By The Bay Health

Gumas Advertising Case Study

The Challenger Brand

Hospice by the Bay, an affiliate of UCSF and California’s first and most beloved provider of hospice and related services, reached out to Gumas to help them better communicate their expanding services that have evolved beyond hospice. They were concerned the current Hospice by the Bay name was too limiting and included the word, “Hospice,” which to many has a negative and fearful connotation. Gumas took on the challenge to rename, rebrand, and reposition this highly regarded non-profit community resource and build a Go-To-Market plan that efficiently announces these changes to the Bay Area marketplace.

Through Gumas’ Challenger Brand Marketing® Discovery process, we learned that in an increasingly competitive industry led by legacy gorilla healthcare brands, the community sees Hospice by the Bay (HBTB) as the ethical, caring and compassionate Bay Area hospice services provider with a genuine desire to go above and beyond for their constituents. Further, the word, “hospice” needed to be reconsidered while the “By the Bay” language resonated warmly with the community.

Our Solution

Gumas identified the essence of the organization as, “A compassionate commitment to homebased healthcare that goes beyond hospice.” Using this core internal mantra as the messaging foundation, Gumas created the base constituent-facing language and the new tagline, “Beyond hospice.” Importantly, Gumas recommended the new name of the organization, By the Bay Health, to leverage the power, equity, and value of the “By the Bay” language. Once that was established, the rest of the messaging was built: “By the Bay Health is a diverse team of advocates dedicated to providing the very best in home-based healthcare. As a non-profit, UCSF-affiliated community resource, we go above and beyond to courageously, confidently, and compassionately guide you through your physical, emotional, and spiritual journey. We are healthcare, palliative care, hospice, and beyond. By the Bay Health, beyond hospice.” From there, Gumas built all the associated marketing vehicles required to spread the word, including a new logo, new website, brochures, business collateral, traditional and digital marketing plans and execution, and ongoing marketing support. Proudly, the Gumas/BTBH relationship goes way beyond hospice.

Our Work

We established that success would come when prospective constituents recognized the HBTB brand as the community’s best resource for quality home-based healthcare, and that the new messaging/positioning would ensure the community recognized the new brand as the former Hospice by the Bay and why it’s changing. Value would be established the more certain prospects were that the new name would be synonymous with integrity, experience, and compassion.