CASE STUDY:

St. Luke's Hospital - In 2016, Northwest Ohio’s largest healthcare system, ProMedica Health System, was forced to divest one of its 14 hospitals due to antitrust laws.

CHALLENGE: St. Luke’s Hospital, who had operated in the shadow of the ProMedica master brand for six years, needed to quickly emerge back into the market with a strong market presence that convinced its internal and external communities that it could once again serve patients as an independent hospital offering quality care.

TURN TIME: Four Months to conduct research, develop strategies, the organization’s mission, vision and values, an entirely new brand and a campaign to share it all with the world.

SOLUTION: Thread knew the key to re-introducing the hospital to the market was to first redefine and distinguish this new brand. To do so, Thread immersed itself into St. Luke’s culture, uncovering the unique attributes that differentiated St. Luke’s from their competition. Working in conjunction with senior leadership and HealthCare Futures, one of the nation’s leading healthcare business strategy firms, Thread assisted in developing overarching business strategies, five-year goals, and new mission, vision and value statements. Thread also led the organization through a brand journey to define the hospital’s core brand fundamentals—position,  proof points, personality, attributes, promise, and new brand identity. Additionally, Thread crafted a new tagline as part of the identity that exhibited the personality of St. Luke’s—Health, plus care. The new tagline goes beyond the common and clinical term of healthcare and, instead, describes St. Luke’s approach and reputation as a high touch community hospital that delivers quality, personal care. All of the foundational work led to the development of the hospital’s launch campaign theme—“One Hospital Stands Apart”. The theme boldly embraced the hospital’s new independent status and, combined with a myriad of proof points, exhibited its areas of clinical service expertise.

• One hospital stands apart by responding faster to heart attacks.
• One hospital stands apart by delivering more joy.
• One hospital stands apart by accepting every major insurance plan.
  
  

To inform and excite the internal team, Thread conducted a series of internal education sessions held around the clock to include all shifts. A fully integrated external media, public relations and advertising campaign followed with a bang.

THE RESULTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.
RESULTS To date, the hospital’s inpatient census is near capacity, physicians are joining the staff at unprecedented rates, employee satisfaction is the highest it has been since before the merger, and community support
and awareness is extremely positive.

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