Vulpia is a leading Belgian player in the residential and geriatric care market. To further strengthen its position in the market, the organisation, which now has more than 2,500 passionate employees, wanted to reflect on its brand purpose, brand values and image to the outside world.
the challenge
A fast-growing player in the market, Vulpia aims to position itself as a warm, family-oriented and committed player in the market. This involves making the necessary efforts to respond to the needs, motives and wishes of residents and their close ones as much as possible; but also required developing a positioning that stays away from clichés and puts added value from a purpose at its heart.
the insights
Residential care for the elderly is an increasingly crucial sector within the fabric of society. With an ageing population, increasing need for diverse care and the way families are composed today, residential care home operators face a range of challenges. Moreover, regulation and intense competition create complexities in the valuable positioning of a brand to both internal and external stakeholders.
the solution
To gain first-hand insights into how the brand operates in day-to-day reality, we organised a brand workshop with internal stakeholders on themes relating to brand values and brand purpose. At the same time, we immersed ourselves in the industry with a far-reaching analysis of direct and indirect competitors, coupled with a target group analysis of primary and secondary audiences. Our analysis was completed with a marketing audit of the recently refreshed brand, where our findings were immediately checked against communication in practice.
In a second phase, a new set of distinctive brand values was defined that would help the brand not only tell the right brand story to seniors and their families, but would also make a clear statement in the market. Starting from the specificity of the individual sites, a connecting concept was assumed, focusing on the what seniors can still accomplish and what makes them happy. This is based on the strength of the context offered by Vulpia, but also on the network around residents and their families, as the driving force behind its operation. The brand values were worked out in detail and translated into concrete applications in reality, without adjusting the individuality of the respective residential care centres.
The implementation of the renewed brand strategy was initiated immediately by developing a new baseline, reworking the visual language used in communications, the creation of an employer value proposition (EVP) for use in human resources policies and a customer experience framework for the residential care centres. In addition, there are now concrete guidelines for internal and external stakeholders on how to use the brand, based on a clear value proposition and a framework for shaping the customer journey.
