Founded by the North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust, NTH Solutions is an inspirational organisation. Not only does it provide estates, facilities and support services for its own trust, it shares its associated expertise nationally, selling services and consultancy to fellow NHS trusts.
And there’s more. NTH Solutions doesn’t confine itself to the run-of-the-mill healthcare portfolio – it has set up a dedicated innovation team to invent and develop new products and services, either unilaterally or with external commercial businesses.
With all profits invested back into frontline patient care, it’s a model for the future of healthcare.
But with its roots in the public sector, how can NTH Solutions grow its commerciality to compete in the cut and thrust of the open market?
With a new website under development, NTH Solutions was already solidifying its commercial approach. Our first job was to help the team understand and explain its structure, and turn itself from a business to a brand that stands out clearly and communicates its unique value proposition.
Metaphorical scrubs on, we sat down with the team, peeling back every layer to clarify a brand architecture for the 700-strong organisation. By visualising sub brands and a structure, the architecture streamlines the organisation for today’s employees and customers – while allowing bags of room for NTH’s ambitious expansion plans.
Creating the full brand package, including guidelines, photography and roll out is what we do – but for the NTH team, it took courage and vision to embrace such a different mindset.
And embraced it they certainly have. We’ve built on the new brand to create a pair of digital marketing campaigns. The first will promote its time-saving Community Kit Bag, for community nurses, proven to dramatically reduce trips back to the car boot or office base for busy nurses.
The second is an educational e-learning programme, developed in partnership with Blue Mental Health, which equips teachers with the power to spot signs of mental ill-health in children, signposting them to the right support. And with early intervention a major factor in stopping mental health problems later in life, it’s an initiative that will make a huge difference.
We’ll be using a range of paid media and other digital techniques to market these products very soon. Watch this space for further innovations.
