When the marketers at PHAMIS Inc. (Public Health Automated Medical Information Systems) geared up to launch its corporate identity campaign last Fall, they went to the Himalayan mountains.
PHAMIS and its agency, Phinney Bischoff Design House (PBDH), both based in Seattle, discovered through company/client research that "visionary," "forthright," and "a true partnership-focus" were the terms used to describe its relationship with healthcare delivery organizations in setting up complex information systems, according to Cheryl Isen, senior director of corporate communications for PHAMIS.
From those descriptors, the PHAMIS "journey" theme was born and dramatic expedition photography was used to communicate it.
To keep costs down and stay within its $150,000 budget, PHAMIS and Phinney sifted through pages and pages of stock photography, before selecting the breathtaking shot of Himalayan snow-capped mountains and a team of mountain climbers ready to take it on.
"We were excited about the analogy of using a shot with mountains and a team of mountain climbers to capture our strategic vision of collaboration and solutions. When you think of Seattle, you think of mountains, and when you think of mountain climbing, you think of a team," said Leslie Phinney, PBDH president.
The black-and-white photos were punched up with striking duo-tones to keep costs down, purchasing rights were negotiated up front at $10,000 for cross media usage: print ads, brochures, product inserts and trade show booth and multimedia presentations.
Had Phinney negotiated separately for usage rights, the price would have been twice as much.
"There was a slight risk in using stock photography because someone else could use the images, but healthcare is such a vertical and still somewhat conservative industry we knew we would stand out," said Isen.
Targeting healthcare executives, primarily CEOs and CIOs (chief informations officers), PHAMIS' new corporate identity was introduced with a spherical logo stamped on all of its talk pieces, last summer.
But the "journey" campaign really took off last Fall when 50,000 corporate brochures were rolled out, followed by a print campaign in industry trade publications, a direct mail effort to about 1,000 healthcare execs as well as multimedia presentations at trade shows.
The campaign, which is now in full swing, has generated some positive word-of-mouth accolades and generated increased merger interest from Burlington, Vt.-based IDX Corp., which specializes in automating doctors' offices.
In fact, PHAMIS might have to go back to the drawing board to craft a new corporate identity with IDX, as the merger is expected to become official later on this month, according to Isen.
"We don't know what's going to happen with the campaign," said Isen, "because we don't know what PHAMIS' identity will be if the merger is finalized.that's healthcare for you."
(PDPH, 206/689-1306; PHAMIS, Inc., 206/322-3484)