FAQ: National Jewish Health Brand

Frequently Asked Questions About Our New Brand

What is being changed?

National Jewish Health is continuing to grow and increase ways it improves the health of our communities. The new name speaks to our mission and communicates that we are expanding in many ways. Our patients will continue to receive the same outstanding care they have always associated with National Jewish. In fact, they may see that we can provide even more services that are personalized to them.

What is a brand?

A brand is much more than a logo, a name, a tag line or an advertisement. It is a promise to our customers – a big, organizing idea that helps all of our internal and external audiences connect who we are with what we would like to be as we evolve and grow into new ideas. It is our reputation.

The National Jewish Health brand is our promise to every person who comes into contact with National Jewish. The new brand captures who we are today and where we are heading in the future. The name and logo are visual expressions of our mission, vision and strategic plan. The changes to the brand will help us better communicate who we are to the communities we serve. It will help us meet the goals set forth in the strategic plan. You will see a change in the name, the logo and corporate colors.

What is the National Jewish Brand?

Our brand promise starts with SCIENCE–National Jewish’s strong research and discovery-driven culture. Science is the very core of us. The next element is our reputation to lead, education and leverage our scientific expertise to TRANSFORM research innovations to help people and to transform the lives of patients of all ages seen at National Jewish. The third element is the impact of transformational science to create personalized LIFE medicine to improve the health of individuals and communities.

In just three words, our brand promise is Science Transforming Life®.

What is the new name?

National Jewish Health

It’s not very different from the current name; why was a change necessary?

Our name has evolved many times in our history. At least five times, we have changed our name to better communicate who we are and what we are about.

• National Jewish Hospital for Consumptives, 1899
• National Jewish Hospital at Denver , 1925
• National Jewish Hospital and Research Center, 1965
• National Jewish Hospital/National Asthma Center, 1978
• National Jewish Center for Immunology and Respiratory Medicine, 1985
• National Jewish Medical and Research Center, 1997

Two words have always defined us—National Jewish. It is a proud, successful brand name. It’s core to our history and identity and we don’t want to lose it. We need to build on it and make it even greater. The descriptor part of our name, Medical and Research Center, is limiting because it does not reflect the wider reach of our strategic plan and confines us to a single location or campus. The name does not differentiate us, as there are many medical and research centers.

The concept of health is where our organizational strategy is heading. We are moving toward personalized proactive health that cannot be conveyed by traditional descriptors such as hospital or system. The word ‘Health’ better describes our growing network and is far more differentiating than medical center or health system.

The new name retains our National Jewish heritage in a powerful articulation that is easy to remember and capitalizes our market and geographic opportunities. ‘Health’ reflects our mission, scope, breadth, vision and brand promise.

Does our new logo stand for something?

Our new logo is a vital, strategic piece of communication that defines our aspirations and us.  Every element was carefully and methodically chosen for  a specific reason – to trigger a unique and differentiated identification of National Jewish Health and engage everyone who sees us with who we are and where we are headed. Our goal was to create an overall brand design that is reflective of the organization.

The blue stroke represents clinical science, and our long heritage of the color blue as a cornerstone of National Jewish – both as a health brand and as the historic homage to our Jewish roots. It swirls to one side of the helix shape, to convey our scientific excellence, and also creates part of a healthy human being. Cool blue is the color of stability, credibility and clinical excellence.

The orange counter-swirl crosses the blue, conveying a stylized helix shape for our scientific purposes, and also subtly conveys the multi-disciplinary and collaborative culture we are building through the intertwining flexible shape. Orange is a brand new and warm color for us. It represents the powerful and dynamic process of transformation that we are undergoing as an organization. It is taken from the color of fire – representing the flame of knowledge, teaching and learning. The orange stroke forms the rest of the helix shape, and forms the rest of the body of the human figure. The very uniqueness of the orange differentiates from all other local (and many national) healthcare brands.

The final stroke of our new logo is the blue head of the person. It completes the logo as a symbol of human lives that we seek to improve. You’ll notice that the human figure is not standing still, but leaning or moving forward in a healthy, dynamic way, evoking the image of an athlete winning a race, which alludes to our vision to win the race for new cures and better health. The figure is neither male nor female; it is simply human and represents the humanity in all of us.

Aren’t these Bronco colors?

These colors have local resonance as the colors of our beloved Broncos football team. We didn’t start out with this objective in mind, but it may be an extra bonus since many Coloradoans automatically have a good sense of energy and passion for these colors.

What about Denver Health and Centura Health? Their names are similar to ours.

There are only a handful of healthcare institutions in the country that use ‘Health’ as a descriptor. We realize two of them are in our community. Both Denver Health and Centura Health are local providers and local brands – to Colorado exclusively. Our institution serves a much larger market and our goal is to build a national brand.

Why are we changing?

The current name, logo and brand position were restrictive and no longer communicated our vision and plan. The look was dated and did not reflect a progressive, innovative organization.

Who came up with this?

More than a year ago, the executive leadership team, including the Board of Directors, recognized the need for a new brand. They charged the Marketing Department with managing the process. One of the nation’s leading brand consultancies, Monigle Associates, was hired to guide us through the process.  This began with research and dozens of interviews with individuals from all areas of the institution, at all levels of responsibility as well as donors and board members. We combined your feedback, concerns and advice with our vision for the future and created a brand position and identity that accurately reflects National Jewish today and where we want to go in the future.

Is it just a logo and name change?

No, the changes to the name and logo are just the most visible parts of the brand.  Our brand is our promise to our customers. It is the concept that helps all of our internal and external audiences understand who we are and what we are going to become as we evolve to achieve our new strategies. It is our reputation.  Every time National Jewish employees interact with patients, donors, vendors, physicians, callers or any other people on behalf of National Jewish, they contribute to that person’s view of the National Jewish brand.

How long will it take to implement?

We will implement the physical, visual changes over many months. Our goal is to complete this process by the end of the fiscal year.

Is our mission changing?

No, the mission was modified in 2007 and it remains the same. The new brand will help us communicate our mission more effectively.

When will we put up new signs?

Permanent interior and exterior signs will be installed in the coming weeks and months. This will not occur all at one time.