Beyond the logo: Hospital launches rebranding effort

A new year has begun, and employees at O'Bleness Memorial Hospital are working to recreate the hospital's image among both Ohio University students and Athens community members.

After reviewing patient satisfaction surveys and studying the community's general perception of O'Bleness, staff members, including President and CEO John Yanes and Public Relations Manager Linda Weiss, said they realized that change was needed.

Their findings revealed that many potential patients were leaving the area and finding care elsewhere. Yanes said that part of that was likely due to a lack of awareness of the services offered by O'Bleness.

Yanes, who has held his position since April 2011, said he worked to understand O'Bleness' history and offerings, trying to find a message that would celebrate the hospital's past, embrace its present and explain its goals for the future.

Kristin Deuber was contracted to devise the marketing plan that is now acting as a blueprint for the hospital's outreach. With eight key components, it emphasizes conducting professional, comprehensive and quality services as well as regularly giving back to the community.

"O'Bleness has to be a strong and reliable partner for the community, and we have to fulfill our role as a resource," Yanes said. "Providing care for our community is one key aspect in service that we provide, but I also believe that the best form of marketing that we can do is to educate our community."

One way O'Bleness is working to provide such education is by partnering with existing organizations and attending area events that promote health and wellness.

In September 2011, O'Bleness began working with Columbus branding agency Ologie to carry out the rebranding aspect of the marketing plan. Together, they came up with a new logo featuring new colors, as well as a new slogan: "Care for all."

The campaign was first launched internally in December, when multiple celebrations and information sessions explained all the aspects of the rebranding process to employees, including a new set of higher standards they would be expected to follow.

The rebranding was officially revealed to the community this past month in what Yanes described as "phase one." That phase included not only the new standards, logo and slogan, but also a series of radio advertisements and billboards meant to communicate the hospital's new direction.

As another way to connect to the community, O'Bleness opted out of using stock photography in its designs. Instead, a hired photographer captured local landmarks and actual employees to be used in advertisements.

Phase two of the rebranding will consist of an overhaul of the current O'Bleness website and is set to begin this month.

A third phase of the rebranding, preliminarily set to begin next fall, will highlight certain O'Bleness service lines — more specifically, women's services, orthopedics, cardiology and oncology.

Yanes explained that those branches were chosen because they're seen as O'Bleness' strengths. For example, the Oncology/Infusion Services Department recently moved from the third to the first floor, into newly renovated space. The cardiology department boasts Athens-raised Dr. Vipin Koshal, who, of course, has a commitment to the community.

Once the third phase begins, each service line will be measured to see if there is a positive correlation between the rebranding and patient visits.

There are other aspects of O'Bleness that Yanes feels should be highlighted, one of them its graduate medical education program directed by Dr. Jeffrey Benseler, who has "taken the program to new heights," Yanes said.

In addition, according to Yanes, O'Bleness has partnered with the OhioHealth's Stroke Network to use cutting-edge technology that allows for early detection of strokes.

Yanes hopes that, as a result of the rebranding process, community members will realize all that the hospital has to offer. Even in cases where O'Bleness does not provide a service, he said, it has the ability to coordinate with other hospitals and transfer patients to an optimal location.

O'Bleness has been serving the Athens community for more than 90 years. Prior to the current campaign, the hospital had a logo but no true branding. Yanes said that initial feedback about the rebranding has been positive and that people are glad to see O'Bleness more visibly involved in the community.

"It goes beyond the new logo, beyond the new colors," he said. "We've done some key things building on past successes so we can continue to build for the future."