branded” way.