Brands are busy these days. So much content and response, so little time. So it’s a bit of a leap on the industry’s behalf to suggest there might be a humdinger of a gap in a sector that’s really rather difficult to handle. I refer, not without trepidation, to “Adult Social Care”. It’s time for brands to care.
Now there, indeed for quite a large segment of those that fall under this unfortunate title, is surely the misnomer of the century. For those adults with extreme healthcare needs arising from degenerative illness or disability, let’s pay them the respect of talking about their healthcare needs. There’s nothing social about it and, disgracefully, the term ‘social care’ tends to let organisations hide behind some inappropriate decisions and ‘frameworks’ that are in no way in the best interests of the end user. No fee if anyone’s brave enough to brief this naming task in…as long as we don’t have to put it out to public vote.
Best to declare my personal interest up front – for three and half years constant exposure to this sector in its most raw of forms, a close relative requiring care services. My word, had I known three and a half years ago what I know now. And what a gaping hole there is by way of consistent, trustworthy, there-when-you-need-it advice and support. The sort of thing brands do in all sorts of sectors, allowing us to build a relationship of trust and make decisions based on information and personal rapport. I would really like brands to care.
I’m not talking about encroaching on what the service providers do nor treading on healthcare provider toes. Care home providers, the legal profession, financial advisors, the medical profession both private and NHS, the healthcare charities and providers of ‘social care’ services all have their patch. No, the thing we need is an enabler, a gateway, an entity that can help ‘users’ of the mostly impenetrable world of care services find a way through. Sound like a place a well built and managed brand ought to be? Thing is, there aren’t many there. The bigger charities probably do the best job, offering as they do access to human beings who know some stuff and are helpful. They mostly don’t charge for many of their services, but actually I would have been prepared to pay for some.
I don’t think it should be a government service (for some reasons other than Adult Social Care is bankrupt, although that matters too). I think it should be a commercial entity that understands that competition and having customers expecting a service will make it and the sector at large a better experience. Access for all is important, so maybe paid for access for services is tiered or pay-as-you-go is an option for those that want to dip in and out, just like all sorts of other sectors. This new brand –let’s call it Someone Cares for now – should see itself as a leader that provides a signpost when needed, be that advice, thought leadership, or project management of the endless ‘stuff’ that needs doing on entering the world of care. At its best it provides a community of knowledge and support for people who find themselves fronting some really rather difficult things. Here’s the thing. To do this, this brand needs to employ experts with experience, just like any brand leader. And to do that it needs to pay them properly, incentivise them, motivate them and become an employer of choice. Does that sound radical for the care sector?
It won’t be easy because at the end of the service line tends to sit an ill human being, which is not at all like delivering year-on-year-growth for a consumer brand. Really? Well, let’s start with choosing a CEO who might come not from care, but has a track record of understanding customer engagement and creating breakthrough brands. On day 1 I’d invite him/her (you’d better bring your Finance bod too) to go and start talking to people who sit at the end of the care line, flummoxed and worn down by the constant stream of decisions that confront them. When (s)he’s done that for a minimum of 3 months I would invite him/her to select the rest of the Board carefully. After all, they’ll need to produce a realistic business plan, supported by a marketing plan, which looks to revolutionise a category. It’s fertile ground though and first to market is a good place to be. For brands to care, an approach based on user need, with the brand experience at point of delivery driving success or failure. Again, familiar territory for well managed brands.
That’s my bid for brands to care then. I think brands are uniquely placed to cut through the clutter and do some good for humans here. Because Someone Cares and one day we all will.
