M&A

Building a Brand That Stands Out to Consumers and Physicians Following a Merger

When two of New Jersey’s top hospital systems came together recently, leaders wanted to ensure they got not just the integration right, but also the branding. 

After the dust settled from the initial melding of Meridian Health and Hackensack University Health Network, marketing experts focused on devising a promotional strategy and campaign that best conveyed the mission, vision and brand of the new 16-hospital entity to internal and external stakeholders. Two years in and leaders believe the investment is already paying off. 

“Since the launch of the campaign, our market share has gone up in every single market,” said James Blazar, executive vice president and chief strategy officer for Hackensack Meridian Health. “All of the trends are going in the right direction.” 

The idea for the merger first came about in 2016, during a time when several big-name health care players were also consummating deals. Those included proposed unions between Walgreens and Rite Aid, Aetna and Humana and Cigna and Anthem (antitrust regulators eventually rejected all three). With several hospital systems also pursuing their own mergers at the time, Hackensack and Meridian leaders knew they needed to eye partnerships to achieve their population health goals, and compete with new market entrants. 

“We were a battleground state, not for the [2016 presidential] election, but for consumers’ mindshare and loyalty in New Jersey. We felt that, together, we’d be a lot stronger,” Blazar said. 

While a merger of equals, the two New Jersey hospital systems were something of an “odd couple” prior to their pairing in terms of culture, he noted. Legacy Hackensack University Health Network was an academic system that had a much smaller marketing department that was mostly outsourced, and focused on its flagship medical center. Legacy Meridian Health, meanwhile, was more community-oriented and focused on access, with a large, full-service marketing department, and concentrated on building a larger network. 

Leadership wanted to devise a marketing strategy that respected all of those nuances and communicated their strengths to consumers in a busy and competitive marketplace. So, after getting past the initial headaches of introducing team members to one another and setting up a central headquarters, Blazar said Hackensack Meridian’s new joint marketing department got to work building its new brand identity. 

First, they made the decision to contract with HA Roth Consulting to study their two organizational backgrounds, interview system executives and analyze the competitive landscape. The New York City-based firm developed three potential “positioning concepts” for Hackensack Meridian and used that information to survey almost 1,400 consumers in the region and determine how potential branding played with the public. 

All of this led the hospital system to position itself as “well-orchestrated” — complete with a new logo that resembles a bird’s eye view of an orchestra pit — and “life years ahead” of the competition. Consultants reasoned that the brand’s message would connect with consumers’ rational and emotional desires when choosing where to satisfy their health care needs. According to Blazar, “well-orchestrated” communicates how Hackensack Meridian Health: 

• Commits itself to continuous improvement.
• Treats complex conditions.
• Conducts research and seeks medical breakthroughs.
• Integrates care across its vast network of 16 hospitals.
• Harnesses advanced technology throughout the enterprise.

The system began to roll out its brand in April 2017, including an event for about 4,000 network leaders at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center and tour dates across New Jersey to introduce staff and physicians to the change. The message resonated internally, with about 86% of team members polled saying they felt a stronger connection to the new organization’s mission, vision and values. 

Blazar has been involved in several such campaigns previously and was amazed how little resistance there was this time. He believes part of the reason may be that they waited until things had settled following the initial go-live date in 2016. 

“Usually there is a lamenting over ‘I like the old look,’ but I was actually shocked that team members were ready for the change and there was so much excitement that we really didn’t have pushback,” he said. “I think another key factor is that the new brand and campaign had been well-planned and thought out, and we had involved so many internal stakeholders in the process.” 

Externally, the marketing department promoted the new campaign extensively, from local sports stadiums, to advertisements on Pandora, billboards and social media. Blazar believes consumers are connecting with the brand as well. They contracted with NRC Health to conduct market research and found that Hackensack Meridian Health has the strongest measurable brand recognition and loyalty in the marketplace. 

Hackensack Meridian Health refuses to rest on its laurels and will continue to evolve the new marketing strategy, especially as some competitors respond with their own bolder branding pushes, noted Patti Winegar, managing partner with SPM Marketing & Communications, which worked with the hospital system on the rollout of the campaign.

“Branding is never ending. It’s continual, you must keep adding to it, and new information has to be shared with consumers to keep them engaged because you don’t get to work in a vacuum. All of your competitors are working on their own strategies at the same time, too,” she said. 

This article features interviews with: 

James Blazar
Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer
Hackensack Meridian Health
Edison, New Jersey 

Patti Winegar 
Managing Partner
SPM Marketing & Communications
Chicago, Illinois