Hackensack Meridian Health Orchestrates a New Brand
// By Wendy Stark Healy //
One of the themes of this article is that brands evolve. We covered the Hackensack Meridian merger back in December 2016. The consolidated health system’s first-generation brand has now been replaced with a new brand, built on consumer research and a solid brand strategy.
Hackensack Meridian Health’s new logo plays off the theme of orchestration.
Two-and-a-half years after two large New Jersey health care networks merged, the new Hackensack Meridian Health says its rebranding and logo development went very well.
“Well-orchestrated” is how Jim Blazar, executive vice president and chief strategy officer, puts it. In fact, the concept of orchestration sets the tone for the new logo, which visually resembles the view one would see when looking down on an orchestra pit, he adds.
Jim Blazar, executive vice president and chief strategy officer, Hackensack Meridian Health
Blazar spoke at the Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development (SHSMD) conference in Seattle in October, in a session called, “Bigger, Better or Both. Building a Brand-in-Demand Through Mergers and Strategic Partnerships.”
Blazar spoke along with Patti Winegar, managing partner of SPM Marketing & Communications, Hackensack Meridian Health’s agency for branding. Their session helped participants understand that when two organizations of equal size merge, the challenge is more than becoming just a bigger, hyphenated version of itself. How would this newly consolidated brand convey the benefit of the merger and deliver a new level of care?