UCLH Charity
30th July 2020
An independent elderly care home, called ‘Edinburgh House’ at the time, had ambitions to significantly raise its profile and provide its excellent services and facilities to many more people. Within one year of appointment, we took them from being at less than 60% capacity with very few new enquiries coming in (unsustainable and unviable from a business perspective), to being full with a waiting list.
Though long-established and providing exceptional standards of care, Edinburgh House was not widely known and was not operating at full capacity. The care home directors appointed Creative Clinic to run an initial three month strategic review and viability study in order to help it define a distinct market positioning and brand proposition, then to then roll out recommendations for branding and marketing.
One of the conclusions of the strategic review was that the name ‘Edinburgh House’ had little value or brand equity. It was not widely known, generic sounding and didn’t explain or even hint at what the care home provided or its value proposition.
Creative Clinic recommended implementing a wholesale name change and a major repositioning of the offering. The suggestion was that the organisation should be rebranded as ‘JewishChoice Elderly Care Campus’ and that the care home element should become Choice House.
This new proposition was built around the concept of offering ‘choice’ to the elderly community. A choice of care options, a choice of which facilities and services to engage with, and a new choice for elderly people (and their families) to consider when considering residential care. A guiding principle was the principle of ‘choice not need’ – making the care home a place where people would want to live, not just because they had no choice, but because they wanted to enjoy the excellent facilities, food, care and an improved quality of life.
The choice concept was then applied to a WordPress website, hard signage and way-finding, marketing material, welcome pack, brochures, leaflets, stationery, staff uniforms, e-newsletters and a sustained and ongoing advertising presence in the press. We also produced new campaign photography and supporting material for a launch event which led to coverage in local and national press.
The combined impact of the campaign has led to quantifiable and qualifiable success with a dramatic increase in enquiries and new residents – in effect saving and growing the business.
Our client said: “Without these new leads and conversions, we would have been dead in the water. You saved us.”
