About Simplyhealth
Like APSU, Simplyhealth has been through a period of transition and as an
organisation we have experienced significant business change in terms of growth
and rebranding. Initially we set out as HSA, but like APSU we sought a wider role
to increase the support we provided to our customers. To ensure we could
continue to provide more people with affordable healthcare we acquired several
businesses including BCWA, HealthSure, LHF and Totally Active.
These organisations enabled us to diversify in terms of the offerings we could
provide our customers with, and included a range of products and services
including our existing cash plan provision, PMI, and mobility and living aids.
Whilst initially, the brands continued to operate under their existing names, a
decision was taken to rebrand the whole organisation and on 1 September 2009
we became Simplyhealth.
We have over 1.3 million customers, helping 2.5 million people and 11,000
businesses. We follow mutual values, and do not have any shareholders, this
means we can put everything into giving our clients, customers and communities
the personal and caring service they need.
We are here today, to share some of the experiences and lessons learned with
APSU.
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Similar values
Taken on our wider role
Experienced similar business change – been through a merger
We have rebranded
The six brand categories
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Descriptive
Heritage
Alpha-numeric
Synthetic
Metaphoric
Evocative
Descriptive
Descriptive brand names are often drawn from a small pool of relevant keywords
and are useful if you need people to understand your proposition quickly – does
what it says on the tin
Some examples would be the British Heart Foundation, Life Boats
However, descriptive names are often restrictive, making it difficult to expand
your offering
Heritage
These are often named after the founder or a historic product e.g. John Lewis
These names take time before they resonate with consumers and are often
inappropriate for newly launched products, services or companies
It is only when the name is synonymous with a certain level of service that its
strength is demonstrated
Alpha-numeric
Alpha-numeric names, e.g. KFC, often arise because their existing names are
descriptive and do not support the shift in their business strategy
They may also arise because of a merger or a more global appeal transcending
language, e.g. HSBC or O2
Alpha-numeric names have the advantage in some cases of avoiding lengthy
trademark registration process.
Synthetic
Synthetic names eliminate the potential for trademark conflict
Examples include Google and Kodak
For companies looking for a hassle-free way to secure a domain name without a
modifier, this is the path of least resistance
A disadvantage is that they can lack gravitas, but this can be countered by
building names based upon Greek or Latin roots.
Metaphoric
Metaphoric names are very popular online, an obvious example being the web
browsers, Explorer, Navigator, Safari etc
They make sense to the consumer because they relate directly to the consumer's
experience and because they require little explanation
Metaphoric names are also easily approved in a corporate process
However, because they are so intuitive, metaphoric names are very popular,
making them harder to trademark
Evocative
Evocative brand names are more difficult to define but generally they are brand
names that challenge conventions and therefore stand out from the crowd
For example, Apple deliberately tried to distance itself from other computer
companies like IBM, NEC, SAP and Texas Instruments
Other examples include Virgin
Simplyhealth’s own story
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Process
Experience of new identity
Advantages of new name after merger
Our advice to you
Process
Few senior manager stakeholder interviews; we didn’t invite employee to
workshops; Senior managers were invited to sessions where they were told what
the brand was and the name.
We have learnt from observing your process that we didn’t involve people
enough. Our brand team at SH had made the decision and that was it. We were
then tasked with cascading it down to our teams.
Experience of new identity
Speaker tells own story of how it felt to change from being a HSA/BWCA/LHF
employee etc to a Simplyhealth employee.
Mention that we used part of name that was already in use in the business. We
focused on the values of that brand.
Realise that you will never get consensus, not everybody will be 100% satisfied.
Give example of “Being Bothered” strap line. Many thought it was a really bad
strap line re connotations to Catherine Tate’s “am I bothered”. Now, 1 year down
the line being bothered is absolutely what we are about, it is a theme through
everything that we do. Our strap line is about an inner truth, it resonates with
what we do.
You can use your strap line to build up a concept.
Advantages of new name after merger
Feeling of being one unit, all wanting to achieve the same thing (inspiring people
towards better health)
Branding and name very different from before so we feel we have a new identity
– this has motivated and energised people.
Mark the change over in some way – we had balloon arches and a party on the
1st day we became Simplyhealth of our new identity, we still celebrate the
birthday! It marked a new beginning with no legacy.
Our advice to you
Acknowledge it is an emotional time, keep the perspective, remember it is not
about you as employees, it is about delivering the best you can for the people
you care so passionately about (people without a voice).
Accept that you will not get consensus. You cannot please everyone.
Learning points for SH from participating in APSU’s process:
Great to see how you have involved everybody in the process, the level of
support there has been. SH’s journey had already begun before management
came onboard and they had to spend a lot of time just catching up/getting on
board.
Names…….
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Voice-ability
Voices in Action
Partners in Action
Voice Matters
Total Voice
Active Voices
Advocacy Partners Speaking Up
Advocacy Partners
Speaking Up
Intro:
In reviewing potential brands for APSU we reached the conclusion that a
descriptive brand would be most applicable for your organisation. Our
understanding from the feedback was that you want a brand which
clearly shows what you do and is easy to use and recognise for your
clients.
From the great list of suggestions from your workshops and the subsequent
workshops with your clients, we had a long list of names. We have been limited
by availability as some really good suggestions are already in use by other
organisation.
The names we have chosen are user friendly and easy to pronounce, a feature we
heard you emphasise to be of great importance to you and your stakeholders.
We will now present each name and the pro & cons of each.
Voice-ability
• Unique and different
• This is a word you can own and create the definition of
• It fits your aim of empowering your clients and helping them to build their
capability
• There is a risk it could be confusing – less so if logo shows two words clearly
voice & ability – in a minute we will show you a way of doing that
• Some complexity to url address and search engine entry
• May need to test it with your clients/stakeholders
Voices in Action
• Signifies togetherness – multiple voices
• Power in working together
• Action – denotes something happening as a result
• Might emphasis less personal responsibility
• Less descriptive in terms of what you do
• More open to interpretation
Partners in Action
• Togetherness – signals working together
• Action – again something happening
• Possibly takes empowerment away
• Less clear on what you do – consider need for a strap line
Voice matters
• Confidence building
• Shows care/empathy – when others may suggest your voice doesn’t matter
we know it does
• Not an action phrase – what we believe not what we do
• To the point – could be blunt?
Total Voice
• Signifes unity and collectiveness
• Power in doing things together
• Does it suggest others doing with and for you forever – removes
empowerment?
Active Voices
• Implies achievement
• Suggests not alone – unity
• Positive connotation
• Could it have connotations with pschophrenia
• Sounds compaigny – activist?
Brand logo options
• Fonts
• CAPITAL LETTERS vs lower case
• Colours
• Style of logo
• Icons
Intro:
Once you have decided on name, the next step will be to build a brand that
ensures your name is appropriately represented – this style and type of brand
and logo need to match what you do, your vision, mission and values.
We have put together a few initial ideas for logos/brand styles to give you a
flavour of how the names we’ve just run through could be represented. However
before we do that we wanted to spend some time on a few key choices that will
need to be made which will direct the end look and feel of your brand.
The clearest openly available font to use is Arial Rounded (this we think is your
current font). For the ideas we are going to show you today we have used this
throughout. However is you want to you can spend money on buying or
bespoking a font.
Once the name is decided you also need to consider whether you want to use
capital letters or not – we have use on some and not others to give you a feel for
it.
Colours
Pink
Pink
Purple
Purple
Blue
Blue
Green
Green
Aqua
Aqua
Orange
Orange
We would recommend using two colours which we feel brings a logo alive more
than single colour. Limiting the brand to two colours can help in ensuring the
brand is clear and easy to read, not over complex to use or print and may also
help with managing print costs. However two colours can be more striking than
multiple colours – use of shading or additional colours can give a richer feel to the
logo
We have tried to choose warm colours for all logo versions we have mocked up.
It is important to choose between strong bold colours, which we feel suggest
confidence, action etc or softer colours which are more likely to be associated
with support or be non threatening. We have also kept away from colours which
prove more difficult to read (light colours, grey etc) or may prove challenging if
you are colour blind – bright red/green
Once you have decided on name and type of logo/colours which are most
appropriate for you, your clients and stakeholders we will use this to direct
finalisation of logos.
In the mean time we have mocked up some logo ideas based on different styles
of logos for you to look at – to give a sense of how different types of logos could
be used.
For simplicity and enable you to compare like with like we have used VoiceAbility
as the name on all of these
Style
Once you have decided on font and colour, the next consideration is the
style of the logo. Here are a few examples to illustrate the different
approaches you could take.
Just text logos:
• Simple just text logos are usually very clear and easy to use
• Use of more than one colour or font can place emphasis on a particular
word –
• Or bring the brand to life - Google
• Text can also be stacked (one word on top of another) or put in a shape –
although this can make it more difficult to read
Style
Shape of logos:
Just text logos can be bolder by placing them within a shape
We have chosen a speech bubble as this is universally recognised
Style
Use of straplines:
A strapline can be helpful in giving more information about your organisation.
They are particularly helpful where the brand name is less descriptive and
therefore needs some context. Long brand name and long logos can together
look a bit busy.
A strapline works if you are going to position key communication messages
around the strapline theme – if not it could be seen as a bit random and
unconnected. Our own logo – Simplyhealth has a strapliine of we can be
bothered – this is where we see our unique point of difference – going the extra
mile for our customers hence our use of this – we have then built campaigns
around botheredness to bring this to life.
Consider if you might want to vary between using just to logo or the logo with the
strapline at different times. If so a strapline at the side is sometimes easier to
take off. (click so “Speaking Up” logo appears) Be wary of a strapline underneath
a logo which has an icon at the side as removal of the strapline will make the
depth of the logo change. (Click so “Your Voice Matters” appears)
Now we would like to show you some additional ideas for your logo
This is another representation of a soundwave which is a bit deeper – this gets
better representation of movement but we would need to consider the height of
the logo
This logo could use speech bubbles or be adapted to show three people –
representing working together and the power of multiple voices
This is a difference representation of the same – which again could show people
rather than speech bubbles
Another take on speech bubbles – this time with softer more muted colours
We have shown this in another colour set to demonstrate how the different mix of
colours can create a bolder logo
This logo has been deliberately had a bolder icon which could be used on it’s own
(as demonstrated on the next slide)
This could be adapted to have sound waves instead of the speech bubble
This uses the speech bubble to highlight the text - - a bit quirk and different –
hoping does not complicate the readability
Y OUR
V O ICE
YOU R CHOICE
YOUR RIGHTS
We chose a sign post to represent the way you help people make their own
choices
This icon represents an icon which is a play on the capital letters and striking two
colour use to stand out from the crowd
Names…….
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Voice-ability
Voices in Action
Partners in Action
Voice Matters
Total Voice
Active Voices
Advocacy Partners Speaking Up
Advocacy Partners
Speaking Up