A distinctive new brand with major care factor, for a leading health care provider

Mercy Health & Aged Care (Mercy) is a long-established organisation with a mission, strong tradition of care and a vibrant vision for the future. In late 2007, it was identified that, although the Mercy brand had enormous potential, it was not contemporary, focused or aligned to business objectives. It simply didn’t have the strength to take this organisation into the future.

DDG proposed a comprehensive re-branding strategy based on Mercy’s mission, business plan and an enterprise-wide consultative exercise to understand the internal culture and identify the essence of the brand itself. Subsequently, DDG won the opportunity to partner Mercy in this sizable re-brand.

DDG’s Creative Director, Fred Thompson explains the complexity of the design development. “Diverse stakeholders, long-held tradition centred around the Catholic Sisters of Mercy, a dedication to care, various caring disciplines, multiple business sites … these all needed to be balanced against the dynamism of health care in a contemporary context,” he says. “The visual brand had to be representative of all these things, and more.”

Central to the re-brand was adoption of a shorter, more relevant corporate name. Mercy Health & Aged Care no longer reflected the breadth of care offered by the organisation. DDG recommended “Mercy Health” as a simpler, more memorable expression of the wide-reaching work of the Sisters of Mercy’s Health Ministry.

The positioning statement “Care First” conveys the spirit, values and priorities of Mercy Health. It is a strong descriptor for the new name and together they offer balance and strength.

Some mandatory elements were retained for the new logo, including the Mercy cross and the ellipse, which captures the holistic nature of Mercy’s care.

Fred explains, “The DDG creative team worked to enhance the logo elements, re-position them and introduce an appropriate colour palette. We reverted the Mercy cross to the original shape long associated with the Sisters of Mercy and positioned it front and centred. We re-formed and re-coloured the ellipse, so that its shape and gradation expressed a continuum of movement – the dynamism of health care.”

Three colours combine in the logo design – aqua to represent health, sky blue to represent aged care and charcoal grey for the tradition and legacy of the Sisters of Mercy. Chosen for their contemporary and aesthetic appeal, these colours offer vibrancy without overpowering the overall visual treatment.

Full-colour and black and white versions of the logo have been developed to provide choice and diversity for a range of graphical applications. “All logo versions exemplify balance and symmetry and will support powerful reproduction across all media,” says Fred.

A Visual Style Manual (also developed by DDG) would support the brand roll-out and be a valuable resource for maintaining the brand integrity into the future.

With its brand essence now strongly represented in a contemporary identity, Mercy Health can move forward and continue to provide health care in a very competitive market place, whilst incorporating all the traditions of the Sisters of Mercy … traditions which are so important to its culture.