Turning a corporate giant into the BFG

A matter of perception

mydentist is Europe’s largest dental organisation. Having grown quickly through acquisition, it was successful but had also gained a reputation as a faceless organisation that put profits before patients. Our challenge was to uncover the real truth and communicate the reality of life and work at mydentist.

We needed to share all the great stuff

Luckily, mydentist had a lot of good things going on. We just needed to share these stories and give mydentist an employer brand identity that was an accurate reflection of who they were – not who people perceived them to be.

It was time to get under their skin

By hearing what people across all functions and levels had to say about mydentist, we identified key themes which we translated into a set of strengths that became the foundation stones of the mydentist employer brand.

These were united by the brand essence. The fact that mydentist gives everyone: A reason to smile.

Engagement and involvement were key

We wanted the mydentist employer brand to quite literally be created by mydentist people. So we held a competition encouraging people to choose the strength that resonated most strongly with them and explain why. The prize? A chance to be immortalised as an ambassador in our new employer brand.

Strengths within a structure

Every strength within the mydentist employer brand encapsulates the essence of why people choose to work there. However, based on our research, some strengths appeal to certain target audiences more than others. So, it’s important to tailor copy and strength messaging to whoever we’re talking to. This means thinking about what’s relevant to them, what will pique their interest and how best to engage their attention. For example, how we write to recruit an experienced Associate Dentist will differ greatly from how we talk to a Student Dental Nurse.

Here are some examples of how this works

Dentists

The strengths that will resonate the most are Patients first, A place to grow and Restlessly ambitious.

As, what will be attractive to this audience is the knowledge that mydentist shares their commitment to high quality care, invests in its dentists and offers the time and support necessary for them to focus on career development and professional excellence.

Hygienists and therapists

The strengths of Surprisingly brilliant, Altogether better and Patients first will ring true.

The appeal here, is the opportunity to work together as part of an expert team, benefit from a ready-made patient referral network and enjoy a choice of working patterns available across an extensive network of practices.

Dental nurse

Here the focus is more on Patients first, Community matters and A place to grow.

These reflect the fact that you’re a people person who cares about providing the highest quality of care. Also, that you’ll be part of the mydentist family and supported develop and progress as far as you’d like to go.

Support roles

The strengths of Altogether Better and Restlessly ambitious will resonate most.

Support roles are very diverse, but these strengths unite them, as mydentist offers careers with immense scope and scale. In fact, the size of the organisation means there’s immense opportunity for development and progression.

Practice managers

Increase the focus on Community Matters, Altogether better and Patients first.

This is all about connecting with people and inspiring the delivery of excellent customer service. We’re talking to people who enjoy running a tight ship and will be attracted to the opportunity to grow and develop within a family focussed organisation that believes in supporting everyone to succeed

Bringing it all to life

We used a combination of illustration and photography to create a world where teeth take centre stage but equally, where everyone works together to achieve results and be the best they can be.

Telling stories with warmth, passion and humour, it gives mydentist a face, a personality and a voice.

The creative work is still developing and growing

But here’s a selection of some of the material we’ve produced to date. And, from banner stands to videos.

From internal ‘strength’ booklets to external advertising – everyone loves it!

We created a distinctly different brand

We pushed the guidelines to create a warm and rich colour palette and language that was human, honest and accessible, so that it would further reinforce the mydentist difference. After all, with our direction, this is a brand created by mydentist people. For mydentist people. And it’s proud to be different.

We’ve even turned mydentist employees into avatars, have a look here, here and here.