Regional Nonprofit Refines Brand to Launch National Presence

Building Systems to Grow and Go National

For nearly two decades, Patient Services, Inc. (PSI) has helped people who live with certain chronic illnesses or conditions locate suitable health insurance coverage and access ways to satisfy expensive co-payments. They provide assistance with the cost of health insurance premiums associated with COBRAs, state high risk pools, open enrollment, guaranteed issue policies, HIPAA conversion policies; and prescriptions co-payments associated with private insurance, as well as with Medicare Parts B and D.

PSI enjoys regional success, but wanted to take their outreach efforts national. They knew they could help more people, but they didn't think they had the systems in place to make the transition, which is why they turned to Belmont for assistance. They wanted to retain what made them successful in the beginning, but they needed to grow if they wanted to compete.

They asked Belmont to create a clear, relevant and differentiated brand iden­tity and voice for PSI that: leveraged existing positive PSI brand equities; was appropriate and relevant; reflected the mission of the brand; and expressed the vision of the brand going forward. In essence, they wanted a comprehen­sive brand assessment.

The Highlights

Belmont created a brand campaign, messaging hierarchy and style guide through workshops and discovery.

Building on Previous Relationships for Continued Success

Relationships are important to Belmont. We understand the benefit of working with clients over time and are always pleased to have clients return, even if they return from a different place, which is the case of John McNamara.

"I worked with Belmont for a number of years while with the U.S. Army. My experi­ence was so positive with them, they were the only branding company I would consider at PSI. If I leave this organization, I will continue to refer them in any capacity I can. Belmont is really creative. They do great research to get to know the organization and are able to come up with personalized services." John McNamara, Associate of Marketing & Development, PSI.

Getting to the Core of the New Brand Strategy

Belmont needed to dig deep into the organzation to help PSI go national. They launched in-depth brand consultations with key stakeholders within PSI, interviewed key donor audiences for opinions on the PSI brand and conducted a materials audit and examined the existing brand strategy. They also examined the competition, looking at messaging and positioning statements, as well as visual identities to see what would still work and where PSI needed some help to move to the next level. On top of that, Belmont conducted two workshops and one internal survey of all PSI employees, each in half day sessions.

The survey asked employees to identify the organization's values and what they felt the corporate values were. Those results were vetted and validated through executive workshops to ensure the entire organization was working with the same focus. The second workshop focused on developing a posi­tioning and vision statement for two, five and 10 years into the future. All of these sessions built one on the other until the research, discovery and analysis phases were complete.

Developing a Positioning Strategy that Works

Research told Belmont that PSI needed to enhance its image. It needed to build on its brand equity, while rais­ing the bar to compete on a national level. PSI also had to position themselves as the independent champion for the chronically ill and a key player in state and national healthcare reform. As an impassioned patient cham­pion, PSI drove innovative healthcare outcomes and they needed to share those successes across the country.

Belmont helped by creating new vision and mission statements, key messages, the brand personality and by drafting a sample elevator pitch. The identity platform included evolutionary logo ideas for future development and a visual identity system for donor collaterals.

The Belmont process combined strategy with creativity and allowed them to do first things- first and lay a strong foundation before building a client's identity. The logical flow of information through the discovery process and decision-points at key benchmarks allowed us to stay on-time and in-budget.

Creating a great strategy isn't enough, though. It has to be tested and validated and it has to work for the marketplace and be available. Belmont takes that extra step to check with the Patent Trademark Office for possible conflicts or usage issues before presenting an idea or concept. They check for both messaging and visual availability to protect their clients and ensure success during a brand identity roll-out.