Behind the MediClinic rebrand

"For us, the exercise isn't about the look and feel, but about the promise that sits behind the brand to ensure that we meet and exceed patient expectations," Valodia says. "We adopted the Science of Care as patients expect empathy and caring but want the scientific side too - expert care, high technology, excellent infrastructure and the like. It's neither science nor care in isolation. It's a combination of both."

Mediclinic International, previously known as Medi-Clinic Corp, has been around for almost 30 years. In 2006, the group, which had hitherto operated in SA and Namibia, spent almost R400m in the United Arab Emirates for a stake in Emirates Healthcare. This was followed by a mega deal in Switzerland in 2007, with Mediclinic buying the Hirslanden group for about R17bn.

Today, Mediclinic is the world's sixthlargest for-profit listed hospital operator and the largest in SA by market capitalisation. It straddles three continents, with 70 hospitals offering almost 9000 beds. The health-care giant employs more than 23000 people, and grew revenue by 9% to R18,6bn for the year ended March 2011.

Given its status as a global player, Mediclinic set out to unify its three different operating platforms under a single corporate image. A new philosophy dubbed the Science of Care stems from this multidimensional branding exercise. As for the logo itself, Valodia says the outer side portrays the humanistic side of Mediclinic while the dot denotes that the patient is at the heart of all the health-care titan does. Summing up what the group's repositioning means to patients and other stakeholders is its new tagline: Expertise you can trust. That is the type of assurance and message that resonates with all hospital users in any environment.

According to the Science of Care, Valodia explains, science is a starting point. Infrastructure executive Steve Drinkrow agrees.

The new philosophy extends from signage to the way staff welcome patients, says Valodia. As the company's global branding project leader, he remains closely involved with the entire re-launch.

To contextualise what some of these changes mean to patients, or how their experience will be enhanced, Drinkrow recalls a time when hospitals were scary places that patients experienced as being cold and unfriendly. This was followed in later years by the other extreme, "too homely and soft". With the new philosophy, "we're bringing the two extremes together", he says. "We're doing all of this to support the patient journey. What enhances patient experience is not just signage and the look and feel, but also staff attitude - so these go hand in hand."

The Science of Care should have a positive impact on the bottom line. That's something that could impress investors as Mediclinic Southern Africa is spending R40m on rolling out the project. The group plans to have new signage at every hospital in Namibia and SA by mid-2012. In its entirety, the rebranding exercise will be phased in across all hospitals gradually. Changes at Mediclinic hospitals in other countries will be phased in gradually as local circumstances dictate, Valodia says.

Like Drinkrow and chief operating officer Wimpie Aucamp, Valodia is mindful that there is a need for conscious attention to the attitude among staff. After all, he says, they are brand ambassadors. "Everybody who works here is a brand custodian and therefore it's important to get everyone involved."

Source: Financial Mail