Greater Manchester Mental Health: Rebrand and campaigns

Greater Manchester Mental Health

Promoting a positive image based on recovery and hope

Consultation/brand development/brand toolkit/design/copywriting/campaigns and strategy

Greater Manchester Mental Health Trust (GMMH) provides inpatient and community-based mental health care for people living in Bolton, the city of Manchester, Salford and Trafford and a wide range of specialist mental health and substance misuse services across Greater Manchester, the north west of England and beyond.

The Trust employs around 4,750 members of staff, who deliver services from more than 130 locations. Over a 12-month period they see in the region of 53,000 service users.

The Trust recently merged from a number of health service providers into one big organisation and they wanted a brand that would unify their services and that could be easily implemented by staff. The challenge was to create a unique identity that did not conflict with the NHS brand guidelines.

Following a consultation with staff and service users led by Creative Concern we created a new brand that was sensitive to the multi-layered needs of service users. The brand also had to be flexible enough to communicate the breadth of services.

"The deadlines for the new brand were challenging and something which normally could take up to 12 – 18 months had to be done in three. We were so impressed with working with Creative Concern. Their ideas and creativity were inspiring and they helped us carry out workshops with staff and service users to ensure this was a truly collaborative process."

Caroline Pickwell, Marketing and Communications Manager, GMMH

"Creative Concern also provided us with a ‘tone of voice’ for our values and brand – something which gives our brand real meaning and is representative of what we do and how we want to be perceived."

Caroline Pickwell, Marketing and Communications Manager, GMMH

The brand was built on the language and tone of the service users to provide a warm and understanding tone of voice that is relevant to service users. Using a suite of icons and colours we built in flexibility and personality to the brand.

"We now have a robust and flexible brand (delivered on time and within budget!) which has gone from strength to strength over the last 18 months and remains as fresh and engaging as when we first implemented it."

Caroline Pickwell, Marketing and Communications Manager, GMMH

Now the Trust is able to bring together multiple brand identities under an umbrella that is more understandable and user friendly. We've worked with the Trust on rolling out the campaign with staff training and design support to produce everyday items such as stationary and Power Point slides.

“We have continued a close working relationship with Creative Concern on projects since, and plan to work with them more in the future. I feel with them, we have found the ideal combination of skill and professionalism along with a social conscience and a desire to put the wellbeing of people above all else – a goal that we as the NHS can truly align with.”

Caroline Pickwell, Marketing and Communications Manager, GMMH

Greater Manchester Mental Health: Rebrand and campaigns

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