Case Study

Mobile Healthcare Association

Designing a Branded Communications System for the Leading Membership-Driven Mobile Health Organization in the U.S. and Canada

“The mobile health sector has a history of thinking outside the box It’s not the first time mobile programs have stepped in to help with emergency situations — they were on the ground during hurricanes Katrina and Harvey, and have historically risen to the occasion in what you’d call a crisis. Seeing how facile and adaptable the vans and their staffs can be and the many roles they can play really shows their value, now and in the future.”

Elizabeth Wallace, Executive Director, Mobile Healthcare Association
Harvard Gazette, April 2020

Key Strategic Question
How does the leading membership-driven organization for an emerging healthcare practice express itself more clearly and fully in the aftermath of COVID to reach and educate current and potential members more effectively and comprehensively?

H&S worked with the executive director of Mobile Healthcare Association (MHA) and its advisors at Harvard Medical School and The Leon Lowenstein Foundation to scale the Association’s impact within its member base and the overall sector. We evolved the brand and introduced a communications strategy and system – encompassing both content and processes – across physical and digital touchpoints to drive awareness, understanding, and engagement of this important sector.

H&S Role
Strategy, Design, Communications, Digital Experience
  • Conducted stakeholder interviews and competitive research as well as audited previous communications efforts and data to inform future efforts
  • Developed Association’s first comprehensive communications strategy and plan
  • Evolved five-year-old brand with modern expressions across digital and OOH touch points, including a system of icons
  • Developed benefits-driven brand messaging
  • Created voice and design principles and assets for implementation
  • Developed newsletter and digital content strategy and design
  • Outlined membership progression funnel and automated key steps to facilitate higher retention and satisfaction
  • Supported Annual Conference communications and design materials
  • Developed website as a hub for the member base

“Mobile clinics are key to driving equity in healthcare, providing points of access at the geographic and community levels all the way to the most personal and intimate levels. We designed a system that highlights these access points from the highways that connect us to the neighborhoods where we live to the individuals who care for us to the cellular level of personal health concerns.”

Richard Nelson, Creative Director, Herzog & Schindler

Brand Strategy, Design Strategy, and a Communications System

In the aftermath of COVID, equal access to healthcare is more urgent than ever. Mobile healthcare can serve citizens in low-income and hard to reach areas in ways that are cost effective for both hospitals and patients. MHA’s collaboration with Harvard Medical School and The Leon Lowenstein Foundation allowed the Association to increase its communications, expand its services, and grow its membership. To achieve greater results, the Association needed a strategic framework and system that made it easy to implement and scale its brand and communications.

A carefully crafted strategic branded communications system – design and content assets as well as processes – allows the small team to achieve and sustain greater impact, serving members and partners across the U.S. and Canada while creating value in every part of its communications ecosystem.

H&S updated the Association’s visual and verbal expressions, creating templates to house dynamic content for potential members, new members, and current members. We established the value proposition for each audience and tailored the approach and materials to address their needs. We designed a fresh, cohesive look for all communications, and developed digital content for the website, email newsletters, and social media channels, working with the MHA team to ensure implementation with the right tools and processes.

The result is a distinctive and united system that will allow MHA to augment its efforts and nimbly scale at pace with sector and Association growth. It can be deployed seamlessly by the in-house team, uniformly showcasing the Association’s benefits to a growing audience that is committed to serving others.

Long-standing Client Partnership

  • 6-year strategic relationship with Association leadership
  • 3-year engagement to craft strategy, build systems and guide implementation