Question

Topic: Taglines/Names

How Often Should A Hospital Change Its Tagline?

Posted by Anonymous on 7/1/2009 at 11:29 AM ET 250 Points
We are a regional hospital that has been in exisitence for over 50 years. We have a running history of changing our tagline every 2 years for the past 10 years. We are trying to determine if this is too confusing for our community. Should we determine a tagline and stick with it longer than 2 years or should we continue to change it to reposition ourselves?
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RESPONSES

  • Posted on 7/1/2009 at 12:05 PM Author
    We are constantly growing and adding new equipment and services; however, I agree with your point of breaking consumers comfort zone by changing the tagline too frequently.
  • Posted by adammjw on 7/1/2009 at 12:14 PM Accepted
    The question comes up if it is really adding new equipment and growing that should make you change your tagline so often? Are you sure your clients really care that it changes every 2 years?
    Perhaps they even do not notice it as you are more than technology or new equipment to them?

    Adam
  • Posted by Frank Hurtte on 7/1/2009 at 1:45 PM Accepted
    I am always leary of changing anything that reflects branding..... Each change negates the work of the past instead of building on the work of the past.
  • Posted by mgoodman on 7/1/2009 at 7:30 PM Accepted
    It may depend on (1) how broadly you've communicated your intended message to your primary target audience; (2) how well the tagline fits your intended positioning; and (3) whether the current tagline is working for you or not.

    If you had a tagline that was registering with your target audience, creating a preference for your hospital based on the positioning benefit, and growing your business, would you EVER change it? I wouldn't.

    Maybe the reason the hospital has changed taglines so often is that they don't understand what's working and what isn't, so they figure there isn't much to lose. How would they know whether it's working or not? Are they conducting an ongoing awareness and attitude study?
  • Posted on 7/2/2009 at 3:20 PM Accepted
    My two cents is that you are viewing this from the wrong end of the brand hierarchy. You don't change a tagline to "reposition the brand" but rather AS A RESULT of a brand repositioning.

    There have been a ton of recent brand repositionings to look at for reference. See Kraft, for example, and the entirety of what it did re:its brand. I dont think you'll see Kraft revisit its tagline in 6 months after it adds two new flavors of cheese ;)

    I don't think Kraft will make a change for several years (or until a new CMO comes in and decides to make a name for herself ;(

    A tagline that changes every 2 years can't really be that resonant.
  • Posted on 7/6/2009 at 4:14 PM Author
    Thank you for the insight on this topic. We have decided to stick with our tagline for at least another year.
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