Brand Strategy, Architecture & Activation

From fragmentation to cohesion: Unifying brand architecture and activating a campaign that strengthened trust, clarity, and market impact.

Overview

As Chief Marketing Officer, I led MultiCare Health System through a full-scale brand transformation following years of growth through acquisition. While the organization had expanded rapidly, its brand had not kept pace—leading to inconsistent messaging, disjointed naming, and a fragmented experience for both consumers and internal teams.

We needed to define a brand strategy that would unify our system, clarify our purpose, and build an emotional connection with the communities we served—then bring that strategy to life across every physical and digital touchpoint.

The Challenge

Internal research, stakeholder interviews, and brand tracking revealed:

  • A lack of a clear, shared understanding of what MultiCare stands for

  • Fragmented naming conventions and brand expressions across acquired hospitals, clinics, service lines, and digital platforms

  • Redundant or confusing naming and hierarchy (e.g., hospital brands competing with system name)

  • Inconsistent design, messaging, and tone across web, mobile, physical signage, marketing, and internal materials

  • Perceptions of the brand as “corporate,” “generic,” or lacking emotional connection among consumers and employees

To lead effectively in a competitive and complex healthcare environment, we needed a strong, centralized brand platform, a streamlined architecture, and a cohesive narrative that could flex across regions and touchpoints—while building mental availability and trust over time.

Results

  • Unified brand system deployed across 5 regions, 300+ locations, and all core digital properties

  • Standardized naming conventions and visual system improved clarity, speed-to-market, and reduced operational friction

  • +6 point YoY increase in Share of Mind in priority markets

  • 87% brand trust and 89% positive sentiment among consumers and internal audiences

  • +10 point lift in brand meaning and clarity among employees and leadership

  • The “Healthy Communities” campaign increased emotional relevance and positioned MultiCare as a community-first, values-driven health system

  • Built a scalable platform to support growth, M&A integration, and long-term brand equity

What We Did

Brand Strategy & Platform

  • Conducted extensive qualitative and quantitative research, including internal listening tours, consumer surveys, and stakeholder interviews

  • Identified gaps in meaning, relevance, and emotional connection

  • Developed a clear brand platform—including purpose, promise, personality, and core emotional/functional benefits

  • Defined our belief: “Healthy communities need more than health care”—setting the foundation for both messaging and campaign work

Brand Architecture & Governance

  • Audited over 300 branded entities, digital properties, and sub-brands

  • Built a modernized brand architecture with clear hierarchy across hospitals, clinics, urgent care, virtual care, and specialty institutes

  • Established standardized naming conventions and sub-brand alignment rules

  • Created brand governance processes and tools to drive consistency across functions and teams

Campaign & Activation

  • Launched the “Healthy Communities Need More Than Health Care” brand campaign to communicate the new strategy through purpose-driven storytelling

  • Partnered with community, clinical, and operational teams to localize and extend the campaign into patient experience, outreach, and service line marketing

  • Developed a suite of assets and toolkits for cross-channel deployment (OOH, digital, social, internal, signage, patient communications)

Experience & Expression

  • Unified messaging and design system across all regions, service lines, and internal teams

  • Rolled out the brand across key physical and digital touchpoints, including website, mobile app, social media, email, call centers, signage, intranet, and patient materials

  • Introduced modular templates and a flexible design system to allow customization without sacrificing consistency

  • My Approach

    • Anchored the work in evidence-based insights from consumers, staff, and market data

    • Brought stakeholders along through a structured alignment process with executive and operational leaders

    • Balanced brand distinctiveness with operational scalability—ensuring that the brand system worked at every level of the organization

    • Applied principles from modern brand-building frameworks (mental availability, broad reach, consistency) to future-proof the platform

      Referenced Materials

Available upon request

  • Brand Platform & Architecture Framework

  • Brand-Build Tracking Suite 9.1.23

  • Brand Positioning Quantitative Report (2023)

  • Healthy Communities Campaign Messaging & Creative

  • Digital Asset Audit & Brand Governance Toolkit

Healthy Communities Need More Than Health Care

Right Now - West Region :30

Purpose - West Region :30

Right Now - East Region :30

Purpose - East Region :30