In healthcare, we stifle marketing ideas because we live inside the label box. In doing so, we narrowly define our brand, rely on a rational story often laddered to a generic benefit like confidence or return to normal and miss the larger picture of what the brand should actually try to accomplish—connecting with people in a way that inspires them to activate, to change behavior and to want to engage with us. One way to get out of this “can and cannot say” mentality is to create a brand vision.
The notion of a brand vision is so much bigger than messaging or positioning. Like a business vision, a brand vision is an aspirational view of what the brand stands for in the minds of its customers. Think Coca-Cola, which stands for happiness, or Dove which has a POV on real beauty, or Pampers who moved from a functional benefit “dryness” to an aspirational vision of healthy baby development and quadruped their business. These kinds of visions open up experience opportunities unavailable to brands who have a narrow definition of why they exist. Check out what each of those brands are doing beyond talking about their product features and associated benefits.
Brand visions allow you to break through the barriers of the label, and think bigger, think human inspired. Take asthma as an example. What if a brand stood for “keeping laughter alive?” You don’t say it in the advertising, you create experiences that show people they can laugh even with asthma. A brand with that kind of vision could create a virtual comedy club, a joke of the week, or an online hike across the Appalachian Trail.
In healthcare, the name of the game is connecting with consumers, healthcare providers and loved ones in ways that inspire behavior. I challenge you to create an inspiring brand vision by starting with the human needs threatened by the disease or condition and be open to new experiences and creative insights that come from that vision. Consumer brands have been doing this for years, and it’s about time the health and wellness space followed suit.
