Our consultants immersed themselves in CSH from the roots up, combining qualitative insight with survey-based feedback to understand stakeholder’s views and perceptions of the brand. Alongside stakeholder research, IE Brand mapped CSH’s competitors to define a unique position that CSH could occupy in the market.

We also needed to address a problem. The name Central Surrey Health was proving problematic and restricting growth beyond Surrey borders. We workshopped alternative names and the pros and cons of each to ensure any name change met all the criteria, while retaining any inherent value in the old name.

Our research told us that, while it mattered to them internally, external audiences weren’t particularly interested in CSH’s not-for-profit status. GPs and Commissioners wanted the reassurance of a larger, more commercial organisation. We needed to demonstrate financial stability, rigor and quality and shake off the perceived stakeholders negatives of being a ‘social enterprise’.

We recommended they appoint a high profile GP and a recognised representative from the world of corporate finance to strengthen the Board of Directors. This added a message of clinical leadership and financial clout, befitting a leading provider of community health services.

We challenged CSH to determine a set of core messages, to bring clarity to the brand and define its direction. This new messaging provided the foundation for a more confident, professional identity, which CSH began to weave into its tender submissions. The new messaging resonated with commissioners, resulting in a five year, £110 million contract with NHS Surrey to deliver community services across the county.

For the name, Central Surrey Health became CSH Surrey, allowing for the addition of a family of geographical or specialist sub brands using the CSH prefix. This removed the associated regional bias for new audiences, while maintaining the heritage of the initial brand.

The new brand hierarchy allowed CSH to introduce an affiliated brand – CSH Homecare – to operate alongside CSH Surrey.

We stressed that all claims must be backed by hard facts to demonstrate service excellence. From this we established a set of stories and data to help CSH communicate with their audiences.

A new strapline, ‘better healthcare together’ brings together CSH’s ethos of partnership and sense of continuous improvement with a clear purpose – working in healthcare.

With the new core messaging agreed we crafted a new visual identity for the brand. The brand’s new icon, a gemstone, represents the openness, transparency and high quality services offered by CSH Surrey. Meanwhile, the use of CSH’s existing, recognisable purple colour ensured some ties to the brand’s heritage remained intact.

As part of the roll-out, a team of ‘Brand Champions’ was recruited internally. By involving them early they were inspired and enthused about the changes, acting as ambassadors of CSH Surrey’s new brand story and overseeing the internal launch. The new brand was applied across all collateral, uniforms, signage and exhibition graphics.

IE Digital was subsequently invited to apply the new brand thinking to CSH Surrey’s website, to significantly improve the user experience and journeys on the site.

We designed and built a site that would measurably deliver against their strategic objectives, by prioritising local people looking for information on local services.