Strategic Logos Communicate Internal Personality
SAN FRANCISCO - In the face of a merger, acquisition, or restructuring, communicating a strong corporate identity with a well-researched logo is crucial to making a smooth transition, according to Jeffrey Merkow, a partner with The Identity Group, a marketing/communications firm in Tustin, Calif. Citing two marketing strategies that proved successful with two healthcare companies, Merkow illustrated how creating or enhancing a graphic identity - a corporate logo - can reflect the internal personality of a company to internal and external audiences.
Using two healthcare clients as corporate logo case studies - the Med Group in Lubbock, Texas, and USC Health Sciences in Los Angeles - Merkow headlined a recent seminar held here at a healthcare corporate communications conference.
The first, Med Group, a healthcare equipment dealer with 25 years' market experience, suffered from a logo identity that lacked recognition and impact, especially when it needed to compete in higher profile markets. Through focused research, a new graphical identity emerged that resulted in a 1994 "The Cat's Out of the Bag" campaign that appealed to predominately-female case managers. These potential new customers - nurses and social workers, in most cases - reacted favorably to The Med Group's humanizing image.
Similarly, a three-month campaign for USC Health Services, an association of clinics suffering from shrinking membership, addressed convenience and access issues in a 1996 crusade campaign titled "The Doctor is In." With a stepped-up Internet presence, newspaper inserts, direct mail, and radio spots, the collective became a household word to many new members in southern California.
A graphic identity should communicate more than just a name to its consumers. Pride, quality, cost-effectiveness, growth potential - all are tied closely to the visual image. Such an identity can influence how a company is perceived by vendors, competitors, employees, and the general public.
"The development of a corporate identity gives the public a clear idea of what they can expect in terms of programs, products, services and quality," he said. "People will stay loyal to an organization that respects their needs and remains consistent." But he cautioned that a snappy slogan is just one part of the winning combination.
Internal/External Communications
But getting your internal act together during a corporate buyout also requires a dual communications strategy that addresses concerns, anxieties and critical questions of the company's internal and external audiences.
James Harris, director of PR for Cigna HealthCare of California (Glendale), tackled this hot topic at the conference.
When Cigna HealthCare recently sold its medical group in 1995 - resulting in a massive employee downsizing of 80% -the transition had to be communicated sensitively and strategically.
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As the country's fourth largest HMO operating in one of the country's most mature managed care markets, Cigna HealthCare (before selling its medical group) ran 29 clinics, employing 350 doctors and 3,200 employees under both its staff and IPA models. But when Cigna's membership of 600,000 started to decline, the HMO had to consider two options: sell the medical group or radically downsize it. Cigna opted for the former option and sold to Caremark International (Chicago), which already owned the Friendly Hills Medical Group in California.
"The effects on our company would be great," reflected Harris of the impending changes. "While keeping our 600,000 members, we would go to an IPA-only system; we would have zero clinics and no staff doctors, and go from 3,200 employees to 350, restructuring 80 percent of our workforce. The challenge for us in communications was to position this as a win for CIGNA HealthCare of California."
Such an unenviable task resulted in CIGNA positioning the takeover as benefiting both members and corporate employees.
"We realized we had to come up with two groups of messages," said Harris. For external audiences - members, the general public and employer group customers - the sale would be presented as beneficial for both Cigna and Caremark. For the internal audience of doctors and clerical employees, the sale was communicated as a new investment pipeline to the centers and greater profitability for the company.
Why the two-tiered approach? "People in different groups have different self-interests...It's possible to have discreet messages for different audiences, as long as they aren't contradictory," said Harris. (CIGNA, 918/500-0948; TIG, 714/573-0010)