MEDICLINIC REBRAND

• The original Mediclinic brand (then Medi-Clinic) was born in 1983 when the then-Rembrandt Group Exco decided that a new company would be formed to establish a 120-bed private hospital in the northern suburbs of Cape Town
• When Medi-Clinic Corporation Limited (“Mediclinic”) listed on the JSE Limited, the South African securities exchange, in 1986 the brand was further refined – with assistance of an advertising agency – into the brand it was known for until June 2011
• Mediclinic’s vision to become a unified, international hospital group – not simply a group of independent hospitals dispersed around the world – asked of the group to relook its brand positioning and corporate identity
• Since mid-2009 a Mediclinic Brand Task Team has worked on reshaping and repositioning the Mediclinic brand
• Landor, a global branding agency based in London, was selected to guide Mediclinic through the rebrand journey and the required significant investment
• In line with the vision to be an international private hospital group, the logo of the holding company, Medi-Clinic Corporation Limited, will no longer be Medi-Clinic, but instead Mediclinic International. The hyphen was dropped and a fresh, modern typeface and revamped logo embodies the new brand. The change of the name of the company from Medi-Clinic Corporation Limited to Mediclinic International Limited, in line with the new brand and logo, will also be proposed to the company’s shareholders at its annual general meeting in July 2011
• The new group-wide logo has been adapted and adopted from Hirslanden, Mediclinic International’s Swiss assets for two reasons: it symbolises the deliberate focus on placing the patient and his or her needs at the heart of everything we do and secondly, it symbolises the behaviour we seek as a group – that of optimising what strength already exists in one platform and using it and celebrating it more widely across the others, of acting more like a unified and inter-dependent group
• The brand rationale is based on the principle of the Science of Care, with the tagline: Expertise you can Trust.
• Essentially the brand ethos and approach ask how the application of science can improve the lives of our patients
• Mediclinic will continue to interrogate state-of-the-art treatments and technologies, and apply them only when they satisfy rigorous and evidence-based standards
• Extensive market research over the past 18 months indicated that competitive hospital groups across the globe, generally refer about medical care in a supportive way. Their reference to patient attention is soft and nurturing.
• Although these qualities are essential, Mediclinic research revealed that patients value confidence over comfort. That is why the new brand adopted by Mediclinic speaks about the Science of Care in an expert manner – a deliberate, precise, pragmatic approach to patient care.
• Five brand drivers have been developed that form the foundation and essence of the Mediclinic brand. These are: PRACTICAL, DELIBERATE, ORCHESTRATED, EXACTING and HUMAN
• Our brand ethos is underpinned by a finely tuned balance between a rigorous, expert-dominated approach on the one hand, and a considered, respectful, kind human approach on the other.
• The brand identity is supported by a concept we have termed ‘proof points’. A proof point is the evidence we provide to all our stakeholders whenever we make a claim. Every statement we make will be deliberate and exacting, and backed-up by scientific proof – this includes our approach to patient care
• Apart from a full revamp in corporate identity as far as signage and interior design is concerned, the Mediclinic rebrand journey will also include interventions such as: improved directions on hospital properties, more empathy towards patients (irrespective of the hospital’s perception of seriousness) and comprehensive patient information
• The new visual identity and look and feel will start to be applied geographically under the direction of each of the group’s three Chief Marketing Officers.