Brand
ReBrand ReView: Tanner Health
Did you notice Tanner Health’s most recent brand evolution? Learn more about where it's been and where the brand is headed, along with commentary.
Did you notice the Sturdy Health's rebrand? Learn more about where it's been and where the brand is headed, along with commentary.
Molly Fubel, Director of Marketing and Brand Experience at Sturdy Health, sat down to chat about the company’s rebrand. Stick around for a teardown and peek behind the curtain to see how this brand refresh went from concept to go-live.
About the company: Established in 1913, Sturdy Health is an independent, nonprofit health system comprised of a 142-bed acute care hospital, 25 primary and specialty care medical practices, and an urgent care center dedicated to providing a broad range of healthcare services to the residents and visitors of Southeastern Massachusetts and neighboring Rhode Island. Sturdy’s mission is to improve the health and well-being of the people in our communities through kindness, compassion, and convenient access to the highest quality care. To learn more about Sturdy Health, please visit www.sturdyhealth.org.
Before the rebrand
Sturdy Health’s history starts with a story. As shared on the company’s website, “By a generous clause in her will, Ellen A. Winsor bequeathed the hilltop Victorian mansion of her parents, James and Adah Sturdy, to the town of Attleboro to be used for a general hospital at the time of her passing. Mrs. Winsor also placed the remainder of her estate in a permanent trust fund in order for its income to be used exclusively for the hospital's maintenance and development.”
In order to transform the property into a hospital, a nonprofit was formed called Attleboro Hospital. On April 14, 1913, Sturdy Memorial Hospital opened its doors. The company has since changed and grown, expanding over a century’s worth of progress and clinical innovation.
At the time, there were around 20-30 hospitals in the state but no formal hospital systems existed yet. Fast forward to today, there are 70 acute care hospitals (129 total) and 67 community health and hospital systems across Massachusetts, making it more important than ever for Sturdy Health to evolve to continue to meet residents’ needs.
Rebranding requires a series of conversations and thoughts around identity, and what your company truly represents. That can be challenging when there are multiple businesses and entities at hand.
“Sturdy operated with multiple, different entities, which were all seen as completely separate before the rebrand. Pulling them all under one name helped to tie them all together. And the new visual identity helped to modernize our organization’s appearance, in the look and feel,” Fubel shared.
How the brand transformed
“Our current CEO, Aimee Brewer, joined the health system in October 2021 and embarked on a strategic planning initiative. This included extensive research on the community, including various stakeholders, thousands of interviews and focus groups, and more,” Fubel added. “Throughout the exercise, one of the biggest challenges was that we didn't have a unified brand, that we were completely siloed. We had 26 locations, each with different names, logos, and looks and feels. Some were affiliated with Sturdy Memorial Hospital, which is the hospital in the system, and some didn't signal any affiliation at all.”
Because of the disconnected feel, “Patients also had no idea the breadth and depth of the system that was available to them, and they didn't know that all of those practices were connected,” she added. For example, some of their other brands included Sturdy Memorial Associates, Pulmonary Associates of Attleboro, Mansfield Health Center, and Norton Health Center.
The overall goal of the rebrand was to reflect the future of the health system, increase visibility in the region, and further strengthen their reputation by delivering a consistent experience at every access point.
How the brand transformed: visual identity
The main crux of the Sturdy Health rebrand centered around unifying multiple brands into one, with a singular naming structure. The name of each practice and location would start with Sturdy Health.
That put a lot of onus on having the right logo (shown first below), which was designed to carry the weight of all of these brands moving forward.
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Sturdy Health System Application (Before) |
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Sturdy Health System Application (After) |
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The new logo pays off the old brand with the same shield and S. The shield represents: courage and caution, one of Sturdy Health’s brand values. The S, on the other hand, represents partnership and independence, another one of the brand’s values. The turquoise color was traded for a light shade of blue and an earthy green.
The green symbolizes the grass and earth. The blue represents the water and sky, and “as an organization we are always changing (like the water in a river) and reaching (toward the sky) in order to meet the evolving needs of our region,” as shared in their brand guidelines.
The old brand’s wordmark used the Museo Sans font, and the new one uses TT Commons. The old wordmark used capital case for everything, while the new wordmark uses sentence case. TT Commons is a modern sans serif font, and it’s extremely easy to read, making it ideal for the brand identity, patient/caregiver communications, and wayfinding.
Aside from the logo, “Everything was renamed, either Sturdy Health as a standalone or Sturdy Health and then whatever the practice was. This way, you always knew what was part of Sturdy Health. That helped connect every practice for patients through visuals. The colors and fonts are much more modern-looking and really symbolize the ongoing investment of the latest technologies, the latest equipment, making sure we have state-of-the-art facilities, and all of that evolution has been part of this strategic plan as well,” Fubel added. “Our leaders have been investing in the area, ensuring that we have the best providers, new buildings, new technologies, and everything is the latest and greatest. The new brand also visually represents the latest thinking and that more modern look.”
Remember: rebranding is not just a marketing activity. It’s an opportunity to revitalize and transform the way an organization operates, from the ground up.
How the brand transformed: messaging
Another key part of the brand was messaging that focused on exceptional care with the convenience of free parking, and being able to skip the drive to Boston. Many people travel far into Boston to get maternity care, for example, when Sturdy Health’s high-quality maternity care program can serve them with personalized care right where they are.
“Sturdy Health is a community health system bringing top-notch care to local towns. It’s in one area with a concentrated footprint, serving southeastern Massachusetts and neighboring Rhode Island. Some of the giant health systems in Boston may have a satellite space near us, but it’s not necessarily the focus of their system. Our goals are interdisciplinary, and we are fortunate to be able to focus on integrating care within a small footprint giving much more attention to our patients,” Fubel shared.
In their patient materials, you’ll often notice the phrases: “Exceptional Care. Exceptionally Close,” and “Keeping the highest quality care local,” instead of needing to drive into Boston or Providence. This helps patients understand that Sturdy Health has the highest quality care, and it’s conveniently located in the area.
How the brand transformed: website
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The website appearance is fairly similar, but the new font and brand identity comes through with content that’s easier to read. The new website is much cleaner and utilizes more white space, making it easier on the eyes.
Advice for other marketers stepping into a newly rebranded organization
Fubel joined the team five months after Sturdy Health rebranded, presenting a unique set of opportunities and challenges as she got onboarded.
“In general, I would say it’s important to respect the process that went into the rebrand. Try to return to the research and the guiding principles that led to that update. How did they get there? There may be very intentional context and processes to that and to really focus on the differentiators and how the constituents are navigating the product or service,” Fubel shared. “Are you making it easy? Is it clear? All of those, you know, basic brand questions. I always say, if you're coming into anything, ask questions, fully understand all parts of the brand, and any information, background, or influences, before you consider shifts.”
In marketing, it can be so easy to get caught up in what needs to be changed now or how you can implement new plays that net quick wins. Sometimes, the best thing you can do is slow down.
“I had to slow down, because you want to come in and move fast on things. I really had to slow down and be patient to fully understand how the brand was working and resonating before I could take hold of it and understand how to steer it. I had to almost be the observer for a period of time, to study, listen, understand positioning, and listen to the feedback that was coming off reviews or social media. I needed to get a feel for what was happening. Then, I felt like I could take hold of it.”
Tap into your previous work to drive your brand forward.
There are a few brands that Fubel keeps up her sleeve for inspiration, and drive her work forward. “The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), DentaQuest, and CareQuest Institute for Oral Health are all healthcare entities that were basically trying to create a cohesive, new or updated brand, and also help people navigate their offerings,” Fubel added.
The things you learn along the way in marketing can be applied in a number of new, and unexpected ways. You might find different threads in common, even in relatively unrelated spaces. As an example, your rebrand checklist might look fairly similar moving from one company to the next, even though there are nuances to consider.
“How do you make it clear that something is on-brand, using both visual cues and messaging? The goal is to make a consistent experience for each customer across every touch point. I'm always drawing on, ‘what did we do over here? What did we do in this experience?’ So that's not necessarily what was on the idea board when Sturdy Health rebranded, but we certainly do tap into past experience with other brands.”
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To learn more about Sturdy Health, check out their website: https://www.sturdyhealth.org/
Interested in seeing how a marketing partner can help you bring your healthcare company’s rebrand or brand vision to life? Get in touch with Jenn today.