Brand creation

After more than 30 years of practising in the UK, the founders of Marcelle Ruth had a vision of returning to Lagos to open the first comprehensive healthcare centre of its kind in Nigeria – a world-class hospital, using the most advanced technology and setting new standards of treatment for cancer and specialist conditions.

Ahead of its launch, we helped the hospital define its brand strategy, designed its brand identity and created its brand experience.

Our work began with naming and Marcelle Ruth was eventually chosen as a wonderfully personal and emotive tribute to the founder’s mother-in-law, who unfortunately died from cancer.

A detailed audit of the healthcare sector in West Africa followed and resulted in the creation of a compelling narrative that not only put care and compassion at the very heart of the organisation, but also told the story through a holistic tone of voice designed to move from purely clinical outcomes towards total wellbeing – both elements conceived to humanise the impersonal approach that often dominates healthcare.

The stylish typographic identity simply extends the leg of the ‘R’ to embrace the letter ‘C’, which in doing so, conveys the feeling of a ‘hug’ and alludes to the idea of ‘taking care of cancer’ – the ‘big C’. The sweep of the hug was also incorporated as a graphic device to make the optimistic photographic style more distinctive and ownable.

Finally, our work extended across a number of experiential applications including interiors, signage, literature, presentation materials and the website.

What we did
Brand strategy: Proposition / Naming / Brand identity / Brand communications: Website / Stationery / Art direction / Literature / Exhibitions / Copywriting / Advertising / Social media