How to Bring Your Brand Essence to Life [Video Transcript]

Derek Smith

May 14, 2015

Senior Writer Derek Smith and Art Director Derek Adams share an example of how Science and Story come together to develop marketing strategies for our client, IACT Medical Trust.

Learn how to reach the right audience with the right message and how to integrate your brand essence across multiple channels in the transcript of Part 1 of this two-part Tactical Thursday video series.

Transcript

Derek Smith: Hello, and welcome to Tactical Thursday. I’m Derek Smith, a senior writer here at Element Three.

Derek Adams: And I’m Derek Adams, an art director here at E3. Today we’re going to talk about how we helped refine the brand identity of the IACT Medical Trust, the health insurance component of the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns, an organization that advocates for municipalities across the state.

Smith: As part of IACT, the Medical Trust pools medical insurance for towns and cities across Indiana. They came to us in need of guidance for how to tell the story of their brand – how to reach the right stakeholders with the right message. This campaign was unusual in that it didn’t involve lead generation; the Trust knows who the elected officials are, so it was just a matter of helping them communicate a compelling case for change.

Adams: Our work began with a face-to-face discovery session where we asked a lot of questions to really understand the environment of municipal insurance in Indiana. We learned that the Trust faced some obstacles like city politics, comfort with the status quo and resistance to a three-year commitment.

Smith: We also learned that the Trust can really help stabilize health care costs for communities that are willing to take a longer-term view. Our understanding of that cost stability really influenced the brand work that was to come.Adams: Our process involved a Communications Audit where we looked at the Trust’s online and offline communications, as well as the communications of some selected competitors, to really understand the environment of municipal insurance in Indiana. We noticed a lack of consistency in the Trust’s visual look and their messaging.

Smith: The Trust was leading with a ton of the “what” – plan descriptions, general information, lots of numbers. We quickly realized that they needed to lead with the “why” – why the Trust was created, why the Trust can save you money, why it’s a more stable alternative for the long run.

Adams: As part of our brand process, we created an elevator speech that someone could use to describe the key benefits of the Trust in about 15-20 seconds. We also created a Brand Wheel that shows the different layers of their brand – starting with facts about the Trust and working towards the innermost layer: the brand essence. We determined that the Brand Essence was “The Right Thing to Do” – meaning that while it’s easy to go with short-term status quo options, joining the Trust is the responsible decision for putting your community on a long-term path to stability.

Smith: That brand essence has influenced all of our work for the Trust, including their new website, a print capabilities brochure, video stories, emails, a pull-up banner for events and PowerPoint presentations. Join us next time as we explore how we’ve executed our brand messaging across all of these different marketing channels.

Adams: Ciao.

Part 2: Executing a Multi-channel Marketing Campaign

Derek Smith's skills as a reporter serve him well as a writer—and if you need a coach for your soccer team, he's got you covered. He's worked as a content strategist as well as a copywriter, so he's always thinking about the why behind every word and every piece of every campaign.