Fortis Healthcare takes a shot at moving the brand away from controversy

Even as the health care major begins life under a new owner, it has embarked on a brand-building exercise

The country’s second largest hospital and diagnostics player Fortis Healthcare has to tread carefully when it comes to advertising and promoting its brand. Given the swirling controversies around its ownership and internecine battles that have enveloped the brand in a cloud of controversy, the company is therefore being extremely careful with its new campaign. But will this help keep the dust and grime off Brand Fortis?

Recent months have been daunting for the healthcare major which has finally found a new owner in Asia’s largest healthcare group IHH Healthcare Berhad. It has been reported that the Malaysian IHH is considering using one of the brand names from its portfolio for some of Fortis’s assets, but sources claim that there are no immediate plans to change the name. “Fortis is a strong brand. IHH also has a set of strong brands. Their priorities are well chalked out for the next few months, post which they might take up the issue of branding,” said a senior industry hand who did not wish to be named. 

Whatever be the final course of action, there is little dispute that the brand is living through uncertain times. And given the need to steer clear of all controversy, it has chosen the path of ‘causevertising’ or cause-led advertising. The campaign aligns the brand with the cause of organ donation through a three-minute film that was launched on social media a few months ago. A 45-second television commercial is expected to go on air from Friday and a 360-degree campaign around the issue has been planned, including below-the-line promotional activities around movie theatres, radio advertisements and other consumer reach programmes. 

Jasrita Dhir, head of brand, marketing and corporate social responsibility, Fortis Healthcare says a healthcare brand advertises to meet three very distinct needs, a business and brand need, preventive and life-stage related need, and a social cause with which it can associate. 

“Since healthcare is not an impulse buying category, there is a need to be ‘top of the mind’. One needs to remain engaged with the consumer so that he or she chooses the service provider for her healthcare needs,” she says. What’s more since most of the consumers come from the immediate catchment area, social media advertising and BTL campaigns would make bulk of the promotional strategy for a hospital. 

Dhir says one must have an ‘always on’ brand approach. “This would not only come through advertising but also through nurses, doctors, the hospital environment and infrastructure. Brand building is beyond advertising,” she says adding that public memory is more forgiving for non-healthcare brands. A lot of healthcare branding happens through word-of-mouth and one’s individual experiences at hospitals. 

The social cause of organ donation for the national campaign, however, may prove to be a tricky choice. N Chandramouli, chief executive officer of brand intelligence and data insights firm, TRA felt that Fortis may have done better to choose a slightly more benign topic (like ambulance availability) for their television campaign. “Organ donation is a grey area often associated with the mafia (in terms of illegal trade),” he said. 

Amit Nandwani, executive creative director, Leo Burnett India who have created the campaign does not agree. “The organ donation rate in our country is abysmally low. In fact, it is less than one per cent. With more than half-a-million lives lost every year due to lack of organ donors, Fortis Healthcare felt that it was imperative to address this issue by bringing it to people’s notice and thus create awareness around it.” He believes that the campaign would help the healthcare brand connect better: “Emotional stories do not just showcase the softer side of healthcare, but also help the brand connect with people.” Besides Fortis is associated with organ donation since 2016 when it had launched its ‘More to give’ campaign with a leading TV channel.

Other experts point out that for a brand such as Fortis  caught in the midst of a raging controversy, it was imperative to choose a narrative for a ‘repositioning’ of sorts. They hint that the hospital brand could not have drawn a direct commercial association with the advertising; organs can be pledged by anyone and harvested anywhere and that lifts the cause above the immediate and transactional. Dhir elaborated that Fortis has earlier associated with causes such as ambulance availability and air pollution.   

Fortis is leaving no stone unturned and has even roped in actor Rajkummar Rao to associate with the cause. The brand also undertook an in-film promotion with a popular Hindi movie Badhaai Ho, and Dhir says Fortis is open to more such opportunities, especially in the organ donation space. 

“In Badhaai Ho the healthcare brand was intrinsic to the story. It was a case of high risk pregnancy and thus the association kind of showed Fortis’s tertiary care strengths,” she adds. Dhir has a tough road ahead, however, charting the brand’s journey under a new owner.