QUT Australian Centre for Health Services Innovation.
Building a Research Centre Brand and Reputation: Strategic Positioning with Long-Term Guidance and Support.

Overview

 The Australian Centre for Health Services Innovation (AusHSI) is a research, education and consulting organisation.

Now one of QUT’s largest and most successful research centres, AusHSI enables health service organisations to make ‘real world’ changes that bring about greater efficiencies and improved patient outcomes.

 Edmonds Marketing has worked closely with AusHSI since 2015, providing ongoing senior marketing support and guidance. This has included regular reviews, overseeing the delivery of annual marketing communications plans, and supporting various strategic brand and marketing projects including strategic plan on a page, brand repositioning to align more closely with QUT, website redesigns, major events and new business initiatives.

Such continuity has been instrumental in aligning marketing activities with AusHSI’s goals and vision, helping the core brand identity remain intact as AusHSI has grown.

Challenge

In 2015, AusHSI, a centre founded in 2011 as a partnership between Queensland Health, The Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, QUT and UQ, lost its funding support and had to pivot to reevaluate its strategic direction and attract new revenue streams.

It was a critical period of transition. AusHSI needed to boost its brand and visibility and demonstrate its unique contributions in order to secure new funding partnerships and agreements.

Solution

Edmonds Marketing undertook a process to develop AusHSI’s strategic positioning including its value proposition and corporate brand identity.

As a first step, we began a structured process to engage directly with prospective partners (government hospital and health services) and gather feedback to clearly define their needs. We also collected internal stakeholder feedback to inform development of AusHSI’s value proposition.

With these insights, Edmonds Marketing facilitated a collaborative process with the leadership team to define the organisation’s corporate identity and unique value proposition.

This initial ‘discovery process’ set the stage for meaningful engagement and helped to ensured that the AusHSI brand remained relevant and compelling for the future.

Edmonds Marketing then worked closely with the team to guide implementation of an ongoing marketing and communications plan, anchored by carefully crafted key messages that resonated with the audience and positioned the AusHSI brand as a differential, solutions provider.

From the outset, the development of a Brand Blueprint served as a guiding framework, providing focus, clarity and consistency around AusHSI’s core identity and ensuring marketing initiatives support and align with the long-term strategy.

Outcome

Edmonds Marketing’s structured approach has enabled AusHSI to achieve a clear, strategic brand vision that resonates with external funders and internal audiences.

Not only did this framework define AusHSI’s unique value proposition, it also served as a long-term guide to help communicate AusHSI’s identity, values and purpose guiding decision making and providing a stronger foundation for growth.

Testimonial 

“Working with Edmonds Marketing as a trusted partner over the longer term has enabled us to build our brand and reputation. They know our organisation well but are independent and can still view it from an outsider’s perspective.

Starting with the development of the Brand Blueprint, their external facilitation in bringing together everyone’s thoughts impartially has been incredibly valuable.

It’s about reaching a deeper, shared understanding of who we are and what we stand for. The outcome is clarity around who we serve, what we do, and why we do it. It’s something we can confidently express, even in a quick elevator conversation.

But the key part is that it’s not just about words. It is that the leadership needs to deeply understand and agree at a corporate level what you are and what you are selling before you can sell yourselves.

With regular reviews, the process has helped align our team, guide our strategic planning and bring everyone on the journey fostering real buy-in, which leads to better performance.”