MRI diagnostics group rebrands with view to clearer image

Even if you have not attended one of Euromedic’s clinics, you could probably hazard a guess that the company is involved in healthcare and perhaps even that it is part of a European network. You’d be right on both counts. Now the brand has changed its name to Affidea.

A question arises for Peter Economides, the global brand strategist behind the makeove: how is the new name pronounced? “It doesn’t matter,” he says somewhat disarmingly. “Look, how do you pronounce Nike? Nike or Nikey? Everyone says it differently. That doesn’t change the brand culture or what the brand means.”

In Dublin to launch the new brand identity at the clinic’s Dundrum branch, the former advertising man – he was worldwide director of client services at McCann-Erickson Worldwide and head of global clients at TBWA\Worldwide – explains the name. Breaking down the word, Economides says “af” is for “affinity – with patients and doctors; “fi” is for fidelity; and the final part is “idea”, positive, new thinking”.

And the choice of the colour blue? “I wanted it to look medical without declaring it is medical,” says the South African- born strategist now based in Greece. “Blue is the most difficult colour to print consistently but this blue is soothing, empathetic.”

And while Euromedic as a name had its recognition factor, it also had problems.

“You can’t trademark the word ‘euro’,” says Economides, adding that variations on the word “medic” are in too many healthcare-related brand names.

“If you think about it, Apple is a terrible name for a computer,” he says – he was responsible for the global management structuring and roll-out of the “Think Different” campaign following the return of Steve Jobs to Apple. “It’s about brand culture. A brand strategist doesn’t invent, he understands what exists.”

The logo, which was created by Beetroot, a design house in Athens, is currently being rolled out across the Euromedic clinics in 14 European countries, including the six in the Republic. Working on branding for a clinic represents unique challenges.

“Our customer is a reluctant customer,” he says. “It’s not like when you buy an iPhone 6 you wave it in the air, you put a film on YouTube of you unwrapping it and it has a million hits. No one wants to be here. What you hope is that when a man who has been here goes home and he’s asked how did it go he tells his wife: ‘It wasn’t as bad as I thought.’ And because one MRI machine is pretty much the same as the next in any modern private clinic, part of the branding had to be about the experience of going to Affidea.”

Lausanne Hospitality Consulting – more usually associated with the hospitality industry, not the hospital one – was brought in to advise on customer service and how to improve the customer experience.

“Everything communicates,” says Economides. “Strategy is nothing without a universally compelling and individually enchanting big idea that engages and aligns people inside and outside the corporation.”

The Affidea rebranding extends beyond signage to include a bright new look for waiting areas. The template for Europe is the Dundrum branch and is being implemented by Irish company KL, headed by Kieran Leonard. It handled the entire project from the signage and the fit-out to the brochures.

The Affidea roll-out began in November 2014 and will be complete by early next year.

So: what is the biggest mistake companies make in rebranding? “Doing it when they don’t have to,” says Economides. “I can’t change who I am by changing my tie. If there is a problem a company has to sort their culture out.”