Love it When a Brand Comes Together

It is ironic that the Healthcare IT Marketing & PR Community (HITMC) has gone for so long without a distinct brand identity. Yet, when you consider that the central focus of HITMC has been (and always will be) the people within the community rather than a specific event or online property; it’s easy to understand why branding was lower on the priority list.

Why now?

Five years ago, John Lynn @Techguy had a vision – to bring together bright, passionate professionals working in Marketing/PR roles in Healthcare IT and help foster meaningful connections between them. That vision came to life with the first HITMC Conference in 2013. Over the last 5 years, HITMC has grown into a vibrant and collaborative community; anchored by the annual HITMC Conference.

As John and I began planning for the 2018 Conference, we both felt it was time to establish a distinct HITMC brand that reflected what the community has come to stand for:

• Friendship
• Support
• Knowledge sharing
• Making a difference in healthcare

We also wanted to do something for the 5^th anniversary that would get people excited and help them fall in love with the community all over again. Establishing a new brand was just what the doctor ordered (a little healthcare humor).

So during the summer last year, we embarked on a brand journey. With the help of Toronto-based Goods & Services Branding, who graciously volunteered their time and expertise, we boiled down our million+ thoughts about HITMC into a core set of brand requirements.

We wanted the new brand to be:

• Bold
• Easily identifiable
• Something that members and sponsors would be proud to be associated with
• Extensible across multiple mediums and in multiple contexts (ie: we wanted to be able to use the brand to represent the community, the conference and other things in the future)

Above all, the brand had to reflect the people aspect of HITMC.

After months of discussions and iterations we arrived at a brand identity that we were all excited about. A brand that we are thrilled to share with everyone today.

How did you come up with the icon?

“The icon itself emerged from an exploration of several themes,” recounts Carey George, Partner and Creative Director at Goods & Services. “One thing that immediately jumped out at us was how HITMC fostered person-to-person connections within the healthcare community. The stories we kept hearing was that HITMC was more than simple business networking. There were genuine bonds of friendship that were formed through the community. One way we thought to represent this was through a heart shape.”

During one of the design sessions we explored ways to intertwine two hearts and in one rendering an infinity loop emerged. It was love at first site (excuse the pun).

“When we made this loop the main focus, the result was the that the hearts became a “hidden” image.” explained George. ”Similar to hidden images in other logos (e.g., the hidden arrow in the FedEx logo), the heart adds an element of discovery and surprise.”

Why red?

The bold red color was chosen to help HITMC stand out. In healthcare we tend to favor blues, greens and cooler colors. Red is also one of the few colors that “pops” on both light and dark backgrounds.

We later added depth to the icon through the use of a gradient. This also helped to temper the brightness of the red and allows us to enlarge the intersecting parts of the icon for use as a background graphic.

What’s next?

We hope you like our new brand as much as we do. And we’re not done yet. Over the coming months we will be continuing to infuse the new brand into everything HITMC. We are planning:

• A complete redesign of the community website (https://www.hitmc.com/)
• A further revamp of the conference website (https://healthitmarketingconference.com/)
• New HITMC assets to better connect the community

Please let us know what you think. We value your honest opinion.

A final word about the brand from John Lynn

“At the first HITMC conference, we realized that what we created was more than a conference. We’d brought together a community of people in a place where they could be vulnerable, share experiences, ideas, and challenges with peers in a way they’d never experienced before. The new HITMC brand with two interlocking hearts reflects how our healthcare marketing and PR community genuinely cares about others and want to help all of us be successful both personally and professionally.”