Patient & Client Council

Contract delivery to deliver rebrand for the Patient & Client Council.  Delivery of full Communications/Engagement Strategy by Maurica Mackle, Chart PR, Mackle Communications.  Maurica fulfilled the role of Account Director/Communications Lead in the contract.

Delivery of new brand and brand guidelines, and roll out across key platforms, online and collateral for Council.  The Patient and Client Council wished to create a new brand and brand strategy, led, and owned by membership and staff and wanted to involve its membership base here given the Councils need for members to help deliver its support and advocacy remit.  There are 13,000 members registered with the Council.

Research – Research examined current Council brand and existing brand position, explored future ambition linked to Council future strategy and ambition to evolve from being perceived as a ‘complaints’ service to a provider of advice and advocacy to citizens.  Consultants agreed with Client to undertake research of comparator Healthcare advocacy provision across Ireland and UK, including analysis of citizen perception, behaviours and attitudes towards health and social care, and patient support (very topical and amplified since March 2019 especially with health and social care so under pressure to cancel appointment and surgeries)  and collated same.  Consultants met with staff to understand their Patient and Client Council experience and the role they played, and how they felt the organisation should be positioned (as key delivery stakeholders). 

Development of Brand Strategy – Brand strategy was to include brand name, brand positioning, brand values including logo and colour palette and detailed brand guidelines and a brand training template for roll out to staff and members. Consultants undertook broad consultations with Patient and Client Council CEO, Senior Management, Board Chair, staff, and membership stakeholders (limited face to face meetings with staff, with consultations mainly online due to Covid restrictions) gathering detailed quantitative and qualitative research.  From this a new brand strategy was refined through further focused staff sessions and membership engagement to arrive at 4 agreed brand creative options which were then shared with members via a newsletter and a text vote, with the final brand creative chosen by members. Consultants ensured that members and staff owned from the outset to create maximum brand advocacy, buy in and desire to align with the brand delivery going forward.   

Brand delivery – Once membership chose their preferred brand, consultants approved the creation of detailed brand guidelines, including brand essence, brand values, brand proposition, rational and emotional benefits, and brand tone of voice with client.  Consultants provided client with brand guidelines and are currently working through brand style for Council language and messaging and undertaking a full review of all marketing collateral to create new collateral with the new brand and lexicon. As a result of the works, Consultants are now undertaking refresh of all existing collateral across literature, marketing, and promotion and online to align with new brand, tone of voice and messaging/ style guide.

Stakeholder Engagement – Consultants took initial brand proposition to staff and Senior Management collectively, to secure buy in from the outset of this being an ‘everyone’ process and approach.  Consultants created and presented brand insights document with synopsis of key research findings and feedback, brand big idea, brand value proposition, brand pyramid (incorporating brand essence, values, personality, emotional and rational benefits, and brand attributes).  Consultants developed brand cognisant of need for members, (the key external advocates for the Council), to own the brand success and advocate for it.  In ensuring this was the case, brand development, once refined by staff and a cohort of members to 4 options was taken to the wider membership for final choice and the final brand for the Patient and Client Council was chosen by its membership, its key external stakeholder.  The successful outcomes of this project from the outset required staff, member, Board, and citizen stakeholder engagement.  Consultation was undertaken across multiple stakeholders, staff, and members (undertaken remotely due to Covid restrictions).

Delivery – Consultants made brand recommendations to Client cognisant of wider health and social care hierarchy, and the need for wider brand relationship with health and social care ‘family’ across Trusts and Department for Health and for a smooth architectural alignment. 

Training – Consultants will deliver brand guidelines training for Council to enable staff to take new brand further to local stakeholders on brand assets delivery and benefits. Training for staff and member advocates to take forward new brand internally, underpinned by an employee and member brand engagement plan will embed the brand internally and with key stakeholders.

Communications Strategy – Client now requires consultants to undertake a refreshed communications strategy to support delivery of new brand strategy to position Council as ‘the voice of the citizen in health and social care in Northern Ireland’ as recommended in new brand proposition to Client.

Added value;  Project has enabled PCC to re-engage its membership and create a forum to allow the membership to have an input and ownership of the brand development.  The engagement with staff, meant that the brand was delivered with them involved, and created brand leaders within the organisation.

The approach undertaken with this tender mimic the key requirements of the Cranstoun, focusing on research, meaningful and detailed stakeholder engagement, creation of brand insights, brand platform, new brand name, brand idea and brand proposition, and its roll out across a broad range of key, influential  stakeholders.  It was delivered remotely, and client feedback has been exceptionally positive about the whole project experience.