|  Scott Regan

I was recently facilitating a management retreat for a healthcare organization when an executive asked me when “brand conception” occurs. If a brand has a “Big Bang,” then when and where does it happen?

It’s an interesting question. One which I am sure will invite many answers.

I’ll explore some of the more plausible Big (Brand) Bang Theories.

Perhaps the easy answer is that brand conception begins with the name. Without a name, the organization doesn’t exist. And if the organization doesn’t exist, the brand doesn’t exist. But does the mere presence of an organization provide the sparks needed for the Big (Brand) Bang? I don’t think so. Consider two hospitals built and opened within days of each other in the same market. One is called Community Hospital and the other is called General Hospital. That’s all we know about either. Is it enough to set them apart from each other? Is there anything in their names that might differentiate their brands?

You might argue that I gave these hospitals names so vague as to carry my argument. Let’s rename them Community Cancer Hospital and General Heart Hospital. Or Starbucks Hospital and Apple Medical Center. I don’t think it really matters. Because as the age-old question asks, “What’s in a name?” The answer: Not much.

So, if the name is not the point of brand conception, then what is? How about the mission? In the mission we begin to see differentiation. Community Hospital’s mission is to serve the poor, ensure healthcare access for all people, and deliver health services to those in outlying impoverished areas. General Hospital’s mission is to advance technology to create an efficient and effective healthcare delivery system with the highest levels of quality attainable.

We begin to see brand differentiation, or do we? Are the mission statements powerful enough to create a catalyst for a brand? I’ve seen many mission statements that were strong in ideas, but weak in application. The organization may have birthed a mission, but it was not even a distant third cousin to the brand.

Let’s look at the vision. Community Hospital’s vision is to redesign the healthcare delivery system so that all people have equal access to every level of care, regardless of their ability to pay. General Hospital’s vision, on the other hand, is to create the highest quality, safest, and most profitable hospital in the world. Is this the point of the Big Bang, with the creation of a vision so unique, so energizing, that it single-handedly explodes into a brand?

I don’t know.

What about strategy, that omnipresent link between mission and vision. Can brand be conceived without the correct strategy that pulls it all together? And then, of course, there is leadership. Their role in the conception of the brand is critical, as without someone actually parenting the brand, the brand may never make it to full term.

Strong arguments can be made for any of these Big (Brand) Bang Theories, and I am sure many will. If I had to put one under the microscope for further study, it would be the mission. I suspect that the mission is where brand conception occurs. If not the mission, then it would have to be the vision. Or, perhaps it is a combination of the two, with conception occurring with the mission and the Big (Brand) Bang occurring with the vision.

It’s tough to say.